TW:Suicide.
Years ago I had a friend who loved drama, she thrived on it. She'd complain that she didn't like drama yet she was always in the thick of it, creating and stirring up drama.
I really don't like drama. I stay as far away from it as possible. Lately, it hasn't been possible.
In my family I'm the fixer. I'm the one everyone turns to when something has gone wrong. I have no idea why I have this role, but I assume it's because I stay calm in a crisis. Lately we've had crisis after crisis and I am so over it, I just want everything to stop and life to go back to normal, uneventful days.
It all started four weeks ago. I got sick and the boys got a virus. I was just getting better when I got the boy's virus. Tiger got it too.
Whilst we were all sick, Tiger chopped the top of his finger off. As we were all sick, the boys were home when it happened. Eljay took it in his stride but Chai went straight into panic mode, convinced Tiger was going to die.
Tiger did not die, but we did spend 5 hours in the emergency department. They didn't numb his finger properly so when they started stitching it up he could feel it. When he told the Dr he could feel it the Dr didn't believe him and started to put another stitch in! (The stitches were through his finger nail so would have been extra painful) He only stopped when I got up and loudly said "He can feel it! Look at him, he's pale and sweating, he's in pain! He can feel it!"
They numbed it properly after that.
When we all recovered from the virus, I got in my car to take the boys to school, turned the key and nothing. My battery was dead. Thankfully that was easy enough to sort out.
The next week my nephews had a fight and the youngest broke his hand, so I spent another five hours in the emergency department.
As if that wasn't fun enough, last week decided to really turn up the dial. Two of my male family members had an altercation. One ended up seriously injured in hospital and the other went on the run as the police were after him.
That made the third week in a row that I spent time in the emergency department. The family member who was on the run was located, arrested and released on bail.
The next day he tried to take his life. Thankfully he was unsuccessful.
We'd managed to keep the boys in the dark about the fight, they just knew there had been a fight, but unfortunately when I was on the phone to emergency services about the suicide attempt we were in the car so the boys heard everything.
Chai just isn't coping. His anxiety is sky high and he's really struggling. We've talked through it and he understands what happened and why, but he's still really anxious. We have a psych appointment next week so he'll be able to talk things through with someone who knows what they're doing.
This week we're mopping up the mess and I'm desperately hoping that this is the end of all the drama. I have a feeling it's not.
You know what else I've remembered? I really don't like talking on the phone. Phones are for texting not for phone calls. In the last week I've spend more time talking on the phone than I normally would in two months. I do not like it at all.
I've always known they were amazing, but I have such a huge appreciation for our Police Service. They truly are wonderful people. Through this whole ordeal they have been so kind, considerate, empathetic and helpful. We really are lucky to have such a great group of people protecting us.
In an attempt to cope with everything that's been going on I've done a bit of stress shopping, I'll share those hauls over the next few weeks when things quieten down and my brain starts functioning again.
I hope all you beautiful people are doing okay.
