To say this has been a crazy week isn’t doing it justice.

I mentioned before that the fence got badly damaged in the storm last week. Well, there has been no further movement there I’m sad to say but I’ve had to put that on the back burner and here’s why.

On Tuesday night, I was just coming out of the bathroom and saw my husband just getting to the top of the stairs. My hands were wet and I was drying them on my towel when I pointed out to him that he had missed a step (was trying to take the top 2 stairs at once). He told me he was fine and as he moved up, he didn’t lean forward and his body had a fight with gravity. His body lost and I could just see arms flailing about trying to grab the banister.

I had just finished drying my hands and reached out but wasn’t quick enough to grab him. As I stood there, I saw him catapult backwards down the whole flight of stairs.

I’ll be honest, I screamed out his name and ran to the bottom of the stairs where he was lying and I was afraid to look. For a second, I honestly thought he was dead. He wasn’t but he couldn’t move. It doesn’t help that we have shelving at the bottom of the stairs and he couldn’t have picked a worse place to land. I felt all over his arms and legs and he didn’t feel pain and I didn’t feel broken bones. I asked him where it hurt – he replied neck and back. Well that was it: DO NOT MOVE.

I got an ambulance and it took them a while to get him out of that situation. I still can’t believe they managed. I helped lift him out of the house and onto the trolley that was outside. I told him I’d meet him at the hospital when I’d sorted out things at home.

The ambulance left and I made sure Dearest Son and Scooby were ok. Turns out they took it in their strides and after a snack went to bed – it was around 2.30am by this point.

I drove through to the hospital and found the ambulance was waiting outside as there were no cubicles available yet. In fact there was another ambulance beside them who were going in first.

Around 5am, we got the shout and my husband was taken in. At this point, I would like to point out that the ambulance crew were AMAZING. Lovely people.

I waited in the waiting room and had a much needed coffee. Soon after, a doctor came to get me and took me to see my husband. He was to get a full body CT scan. More waiting ensued and it was clearly becoming uncomfortable for him having a neck brace and head restraint still on. Luckily, just as he was starting to lose it, he was called for his scan.

He was gone about 20 minutes I think and when they wheeled him back in, they told us it would take about an hour to get the results.

Sure enough, just over an hour later, the same doctor came back to tell us…..

Nothing was broken and he could go home.

Not one bone. Nothing.

I couldn’t believe it. He was very very sore by now but not broken. Another weird thing is that he was actually due to go for a CT scan on Thursday but the doctor was pretty sure that could be cancelled now as he’d scanned everything. I checked that out later and sure enough, he doesn’t have to go back for another one. I was surprised to learn however, that CT scans done at our local hospital in Scotland, when done at that time of the night, are examined by a radiographer in AUSTRALIA to determine course of action. There is nobody available here.

So we came home. By now, people were heading out to work. We got in and when I opened the door, there was Scooby waiting in the hall for us. I knew instantly something was wrong.

Normally he would wag his tail and push in for cuddles but not this time. He barely wagged his tail and he held his head low. I looked at him and tried to see what was wrong – had he eaten something out the bin, peed on the floor, cut a paw? Couldn’t see anything obvious and by now it was 8am and I was done. I went to bed.

After 4 hours sleep, I was awoken to my husband trying to move in the bed and not managing very well. He couldn’t sleep which meant I wouldn’t sleep. Coffee.

I kept an eye on Scooby – he was still eating and drinking but seemed low in energy and had to be encouraged to go out to the garden with me so he could pee.

He slept a lot and I was a zombie for the rest of the day. That night, however, I went to pet Scooby before bed and he rolled over for a tummy tickle – and that’s when I saw the blood. Not a lot, just a little leak of wee but it was obviously blood stained.

So up early today (Thursday) and on the phone to the vets. He was seen at 11 am and is now on medication for a suspected UTI. I’m pleased to say that although he is still clearly unwell, the tail is wagging more tonight. He has had all his meds for the day (tablets crushed into ice cream works a treat) and everyone else is in bed. Which is exactly where I’m heading right now.

Hope you’ve all had a better week!