A stressful week

Last Saturday Martin and I were putting the rams out. Other than my flat tyre (and completely ruining it) all was going well until we found some woollies. Martin had run down a ewe and 3 lambs and had one more ewe to catch when he hit a clump of buffel grass and went over the handlebars on his bike. Luckily Nathan and I were there to see it happen as his 2way radio fell out of his pocket and just out of reach. I called a neighbour on the 2way and she called 000. Considering we were in a back paddock, the ambulance made excellent time and arrived sooner than we had expected. Martin had a very slow trip to town. While we knew he had some rib damage, xrays confirmed 6/7 broken ribs, with some broken twice and a broken collarbone, all on the left side.

On Thursday he was flown to Rockhampton vis RFDS suffering from a haemopneumothorax - blood, fluid and air around his left lung. A chest drain was put in and he had a special mask and machine that helps force his lungs to inflate properly and force out the unwanted fluid. He was moved to ICU on Friday. Yesterday the chest drain was removed but is still in ICU as he's had high blood pressure since Thursday and that needs to be resolved.

Hopefully he will not in in Rocky for too long, however getting him home may be difficult. With so many broken ribs he could not handle the long drive. I'm hoping he can be transferred by RFDS back to the local hospital and go from there.

On Friday, Nathan celebrated his 6th birthday...a very quiet day. Most of his presents were stashed at home and he had a bought birthday cake. We shall have a 'proper' birthday cake, when his Dad is home.