PEDD - Please Enjoy Don't Destroy: July 2009

Robert Hughes Malia June 2008

Maggie's Story Author

Introduction

My name is Maggie Hughes.

I'm a house wife and mum of eight children and one of my son's is disabled and has been since birth.

I work for a big retail outlet and have done so for Ten years ,I'm also a Union Representative and I have held that post for 9 years.

This story began when my son Robert came to my home late one night in June 2008 and asked me if he could use my suit case as he was off to Greece for 10 day holiday to Malia in Crete.

I can't explain fully what I am trying to say but my senses were telling me to tell Robert to be wary and to take care of himself over there in Malia.

Its very strange as I have never felt like this before when Robert been abroad ,as he has always been very sensible and never got in to any trouble or had any problems with anybody so why was I worried this time...... I believe my (motherly instinct took over as this time I was very worried).

The next day it went out of my mind and I just put it down to me being me.

The Beginning Of My Worst Nightmare
Around 5 days later I received a phone call from Charlotte, Robert's girlfriend her words were ( I don't worry Maggie)but Robert has been attacked and is in hospital in Crete. She said Robert's friends who were out there are with him and wont leave him until his OK.

Can you imagine what I was thinking straight away I thought of the night he asked for my suit case and how my ringing bells as a mum told me something was going to happen.

It was a few hours later that Charlotte phoned me with some more news on Robert ,it had come from one of his mates who was with him at the hospital in Crete. I told Charlotte to ring this friend back whose name was N... and ask her to get him to ring me straight back. And he did.

At that point he was saying you don't have to worry Maggie as Robert is sleeping .So I said wake him up, The reply from Roberts friend was I can't they wont let us go back into the room, as the nurses were putting up a drip at the moment ,And N... said I will ring you back later Maggie with any news.

I was upset ,Worried ,Angry, Confused ,and getting very suspicious that all was not right with my son's condition and the full details were being hidden from me, as at that time I had no telephone number or detail of the hospital were my son was etc.

Again I had to wait, Then the dreaded phone call came through, its me I heard from the other end-Charlotte.

Maggie Roberts being taken down for a Brain Scan as he won't wake up and Robert friend's who were there in the hospital with him, were now beginning to get really worried and concerned and didn’t know what to do for the best. (But I did) .

The First 48 Hour's

I started to get details of the flights to Greece and could not believe all the flights were fully booked, So I rang my eldest son David who lived in Nottingham to ask him for help and to see if he was able to get a flight as I was at a dead end. .

David did managed to get a flight, but it was a split journey and it took over 12 hours to get there .

When I arrived at Heraklion Crete airport in Greece we got a cab straight to the hospital , But this hospital that Robert was in was not on a high street, it was out in the country side and was very hard to get to ,especially if you had no transport.

we walked into the main entrants to find no one was manning the front desks ,after banging on the glass eventually a man appeared from a back room so we tried to explain why we was there at the hospital and gave him Roberts name.

But he could not understand us nor could we him. and we spent at least 15 minutes trying to explain what we wanted but still we got nowhere.

Eventually Charlotte is a nurse in England looked at the very weird signs and guest were Robert might.

we went down a very long corridor then up to the 2nd floor B wing ,on arriving on the second floor we went to there front desk and had to wait again, because there was only one nurse dealing with so many.

We were directed to room No 17 and Robert was at that time with one other patient ,who looked as if he had been in a very bad accident and was on a machine with lots of wires going in and out of him .

"OH MY GOD"

Was what I said when I saw my son Robert lying in a bed with no blanket and no decent pillow and blood coming from his ears, with only his boxer shorts on and lying in a bed of urine and blood that had not even been washed off in 48 hours .

Robert's face looked like he been hit by a wall and he was moving about as if he was in a lot of pain but he was not fully conscious and never open his eyes together only very briefly the good eye as we called it.

My son David and my husband Dave went off in different directions, one out on to the balcony and the other out in to the corridor of the hospital.as they could not cope or deal with what they had seen.

Charlotte and myself were left alone to tidy and clean Robert up ,but before we did this,I knew there something very important that I needed to do.

Which was to take photos and a commentary of Roberts condition and injuries as I new from that moment onwards I would have to gather all information and evidence on my sons case alone.

A Mother's Breaking Point

Every day and night from that time onward we stayed by his bedside as even to go to the toilet was to long to be away from Robert in case he past away.

We watched him,washed,and changed him, made his bed, cleaned the blood from his body, tried to feed him as he did not seem to be able to swallow or chew ,nor could he wake up. What ever had happened to him was so bad as it made him unable to open his eyes or unable to come out of the deep sleep that he was in.

After about 4 days there was a change, I can't explain exactly what I mean but this day was different .He lay very still for a long time as if he was in a deeper sleep and that evening my eldest son David told me to go back to the apartment and have a rest as I was at breaking point.

So I did, but as soon as I Arrived back at the apartment my phone rang ....MUM David said get back now as Rob is not waking up and the Doctors were now moving him down stairs to the intensive care unit.

As they seem extremely worried about the change in his condition and they said that he will need urgent treatment to save him .

My reactions was to scream, then cry ,then panic as I was afraid that I would not get back in time to see my son Robert before he goes.

when I got back he was on a life support machine ,so many wires and so much noise and I could not believe what was happening to my lovely son, as all he did was to go abroad to Greece for a 10 day holiday with his 3 friends.

We did not have to wait long, As Rob was taken down to the theatre to have a piece of his scull removed as this was the only way they could ease the pressure and save his life.

The Doctors don't always tell the relatives that they are going to operated or inform you when the patient comes round or back to the ICU unit.

As when you are on the ICU ward you have to wait your turn in the corridors and go in one by one to a meeting room to hear the updates or Not of your relatives and love ones.

It was a great relief when I knew that Robbie had come through the operation and he was back on the ward in ICU.

That afternoon we sat down together as a family for lunch for the first time in a week.

No Hope Of Survival

That evening we all got into taxi's to the Hospital .and there was . my husband Dave, my son Alan ,David,Adam, my daughter Alaina,and my daughter in law Charlotte,Quin and myself, as we all wanted to visit Robert that evening in ICU.

When we arrived back at the hospital we all knew the process ,of lining up and waited our turn in the corridor to go in to see Rob one by one in the ICU unit. and you only got 1 minute each person.

It was Alan and Adam who went first, But within 30 seconds of Alan going in to ICU to see Robert he came out shouting mum his not there, Roberts beds has gone.

I Started to panic like every one else ,not one of us knew what was going on as we could not ask anyone there as we did not speak the language and no one seamed to want to tell us what was going on ,So was my son dead or alive at this point.…?

Eventually they took us all into a side room and said they were afraid that Roberts swelling to the brain had got extremely worse and had no alternative but to re operate again to save his life .

This time the Doctor’s were telling me and my family they would now have to remove half of his skull, as if they didn’t this could leave Robert with no hope of survival or brain dead.

He Live ....You Go Now !

Can you imagine what we were all going through ,as none of us was speaking only sobbing and in shock, as we did not even get a phone call from the hospital to say this was happening.

My family were told we would have to wait a very long time as he could be in the theatre for at least 8 hours or more so we were told by the Doctor to go back to the apartment and we will call you if any thing happens .

I could not go anywhere nor could any member of my family, as we all agreed that if any thing was going to happen to Robbie we will be there for him if it did.

We all waited in the corridor sitting on floor and chairs that we took from the meeting room ,as normally this would not be allowed security, but I believe they knew that this was a life or death situation and they left us alone by our selves to the long wait ahead.

It sounds strange but we could not just sit there and say and do nothing ,so some of us played Give us a Clue and Hang man etc as the wait was so stressful and long, and for a little while this did take our minds off the situation .

Well trust my son Alan as he was the joker in the family at the time, as somebody needed to break the ice ,So Alan found a sheet and dress up like Michael Myers in the film Halloween .Not the best of subjects to copy at that time but it did break the ice (what a fool he was ,but we did need this lite relief at that time…)

After about 8 hours or so one of the surgeons came out to see us, and said Robert has survived the second operation but it will still be a very long wait for you and your family as we need to see if the swelling on the brain will start to swell again ,and if it did that this time it will be the end .

I said to my family members I wanted them all to go back and get some rest, as I wanted to stay there on my own in the hospital until Robert was out of the woods or Not....,

This long wait started at around 6pm in the evening and went all through the night until 11am the next morning when a lady doctor aged around sixty years of age, came over to me as I was still sitting in the same place in the corridor and said in broken English (He live. You go now).

I just stared at her but I could see in her eyes she was telling me that Robbie had a slim chance of survival as far as I was concerned this was going to be the first day of Robert's road to recovery..................................

To be continued