A man came with a chromium trolley with a red rubber mattress to take me to theatre to have my legs set. The nurse told Jane that she would be brought back tomorrow to see me. As I was wheeled away, I suddenly felt that I needed to 'spend a penny' and, remembering I was in nappies, just let it out into the warm fluffy towelling surrounding my hips.

I was very anxious about what would be happening to me as I was a long way from home and, naturally, wishing my mother was here to comfort me. One of the nurses came with me and, in the lift, held my hand, smiled at me and said, "Don't worry! You'll be fine. You'll have a mask put over your nose and mouth and some special air to breathe which will make you go to sleep and, when you wake up, you'll be back on the ward with your legs set to help them to mend." I had had the gas before and it had made me feel very sick afterwards. I told the nurse that and she promised to tell the doctors so I could have something to stop that when I woke up.

The lift stopped and she let go of my hand as I was wheeled out of the lift and along a corridor. The lights flashed past overhead as I was lying on my back with my legs hurting like nothing I'd ever felt before. We went through some black rubber doors which the trolley pushed open and then the doors flapped shut behind us. I was wheeled into a room with shiny equipment, black tuning and a black rubber bag hanging from the shiny machine. The nurse turned to me and took my hand again. "Would you like me to stay with you, John?" I swallowed hard, terrified, "Yes, please!" She gave me a lovely smile and squeezed my hand. A person in a white gown, with a white hat and a mask across her face spoke to me, "I need you to lift your head up from the trolley for me,please, John, as the nurse here will put a rubber shower cap over your head to keep your hair out of the the way." I did as I was told and a woman dressed all in green with a green mask, cap and gown pulled a green rubber shower cap over my hair. The lady in white said, "I'm going to put a mask over your face, John. It will smell really funny and strange. I'll give you some oxygen first, then add a special gas to help you to sleep and, when I say, you see that black bag there, it will blow up and down as you breathe in and out. I want you to take really deep breaths for me to see how far you can blow up that bag for me. All right?" She put the mask over my face and tucked her fingers under my chin to hold it firmly over my nose and mouth. It did smell really funny and not very nice as I breathed in and out and watched the bag inflate and deflate as she told me it would. The nurse who had come down with me squeezed my hand again to let me know she was there and stroked my head through the shower cap.

The lady in white said to me, "Take deep breaths now for me, John. See if you can blow my bag right up!" She turned a couple of controls on her big chrome machine and the gas smelt very different. Firstly sweet and then a cloying smell which stuck in my throat. Still I tried to take deep breaths and my vision went black with a buzzing sound in my ears and a feeling as if I was falling. Suddenly I woke back on the ward and the nurse who had been so kind to me both on the way to theatre and when I was being put to sleep came hurrying over. “Hallo, John, I told you it would soon be over! How are you feeling?” With the frank honesty of a child, I replied with a dazed mumble, “I hurt!” “I expect you do. I'll go and get you something to help with that.” She left and came back a few minutes later. “It's an injection for you. I'll drop your rubber pants and push your nappy out of the way and give it to you in your bottom after I've pulled the curtains around you.” I was still very drowsy from the ether I'd been given and so wasn't really with it. I just knew I hurt! She pulled the curtains, untied the front of my rubber pants and I felt her wiping my bottom with a swab. The injection stung as she gave it to me, She tied back the rubber pants over my now damp nappy and apologised. “I'm sorry. That injection does hurt a bit. Now, it'll stop the pain and make you drowsy, so try to sleep for a bit. When you wake up, I'll explain what has been …....” I didn't hear her finish as I'd drifted off to sleep again.

I woke later and the same nurse spotted that I was awake and came over immediately, pulling the curtains around her. "You don't need that shower cap now as you haven't been sick. That keeps your hair clean just in case as well as keeping it out of the way in theatre. It's time to explain to you what has been happening." John started, "But why is there a blanket up in the air stopping me .." "From seeing your legs and why your bottom isn't touching the mattress. I'll tell you first, then remove the blanket. Now then John, when you were pushed backwards, both bones in your thighs snapped right through. That's really unusual in someone your age. They normally crack like a green stick which splits but doesn't break all the way through. The doctros think it was because your legs were trapped by the climbing frame." Seeing John was about to say something, she smiled at him, "Oh yes, we know all about what happened and how it wasn't your fault! Now, this hospital has got a new way of dealing with broken legs in children. Normally we'd have you in traction with the bed tipped backwards. But that only works for adults and children with one broken leg. You've got two and we are using a special frame to hang your legs from so the weight of your body pulls down on your legs and keeps them straight for you. That way, they'll heal better so you can play football or go climbing or whatever again! The doctors straightened your legs and put a special pin through each of your lower legs and you're hanging from those pins. Becuase they are in holes drilled through the bones, they don't hurt, or won't after a day or so which is why we're giving you drugs to help with the pain. Let's show you." With that, she lifted off the blanket covering the frame and showed John how his legs were bandaged up and the pins used to hold them up. "Now then, John, you're wearing nappies and you will have to be in nappies until your legs heal. It's the easiest way for you, trust me and easier for the nurses too, if we're truthful! The nappies and rubber pants cover you up and you'd struggle to use a bedpan as an adult has to. We always tell children to try to hold it as long as possible when they need to pass urine and then to let it out slowly, but none of them do and their bladders shrink so they often have to be in nappies afterwards, perhaps for the rest of their lives. How do you feel about nappies?" John replied, honestly, "We were put in nappies at night at the home as some childrne would wet the bed otherwise and, if we were all in nappies, there'd be no disgrace in being wet in the morning. I didn't mind." "The difference here, John, is that you'd going to have to do your 'number 2's' in your nappy as well. If you can do that in the morning before you're changed and washed, that would be most comfortable for you. We do need you to have a bowel movement each day and we'll give you some liquid paraffin each night to help you. If you don't manage, and most children and adults do have problems when they have broken legs and are in traction, which is what this is called, from time to time and we then have to give them something stornger to help them. Is that all all right? Now, I bet you're thirsty!" John agreed that, yes, he was! She picked up a baby bottle with rubber teat from the trolley beside his bed and held it for him, "You'll have to drink this way until you're better and we'll be feeding you too. It's almost impossible to feed yourself like that! You'll get your nappies changed four times a day after each meal and just before bed when you get thicker ones on for the night."

As John hadn't eaten that day, he didn't get any liquid paraffin that night. During visiting time, the nurses put a sheet over the fram holding up his legs so his bottom was not exposed to public gaze. However, once the visitors had gone, the sheet was taken down with the comment, "You can't see what's happening in the ward with that there." John appreciated that. His only 'amusement' was watching the nurses coming and going.

That night, as promised, he was changed into really thick nappies. To his surprise, he'd already started just letting go as soon as he felt his bladder start to fill. But there was another surprise awaiting John. AFter the nurses had changed all the children into their night-time nappies and gieven them a bed-time drink of Ovaltine or hot chocolate (John had his in a baby bottle with the nurse holding it for him which he enjoyed. he was beginning to like the fuss made over him!) one of the nurses came round the ward with a stainless steel trolley with a backet on top. John couldn't quite see what was in the basket or what she did when she stopped at each bed. His was the last bed and the nurse came over to him. "Hmm, you're quite a big boy,a ren't you?" John opened his mouth to answer and she popped a large child sized rubber dummy in his mouth and pinned the tape tied to the ring on the end of it to the sheets. She smiled at him as he looked so shocked and surprised. "Don't worry. Every child here has one of those and it's up to you if you suck on it." She leaned closer to him "But I'll tell you a secret. When you're in hospital and a long way from home, sucking on that does help!" She wheeled the trolley out of the ward, turing off the lights as she left. That night, whether from this or from the morphine he'd been given for the pain and to help him to sleep, he wet his nappies without waking and was surprised how wet they were in the morning. He had also gone to sleep sucking on his dummy, thinking how the nurse had been right - it did help!

That next day, he was fed breakfast by one of the nurses who first of all put a rubber bib around his neck and then a towel on top of that to catch any spillage. He found that it was really hard to eat neatly with your head down flat and your legs high in the air! He was given his drinks by a bottle with a rubber teat and appreciated that it was easier for the nurses and for him as well. He found out how the nurses took temperatures that morning too. His nappies and pants were unpinned and lowered onto the bed and the nurse stuck a large glass thermometer into his bottom, taped it to his thigh and went onto the next child. She came back after about five minutes to remove it abd left John speechless at this way of taking temperatures!

That evening, Jane was brought to visit him by the matron of the holiday home. When Jane saw John like that, she burst into tears and said how sorry she was that she'd cuased this. John retorted at once beofre the matron could say a word, "Nonsense! It wasn't your fault at all that tthe horrid boy was trying to steal your spending money!" The matron laughed. "John, you took the very words out of my mouth! You're right, of course, that it certainly wasn't either Jane's fault or your fault what happened. That boy has been escorted home in disgrace and none of his family will ever come here again. However, I should tell you, John, that you'll be welcome to spend two weeks with us next summer if you want." John was devoted to his sister, Only if Jane can come too," he replied. The matron laughed again - a kind, gentle laugh -"Of course she can, John. I wouldn't have you without your sister - that wouldn't be fair."

That night, John shuddered as he was given his liquid paraffin to swallow. Yes, it was tasteless, but had a horrid oily texture. The nurse reminded him that he might find that it went straight through him and he'd feel his bottom was a bit oily. She was right. He woke in the morning with a slimy feeling between the cheeks of his bottom and, when the nappies were taken off, there was an orange stain from where it had gone straight through him.