Friday 25 May 2012

Calm after the storm .....





~
It was so wonderful to sit peacefully in the tranquility of our garden this evening
having a leisurely supper with a glass of wine after the traumas of the
last 24 hours!
~
Last night, in the middle of our bowls practice my lovely Other Half had a
medical emergency which involved calling for an ambulance.
~
I used to be in St John Ambulance, but when the 'patient' is your own loved one
it is not so easy to be calm and collected and deal with it.
Luckily another of our members often has to deal with visitors' emergencies
on the beach, although he is not a lifeguard, and his calm presence settled myself and
OH until the welcome sound of the ambulance announced two lovely medics
to sort him out.
~
After lots of questions about what happened, previous medical history etc, OH
was trollied to the ambulance, I was sent off to gather myself together and get a list
of his medications (just a ruse to keep me occupied and calm me down - which worked)
while they took him off to A & E in Haverfordwest.
~
By the time I arrived with overnight things (just in case) OH was looking much
better, hooked up to all monitors known to man! and had 2, 3 or even 4 young nurses
rushing around and tending to his every need.  Bloods, blood pressure, ECG traces,
reams of paper notes being written out, label on his wrist - in case he got lost, or
forgot who he was!!
~
How they make any sense out of all those wiggly lines and flashing lights on those
screens, I will never know.  The cardiac sheets they printed out, were just a mass of
lines.  He even had the probes stuck to his ankles as well!
~
In the end, after much waiting about for blood to be tested and a further ECG reading
they let us out and we got home about 2.15 am. - Phew!
~
The enormity of it did not really hit home until this evening when we could sit
and chat about it.  OH said the ambulance medics were wonderful - calm and
patient and explaining everything to him.
~
Our experience of the NHS last night could not be faulted.  Although there was,
of necessity, a lot of waiting about, we were kept informed of what was
going on at all times, and also felt that we could have asked about anything if
we were uncertain, without being a trouble.  Thank you Withybyush Hospital,
Haverfordwest for looking after my beloved OH.
~
Ann x

3 comments:

Loo xx from Jumbles and Pompoms said...

Gosh, I awful for you both. Hope he's OK now. xx

Kath said...

What a frightening experience for you both. SO glad all's well that ends well. My friend who lives at Efailwen had a similar event with her Dad and she was very impressed with the hospital at Haverfordwest.
Hope OH is well on the mend now x

foreveryoung said...

Thank you Loo and Kath, OH is feeling very much better now, especially after concentrated attention from pretty young nurses!! He does have several other investigations in the pipeline and once those are done he will know what is going on. It is very frustrating when you are not quite sure what is going on. At the moment it is - Keep Calm and Carry On! Ann x