Get well soon!!

Get well soon!

‘Womiting’

Now that brings back memories of ‘plenty pain’ and ‘body pain’…….

SD

Dear Jen,

A “how long is a piece of string” question if ever I saw one. There are good decisions, bad decisions, right decisions,and wrong decisions. A right decision can still be bad, because you made it for stupid reasons, or on the basis of incomplete or wrong information; the fact that you get away with it only makes it right, not good. You are alive and well today; that merely makes the decision not to call an ambulance “right”; only you and your husband know whether it was “good”. If an ambulance had been called, one would have come; you would almost certainly have been taken to hospital, yet the outcome would still have been the same. There’s a film isn’t there? “Sliding Doors”?

However:

What if an elderly lady who has never ailed a day in her life tells her husband that she is feeling a bit under the weather? What if his attempts to contact the doctor are brushed aside by her angry protestations that there is no cause to go bothering people? What if she has always been the one who “wore the trousers”?

What if, as a normally hearty eater, she takes no meals, and finds it difficult even to swallow a cup of tea, yet still refuses to sanction a trip to, or visit by, the doctor?

What if, late at night, she gets out of bed, and her husband hears her pacing the floor downstairs? What if he then, finally, makes the phone call which is promptly re-directed to the ambulance service?

What if we come in at 0200am, and find her lying dead underneath the dining table?

The husband said, “I knew she wasn’t well, but she wouldn’t let me ring anyone. I just had to ring you in the end up; I didn’t know what else to do. I did the right thing in ringing you, didn’t I? I couldn’t have done anything more, could I?”

We stuck with the kindly lie, and agreed with him. What purpose would it have served to do otherwise?

hope you feel better soon. Plenty of hot drinks oh, and some decent tissues that aren’t made of sandpaper.

Ah - I think it’s called Man ‘Flu

Wow Kevin, that was one philosophical answer.

It was mostly a case (after much post-discussion) that my husband just wasn’t sure - “you [me] are the one who makes all the sensible decisions and knows about those sort of things”. I made him go downstairs and read the list of meningitis symptoms again, and said “next time it could be your son. call an ambulance if you are that worried, and there might be an inside chance it’s serious. you will never regret making that decision, but you might regret not making it”.

Not a case of who wears the trousers per se, but there is a price to be paid for always being the knowledgable one - especially when that person is so sick that they can’t let anyone know (when i was hallucinating, I seemed to be paralysed. Verrrry freaky).

I appreciate your well explained response. Interested to hear Mark’s response when he’s up from the ‘flu

Get better soon - but do keep away from sick people!

Hi there Mark

Thanks for your reply!

The only reason we thought it could be meningitis, was because of the close contact with someone who had it and the timescales involved. Otherwise we would have thought it was just flu.

Unfortunately our doctors don’t do home visits - otherwise I think we may well have called them earlier. They make you go to the hospital whether it’s for a broken toe or suspected deathly diseases! They won’t even make house calls for sick babies! So we knew we’d end up at the hospital one way or another - sucks, as it is usually a waste of time (theirs and ours) and a waste of resources!

I am not a huge fan of NHS direct - last time I called them they weren’t going to call back for another hour - 5 minutes later, my 8 week son stopped breathing. In that case I actually called the ambulance - the only time I have - moments before he stopped. Had NHS Direct realised the severity of the illness or we’d been able to get a doctor to make a home visit earlier in the evening, we may well have been saved that traumatic experience. Luckily there was a happy ending.

I was/am full of praise for our paramedics - they were fantastic. They made a 30 minute journey in 10 minutes, they floored the van as they knew it was a baby. They came to the ward to check he was ok. Additionally, as we are in a rural area, we have a First Response Unit of unpaid volunteers - they were there within 4 minutes with oxygen (enough time to put on their underpants and start the car), which saved my son’s life. I can’t even drive down the street in that time! I make sure I put an extra big donation in their bucket every Christmas. You guys do the most amazing work - thank you.

Hey there, get better soon. I was wondering if you would mind having a look at my blog and telling me what you think? Im a Trainee Paramedic on one of the University courses and I thought i’d blog about my experinces on the course for people who wanted to go to Uni and do it. I’d appreciate any comments.

Thanks

TP

“Wominting, womiting, womiting. Too much womit” I really giggled inside when I read that. I was working that night and had a baby vomit all over my arm and hand, I think Dad was wondering why I walked out the room with a grin on my face.

I hope you didn’t succumb to the man flu and are feeling better.

Very dangerous thing is “Man-’Flu” .

If left untreated it can rapidly turn into deadly ” ‘Flu-monia” (this only seems to occur in the Male if hours and days of laying on the couch and whinning for hot drinks / food / chocolate / crisps and lemsip are completely ignored by the attending spouse / girlfriend).

End stage symptoms include:
Thumping headache from constant nagging of aforementiond spouse to “get up and go to work,”

Inability to walk to Tesco to get more food / crisps / chocolate etc.

Acute addiction to Jeremy Kyle / Trisha / Jerry Springer and Australian soap operas.

Repetative Strain Injury and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from over-use of the TV remote control.

Hemiplegia from laying on your side all day ……

Normally a complete recovery is made with no adverse effects after the batteries in the remote have packed up and the house is devoid of all food / crisps /chocolate and the box of shortbread that has been sitting in th back of the cupboard since last christmas…

Get better soon Mark

hey mate get well soon ok?

Jen, first rule of emergency medical dispatch that I would go by if i had that call, when in doubt, send ‘em out.

Aww, get better soon. I can sympathise what with having what I suspect to be flu/tonsilitis hybrid I then had my mum poking and prodding me for signs of a rash first thing in the morning. It’s nice that’s she vigilant but I really dont want a freezing cold glass anywhere near my nice warm stomach, grr. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose.

Hope you don’t feel as bad as me and that you have a quick receovery