A friendly face...very much needed today!!!

Well...this is a friend and fellow blipper, dark obsidian, and today we spent some time together in Pollock House Gardens and cafe. I took this as a cheeky, quick shot, but it's actually a really good one of her I think...so any idea of blipping anything else was unthinkable!! Friends are more important than another blossom shot or a duck shot anyway!!!

Today has been both bizarre and eventful! To tell the truth I'm still in a bit of shock and disbelief at it's events!! I awoke at 0425hrs this morning with severe upper abdominal pain....shocked at just how severe and how totally out of the blue!! After getting up in an effort to ease it, it just got worse and worse, to the point of being crushing and agony! Shocked and afraid, and being a nurse, I debated about what on earth to do!! In the end I had to admit I was incapacitated to do anything but call 999....not a decision I would make lightly!! If I ever thought this was the answer in a potential emergency situation, I was soon to find out how wrong I was!! The first woman took details, but by that time I could barely talk I was so sore! I'm no drama queen when it comes to being ill...I like to be alone and self sufficient! (A bit of a control freak to be honest!) I only ask for help if I'm pretty desperate! The woman made other judgements on my gasping, and pausing, and asked had I been drinking!! Concerned that we were wasting valuable time and she still did not have all my details, I did assure her I had not been drinking!! On we went to date of birth, but I was too agonised to answer immediately, so she proceeded to ask again if I was SURE I hadn't been drinking!!! A tiny part of me was enraged and outraged! But I knew I had to get through the detail giving to get help!!!!! So I assured her no, I rarely drank at all, and gasped out a date of birth!!!

When she asked did I have abdominal or chest pain, I said that by now I was unsure....the pain was upper gastric through to my back! As a qualified nurse myself I know it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference!! Her response was....'Well you must know which it is!!!!' All this while I'm gasping and clearly not exactly behaving 'normally'!!

When I assured her I was not sure now, but had crushing pain, she asked had I fainted or been sick!! Well, I was starting to feel generally sick, cold and clammy which was really worrying me, so I tried to explain, but she cut in and said...just aswer the question...have you fainted or been sick!! Well...no!! Upon hearing this she calmly informed me that in that case I did not qualify for an ambulance!!! But she would put me through to NHS 24 and a nurse would be in touch in about an hour! At which point she said apolite 'Goodbye', and transferred me to some man to be asked all the same details!!

By this time I was deeply concerned this may be a heart attack, and I'm only 43, and now I had calm and detached voice number 2 asking all the same questions!! The pain was unbelievable...nothing I have ever felt in my life, and I was having to justify my need for an ambulance! He also concluded that since I wasn't sure if it was chest pain, I did not qualify!! At this point, in shock, fear and desperation, i told him I was a nurse and wouldn't call bl**dy 999 unless it was an emergency!! His response was not 'to get the message', but to indeed challenge my 'aggression'!! It was only in sheer fear that he too would say goodbye, that I managed to apologise and whisper a begging.'PLEEEAAASe , I need help soon!'

He told me a nurse would contact me and said goodbye!!

After that...things reversed pace...the phone rang within 2 minutes, and by now I really was alarmed and happy to beg!! Thank God the nurse responded by sending an immediate ambulance!! They gave me gas and air...(looking back...a very pleasant out of your face in one minute flat drug!!! Lol!). And the hospital sorted me out!!

I am glad to say that it turned out to be sudden onset gastritis....likely the return of a bug I was treated for last year, but not yet eradicated!! But it could have been cardiac, considering the severity of it, and now I'm home and feeling much better, though definately not yet right, and quite exhausted, I fully intend to make a formal complaint about how the event was both judged and handled!! I'm not one to complain very often, and do not want to frighten any one with this blip, but it highlights that way too often people are judged harshly and scarily dismissed! Only complaints at least go some way to prevent re-occurrances of such behaviour!! God knows what state I'd be in if that event had been cardiac!! The shock of their response still horrifies and frightens me!!

After I got home, I really couldn't bear being alone to think about things too much, so took myself out with the above friend to take a few shots and eat a meal and chat...gererally! We had planned to meet anyway!! Now, though I feel glad I ate, my stomach remains horribly unsettled!! Thank goodness no pain though!!! I apologise for no comments tonight...I commented on a few while in the hospital, once they had given me something to settle things!! It took my mind off things!! Now I'm just too exhausted though!! I'll likely comment tomorrow, but on those blips, not today's!! Don't have it in me to do two days worth!! Thankyou...I hope you understand!!

And yeah for friends ...especially with smiley faces after a terrible day!! Thanks A!!!!! (dark obsidian!!)!!!! :-))



EDIT...please let me highlight that the nursing staff and medical staff could not have been better!! I'm not defending all such staff...many people including myself can retell awful experiences!! But as a nurse myself I often get pretty upset that we all get tarred with the same brush!! I am, as are my collegues, really committed to providing the best possible care! In today's incident the problem lay with the particular people taking the initial calls.....in particular, there was no excusing the first women's attitude...it appalled me, and I don't care if she handled drunken callers and was tired of them....every person in the end deserves respect!! I just don't want this blip to tar my hard working, very caring fellow collegues reputation!!!! There are many, many more great NHS staff out there than there are unprofessional ones!!! BELIEVE ME... I WORK WITH THEM!!!!!!!