Back On An Ambulance
So my first week back on an ambulance is over. The station I now work out of used to be known as the “Olympic flame” because it supposedly never went out, but not anymore. It has to be said that the vast majority of the jobs were genuine, although I did do three visits to the maternity wing at the local hospital. One of the reasons for this is if we go to a woman who is more than 20 weeks pregnant, then we take them to their booked maternity unit regardless of what they’ve called us for.
The first one was a blatant maternataxi. It was the girl’s second baby, she’d had a “show” (which is the plug of bloody mucus that seals the cervix closed during pregnancy coming away) a week before. Now her waters had broken half an hour ago, but she wasn’t having any contractions. She still had hours if not longer before baby was to be born. I asked if she had spoken to the hospital – thinking they may have asked her to come in, but no.
The look on her face was brilliant when I told her she’d more than likely be sent home – hopefully with a flea in her ear from the staff for calling an ambulance.
The other two were more genuine. A lady had fallen downstairs and had pain in her bottom (I resisted the urge to say “Oh, so you’ve got a pain in the bum!”), but although she had no pain in her abdomen and there’d been no bleeding, she hadn’t felt baby move for longer than normal, so she’d rung her GP who’d told her to call an ambulance.
The third was a lady with back pain. She’d had problems with kidney stones before, and this felt similar. We did all the usual checks, and I had a listen to her breathing. The breath sounds on the right were quieter than on the left. At first, I thought it was just my hearing, so I got my crewmate to have a listen and he agreed. The levels of oxygen in her blood were good, and she had no chest pain.
So they were our three visits to maternity. As well as those, we’ve had an old man having a serious stroke – ended up in ITU, a man who decided it would be fun to drink 2 bottles of surgical spirit and was unconscious, a man who was well liked in his community had been found passed away – he was terminally ill, and a woman who threatened to commit suicide because her bank wouldn’t give her any money.
There were a few others as well, but I can’t remember what they were. So all in all, a reasonable mix of calls.
I’ve taken leave this week, and I’m going home to Lincolnshire to visit family and friends, so there’ll be a lack of posts this week and I may be a little slow approving any comments, but I’ll try to log in once a day.
Have a good week!
The first one was a blatant maternataxi. It was the girl’s second baby, she’d had a “show” (which is the plug of bloody mucus that seals the cervix closed during pregnancy coming away) a week before. Now her waters had broken half an hour ago, but she wasn’t having any contractions. She still had hours if not longer before baby was to be born. I asked if she had spoken to the hospital – thinking they may have asked her to come in, but no.
The look on her face was brilliant when I told her she’d more than likely be sent home – hopefully with a flea in her ear from the staff for calling an ambulance.
The other two were more genuine. A lady had fallen downstairs and had pain in her bottom (I resisted the urge to say “Oh, so you’ve got a pain in the bum!”), but although she had no pain in her abdomen and there’d been no bleeding, she hadn’t felt baby move for longer than normal, so she’d rung her GP who’d told her to call an ambulance.
The third was a lady with back pain. She’d had problems with kidney stones before, and this felt similar. We did all the usual checks, and I had a listen to her breathing. The breath sounds on the right were quieter than on the left. At first, I thought it was just my hearing, so I got my crewmate to have a listen and he agreed. The levels of oxygen in her blood were good, and she had no chest pain.
So they were our three visits to maternity. As well as those, we’ve had an old man having a serious stroke – ended up in ITU, a man who decided it would be fun to drink 2 bottles of surgical spirit and was unconscious, a man who was well liked in his community had been found passed away – he was terminally ill, and a woman who threatened to commit suicide because her bank wouldn’t give her any money.
There were a few others as well, but I can’t remember what they were. So all in all, a reasonable mix of calls.
I’ve taken leave this week, and I’m going home to Lincolnshire to visit family and friends, so there’ll be a lack of posts this week and I may be a little slow approving any comments, but I’ll try to log in once a day.
Have a good week!
written on the PRF by Steve at 9:13 am
3 Comments:
"Olympic flame" that is pure gold. Well, it made me laugh anyway. Have a good break away from the madness!
Enjoy your leave :)
"There were a few others as well, but I can’t remember what they were." Excellent. I don't know how you remember any of them. You must take notes as you go along. I couldn't remember a single job from the previous day, let alone a week later.
Post a Comment
<< Home