You may remember the trouble that I had with the people who ran the shop next door.

Basically it ended up with me arrested because they accused me of some thing I didn't do. I know most people say that but in my case it was true.

The case was dropped as the police couldn't find any proof (strangely enough).

Anyway I decided I was going to move house and have been decorating hard to that end. The shop however has been uncharacteristically quiet. It's been lovely.

Then I read in the local paper that they had been proscicuted for selling alchohol to a minor in a police sting operation and that there was another prosicution pending for selling outside their licensing hours. 

Ha!!!

And then two weeks ago two men in suits were changing the locks. The shop had been repossesed by the owner.

Again Ha!!!

I felt happy and a little smug. Wrong of me I know, but I don't care.

I'm still going to move though  

A busy set of nights.

Well, its always busy but these were busier than normal. They also seemed to be having an "Open mike" night up in control. There were a lot of voices on the radio that We didnt recognise and to be frank they were doing some strange things. Maybe they were inviting people off the street to have a go. I jest.

The theme for the weekend seemed to be drunk teens. Young boys who had drunk far too much and collapsed where they were. We get called by the friends who can't get them home. So they spend a night sleeping in casualty wearing a nappy.

If that doesn't put them off the demon drink then nothing will.

Every teen has the right to get drunk at least once. Its a right of passage thing. There will be consequences though

It's been wet (as you have probably noticed) so by the time we get there they are usually lieing in a puddle and are freezing cold.

Now, first aiders are a good thing. I think everybody should know first aid. But drunk first aiders are a pain in the arse and pottentially dangerous.

One of our drunk teenagers was in a heap in the gutter. His drunk friends were surrounding him and were, frankly, hysterical. The patient was thrashing round, trying to be sick and yelling.

The first aider ran over to us and said "He stopped breathing so I did some chest compressions"

I doubt very much that he did stop breathing and chest compressions can be very dangerous. In CPR they are used to simulate a heart beat, so you can imagine what could happen to a heart thats already beating.

By this point I had worked about thirty hours in the last 3 nights and had maybe ten hours sleep so you can imagine my frame of mind. I walked away.

The boys mum arrived at this point so we took them both to hospital.

All over now though   

We had the big boss out with us last night. It was an interesting experience with a good mix of jobs ( thanks to control ).
During the night we had, how shall I put it, a frank exchange of views. I hope he came away with some idea of how we feel about things and I have an understanding of his views on things.

 Anyway, he went home about twoish. And after lunch (about 4ish) we got a call to a man collapsed in the street. We both guessed quite quickly what was going on. Drunk, warm night, lay down to have a sleep.

We get there and he was indeed asleep. I woke him and he stood up quickly and went and stood in the middle of the road. Even at this time in the morning that isn't a recommended plan. I asked his name and he said "gasfhnsvdgdhs"

Now this was interesting. He was either drunk, stoned, or very cold. We got him in the back of the ambulance, shooed the bystanders away and tried to examine him

He was making more sense now. Sort of.

He wouldnt let us examine him because we couldn't prove (to his satisfaction) that we worked for the ambulance service. We pointed out the uniforms, we pointed out the big yellow and white thing that he was sitting in. No joy.

Eventually he went on his way. He was very polite but just wouldn't belive we were an ambulance crew. 

There he is. You usually see him out of the corner of your eye, stalking the corridors and empty rooms of the hospital searching for his prey. 

He used to be a member of staff, but he left to pursue this greater calling. It is his destiny, and his alone, to provide the hospital with what it needs.

Once a month he sets forth. He knows his prey well. He knows their habits. He knows that this is their spawning time and he knows where their spawning ground is situated.

They are cunning and he knows that the hunt will be hard but he knows that he will prevail.

He heads for CCU where he will spread his nets and await their arrival.

It is a hard life but it is his calling. For He is:

The Pillow Hunter. 

Paradoxically, burns hurt less the more serious they are. So when the chap that we went to see this afternoon said that they were quite sore, we were slightly relieved.

He had been lighting a bonfire and had used petrol to get it going. It got going all right. A big ball of orange flame met him full on.

When we arrived he had his arm and head under the garden hose, cooling it off. This was exactly the right thing to do and will probably save him from any serious scaring.

We used our burns dressings, which are soaked in tea tree oil and smell really nice, and gave him some pain relief.

We got him to hospital and he should make a good recovery. But I bet he feels really silly. 

Its funny how a "proper" job can make you feel a bit better about yourself.

We got called out to a 80 year old man with chest pains. Now, peoples definitions of "chest pain" is not always the same as our definition so we weren't expecting it to be anything much when we arrived. The man walking out to meet us reinforced that impression quite nicely.

The symptoms he discribed weren't classic cardiac symptoms. But he was in a lot of pain through something

We did a few tests which didn't show much conclusive. Then we did an ECG ( a heart tracing) and discovered he was having a heart attack.

This was a classic "Oh F**k" moment. We started moving in a higher gear. There are certain treatments that have to be given to people who are having a heart attack.

An aspirin (to thin the blood), a spray of GTN (Glyceryl Tri-nitrate) under the tongue (to widen the blood vessels) and oxygen to ease the workload on the heart.

This was done in quick succesion. Then because my crewmate was a paramedic we were able to give him a "clotbusting" drug which would hopefully stop the heart attack in its tracks. Then to follow up we gave him something for the pain.

We told him what we were doing as we did it and he seemed very calm about the whole thing. In fact he was so calm about the situation he wasn't sure that he needed to go hospital afterwards.

We explained that he did

We hotfooted it to the Cardiac care unit and by the time we got there, the pain was going, his ECG was returning to normal and his blood pressure was going down.

So there you have it. A seriously ill man with a potentially life limiting illness and we cured him. Simple as that. Because we got the drug into him and got him to hospital within a very short space of time he stands a good chance of making a recovery 

Breathing appeared to be a bit of a problem for the first part of the shift.

Not for us you understand. More for the first few people we saw. Although technically only one of them was having an actual problem.

Off to a big computer company to a 31 year old who was feeling a bit tight chested. Now he looked pale and was VERY sweaty. These are both flags for some sort of heart problem. He was a big fella as well. We gave him a full MOT. Everything, including a heart tracing, was fine. He said he still felt rough so we took him in.

On our arrival at casualty we were in a very long queue. He was in a wheel chair and started flopping, telling me how worried he was and how he thought it might have been an allergic reaction (he was showing no signs at all). This went on for a while. I think he was just very stressed about something. The hospital did all their tests and sent him away.

Then to a lady who was worried that if she coughed she would stop breathing. We explained that this was impossible, sat her down and talked through waht was going on. Again she was very stressed about something. We settled her down and she started to feel a lot better. Hubby was dispatched to get her some cough mixture and we left.

Then to a chap who had emphysema. This is a very nasty disease that, basically, causes the lungs to slowly fill up with fluid. There is no cure and you have a tendancy to get lung infections. That is exactly what had happened here. We gave him a nebuliser, which helped and took him to hospital. The problem here is that they will cure the infection, send him home and the whole thing will start again.

The night finished off, as all good nights finish off, with a drunken pole lieing in the street.

A bit better. Not as stupidly busy although it didn't look like that to start with. The waiting room at casulaty was heaving early in the evening.

Nothing much to write about either. Only a couple of jobs stand out.

We went to, we'll call it, Poshtown, about five miles north of where we normally work. The single responder was there dealing with a chap who had fallen out of bed. He needed some help.

When we got there we saw why. The man was huge. The three of us man (and woman) handled him back into a sitting position on his bed. However when left to his own devices he kept leaning to the left. Also his left leg and arm didn't seem to be working.

He needed to be in hospital because it was beginning to look like he had had a stroke.

Getting him downstairs was an adventure but on the journey back he started to get feeling back. Hopefully it was just a temporary episode.

Then a bit later we were sent to a small village just south of Poshtown. As we both know the area we were playing the game of visualising the house and surroundings before we got there. My crewmates comment was "Two Mercedes in the drive"

That was absoulutely spot on. We entered the house. The patient had had an opertion recently to remove some kidney stones and it looked like he had an infection.

He told us that his consultant had told him to call an ambulance because he needed to be in hospital now.

Yes, he had an infection, yes I'm sure it hurt and yes his consultant probably told him to go to hospital.

But. We were just a taxi for this man. There was nothing we were going to do for him, nothing we could do for him, except give him a lift. There was no reason why he couldn't have got himself to hospital. Probably two or three hours wait wouldn't have hurt him. He could have even driven himself there.

Are we own worst enemies here? The fact that we take people like this to Hospital possibly encourages them. Is charging the answer or better education?

I don't know.   

A bit different from last night. Very very busy.

I was working with CeeBee which is always a pleasure.

It started  sort of averagely (for a Saturday). A young man with the flu, a lovely old lady (an ex-nurse) who said she didn't want to be a bother but didn't feel quite right. I took her blood pressure and it was sky high.

And then, and then. BAM. The town decided it wanted to be in Hospital. Casualty was full. We were queing 6 deep out of the door.

We were called to someone who was reported to have been hit by a car. We arrived to find the 22 year old boy lieing in the road surrounded by 20 odd of his cronies. The girls were crying and the men were cursing and looking for someone to hit.

We were greeted with "You took your f**king time.". Now from the time we received the call to the time we arrived on scene was 6 minutes so I don't think we did badly. I really, really wanted to answer him back but didn't.

We got to examine the patient, he was saying that everything hurt. He started swearing at me. I couldn't find anything wrong but we put him on a spinal board because we didn't know what had happened to him. He was probably drunk but we couldn't be sure.

Took him to hospital and he started abusing the nurses. The doctor examined him and found nothing wrong so he was ejected with no ceremony.

We started work at half past six and were on the go constantly until five to four in the morning. No breaks, no stopping.

What with all this and everything else thats going on at the moment with my job. I'm starting to wonder if its still worth it    

Friday night...Full moon.....Payday....Warm night.....no rain

It had all the makings of a busy night.

But it wasn't.

First job was to a two year old who was having an allergic reaction to an insect bite. It was the second time in the last few months that this had happened and his mum was understandably a little scared. His face and throat had swollen and he had gone very quiet (never a good sign with kids)

As they lived in a village  a way to the north it took us a while to get there.

After the last episode, mum had gone out and bought some Piriton and as soon as the childs face had started to swell she had given him some. So by the time we got there he was feeling much better. 

I just want to congratulate this lady on doing the right thing. She saw what was wrong and treated it. She wanted us there to check him over and give her some reassurance, which we did. So well done to her.

Then to an old lady who was reported to be having breathing difficulties. We arrived and it was blatently obvious that she wasn't. She was making a grunting noise with her throat but her lungs were clear as a clear thing. It turns out that she was tryning to emotionaly blackmail her family.

That was a difficult one because although we knew that there wasn't a great deal wrong with her the tests and observations we need to do to prove what we know may make her think it was a good way to get attention

If you see what I mean.

Then back to base with a divert through town to see what was going on. Very very busy but they were all behaving

Remarkable   

15 year old girl, seen to have fitted by her family, has been unwell allday with a stomach ache.

We get there, an end terrace in one of the less solubrious parts of the western end of town. We'll say it is "up on the hill"

Check list:

No wallpaper...check

No carpet....check

Assorted white goods in the front garden...check

46 inch plasma TV....check

Stairs so full of rubbish that you have to sidle up.....check

Piles of dirty washing on the floor....check

The young lady in question is in bed. "Hello," we say and she says "gdfergsvhdj"

We get the gist of what has happened from her mum. It did sound like she had fitted but the question was why. She had never fitted before so it was something new. All her observations appeared normal but she was still talking gibberish and was quite combative. Normally we would have given her some oxygen but she wouldn't have it.

Her family insisted that she hadn't taken any pills and wouldn't have done so. We noticed that she appeared to be hallucinating.

Then she punched me.

It wasn't a hard punch and it wasn't a great surprise so it didn't hurt. At all, actually.

We got her downstairs with a bit of difficulty and on the stretcher. She wasn't keen on staying on it and as they are a good 4 feet off the ground we were quite keen she stayed on it.

Got her to hospital. What was going on? If I was to make an educated guess it was that either she had taken something and was tripping or she had a raging infection brewing up. By the time we had finished, the hospital hadn't got her blood test results back so I don't know. Maybe I'll find out tomorrow