A Hectic Morning...

Dearly Beloved awoke around 6am. He woke me at 10 to 7 saying he was breathless and had a tight chest. He was also sweating quite a bit.

He got dressed and sat on his chair as I made him a cup of tea. He didn’t look too well, but not nearly as bad as he has in the past. He’s been so well over the last few months. At one time I was calling an ambulance every couple of months… but he’s not had to go into hospital for about a year. Since his quadruple Bypass, it’s been chest infections that have necessitated a stay in hospital.

He’s been coughing a bit lately, but not as badly as he has in the past… But I thought we had better be safe than sorry. So I dialed 999.

The first to arrive were three men in a car from the Fire Station armed with breathing equipment. This is new to me. It used to be the fire truck, lights and sirens flashing, that turned up first. Our Fire Station is in the next village, so they can get here very quickly. The ambulances get called from Boston, which takes them a great deal longer to get to us. And if the Bridge is closed, they have to make a detour of several miles.

These cars are new to the Fire Service, I understand. It means they can get to a patient much quicker. I would say it also saves a lot of petrol. Poor men, I had got them out of bed to attend. How they got dressed and on the road to us so quickly, I’ll never know… but it was only 10 minutes from me putting the phone down to their arrival.

I offered them a cup of tea, but they wouldn’t accept. However they did let me turn the sound up on the TV as there was footie on. I know from their past visits that they like football (I hate it), so I turned the sound up till the Ambulance arrived about 15 minutes later.

Dave was a lot better after being on oxygen for about half an hour, but after a few more questions and gathering up his assortment of pills, he was wheeled out to the ambulance and carted off to King’s Lynn hospital.

I just rang the A & E department. They let me speak to Dave. It is a chest infection again. They won’t know if he’s had another heart-attack will they have his bloods back and have done some more tests. He said not to come up till he’s in the ward as they are pushing him around the different departments for his tests right now.

He’ll end up in MAU (Medical Assessment Unit) ward eventually. So I’ll go up with his over-night things later today. He’s got all his pills and potions with him. So there’s no panic. He had his insulin before he left the house and had a biscuit.

I might have guessed something would go wrong last evening. For the last few days he’s been in such a good mood… He’s been fun to have around. Then quite suddenly, he changed. I can always tell as the tone of his voice changes and he doesn’t really answer you properly. I thought, ‘Oh no! Not another flipping mood!’ I thought of packing up and going to my bedroom to sit it out. It’s the safest thing to do. But he decided to go into his bedroom… So I stayed up for a while longer. I heard him coughing quite a bit… more than he had been.

I am sick to death of nagging him to put a shirt when he goes out-side. He sits around the house with no shirt on all the time… But it can’t be doing him any good when he goes out-side? But he won’t listen. He keeps a coat in the back of the car… but won’t bother to put that on when he walks around the shops. It really has been very cold and damp up here in the Fens.

So he is now suffering with yet another chest infection. I am more relaxed now as I know he’s in the best place where he can be looked after properly. He’s 73 (74 next birthday in February), so he really does have to be a bit more careful with his health. But there’s no telling him!

I’ll keep you updated…