Saturday 16 November 2013

Goodness me.....

We have had a very eventful mid-week here at Frugal in Norfolk.

Our 'ritual' on our walking days once everyone has gone home is to relax, have tea and toast, a bath, watch tv and go to bed. This week was very different.

I had just got out the bath and dressed in my nightie, whilst DB was making the tea and toast or so I thought. I walked through and he was just getting up from a chair.

"Are you alright?" "Yes, just felt a little dizzy, I'm fine now" and off he went to carry on with said tea and toast.

"Actually, it's coming back again" as I began to turn to get a chair, he keeled over. It wasn't a graceful sinking to the ground keeling over, no, it was similar to a tree being felled. Dead straight, straight forward in a straight line.

I couldn't even get to him before he hit the floor, forehead first, with a very sickening crack before the rest of him hit the floor with a resounding thwack! He landed a couple of inches from the opposite tiled wall, literally between the fridge/freezer and vegetable rack. Other than hitting a lino covered concrete floor, he couldn't have chosen a better place to land. I dread to think what would have happened if he had landed on the vegetable rack, being metal mesh!

Shock rooted me to the spot for a couple of seconds before J---- C----- emitted from my lips and I shot over to him, grabbing a handful of kitchen roll to mop up the blood. A quick ABC check ensued (airway, breathing, circulation) which showed he was still with me and several more seconds passed before he opened his eyes and said "Hello, what am I doing down here?"

It is amazing how quickly the mind operates once the sludge has cleared in these situations. Despite my nurse training kicking in, I could feel I was shaking and my heart and breathing were all over the place!

I ran for the BP cuff and monitor, attached it and pressed the button whilst holding the kitchen paper to stem the blood, all the while checking he was still awake. BP 81/47 Pulse 58. Not too bad considering, now on the floor, it should come back up. He wanted to get up but I refused, grabbed a blanket and a dressing gown to cover him. After 5 minutes, checked his BP. again. It was still dropping 65/39 Pulse 54. Not so good.

Time for an ambulance.

Such a split decision to make. Do I go to the land line in the front room and leave him, knowing the medic would be asking lots of questions or use DB's brand new mobile, which I wasn't sure how to use? Opted for the latter. Got thoroughly confused and he had to help bring up the dialling screen (good job he was by now a bit more with it).

Thinking I would remain calm when they answered, I blurted out "My husband has just collapsed, hit his head, and is bleeding" to which the operator replied "I understand madam, do you need, police, fire or ambulance?"
"Oh sorry" said I, "Ambulance please" - Honestly, I can feel myself starting to giggle at the thought of it as I type this up - :)

An ambulance car arrived in about 15 minutes (she was on her way back from another call). The 999 operator on the line once he had established everything was okay, told me help was on the way and did I need him to stay on the line. I said no as I needed to concentrate solely on DB, am resuscitation trained and promised to call them immediately if anything changed. Checking DB was still okay, I dashed off to get dressed in case we had to go to hospital.

DB was by now shaking with laying on a cold floor and shock. The paramedic was very good, took her time, checked him over thoroughly before we helped him onto a chair. The bleeding had by now stopped (I had also given him an ice pack to put on over the kitchen paper). He looked miles better.

Temperature up a little, slight crackle in a lower lung lobe, ECG and BP fine and normal. He had two more BP's done whilst walking and sitting, both fine. A second ECG once he stopped shaking was also fine. She wanted him to go to hospital just to have his cuts glued as she had just done two, used up all her glue and was going back to the hospital to get some more. DB didn't want to go and she was fine with that as she said he was fine and responding normally, not even any concussion! We opted for skin closing steri-strips. She wasn't too keen as they leave a larger scar but DB didn't care.

Duly cleaned and a dressing applied, she left after an hour, instructing him to take 3 lots of paracetamol every 6 hours for the pain. Finally, we were able to get into the warm front room and have a nice, hot cup of tea and a bowl of cereal with hot milk! He went to bed and I prayed nothing would happen during the night!

Here he is just after she left!
Doesn't look too bad at the moment, does it?

Part Two next time...

22 comments:

  1. Blimey what a shock for you, hope he is OK, sounds like some tests may be needed

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    1. We both felt off kilter for the next day or so but are both just about back to normal. The doctor thinks it was a session of fainting due to his blood pressure being too low. If anything else happens, we have to go back quickly but if not, back in 1 month to check his new regime of BP tablets are set at the correct level.

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  2. Oh goodness- so glad you were there for him! Thoughts and prayers with you both, hope tey sort out the BP issue quickly. What a blessing the paramedic was close by. xx

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    1. Good job she was although 15 minutes felt like a lifetime!

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  3. Oh my word Dc! So glad that he is okay now, and hope it is just the new tablet regime. I've been so fortunate not to have had any adverse reactions/ side effects with any of my BP/ heart meds.
    I bet hubby's eye looks a lot worse before it looks better.
    Take care, both of you. Love xx

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    1. Thank you Scarlet. He has been stable on his current meds for over a year. However, we had noticed his BP was beginning to settle under the 120 mark of late, so had planned on going to get them revised.

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  4. Dear Lord what a fright! I hope all is well, and nothing untoward going on in the background. Lucky you knew the ropes and kept a clear head - not easy when it is your own, other people's ailments always easier to deal with.Lx

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    1. You are quite right, it is different when it is one of your own. He seems fine at the moment although we didn't go anywhere for the rest of the next day just in case. Had to go out 2 days later though as he was going stir crazy!

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  5. What an awful shock. I hope all is well and continues to be.

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    1. Thank you. So far so good, fingers crossed Dan.

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  6. What an awful fright for you! So glad you were there for him and I hope he is ok now. Take care

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    1. I am also glad I was at there and it happened at home, dread to think of him being injured and just lying there.

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  7. You are probably right and it was his blood pressure, however, my hubby took several dizzy spells a couple of years ago when we were down in Harrogate for a trade show and he ended up in hospital overnight as they began to worry about a stroke but although he had an MRI (several weeks later) they could find nothing to explain it and then after months he saw a different doctor at a check up who said it was migraine induced vertigo. This seems to be a little known condition where you get a migraine but it does not necessarily cause a headache. I'm not sure if I can put a link on here to a story we read about in the mail a year or so after it happened to us. My husband did not suffer exactly the same as this girl and I think it might be because we were away from home and therefore had no option but to go to the hospital with the symptoms which meant he had to sit fairly still for several long periods of time in A&E. At home he might not have and would have possibly waited to see his own doctor. Anyway, as I said it might not be anything like the same as yours but I thought it worth mentioning to you. I hope he's well and continues to remain so. xx http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2164600/The-dizzy-spells-actually-migraines--headache.html

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    1. Thanks for that. Have just read it, not the same. Just asked him some questions and he says now, rather than feeling dizzy, it was light-headedness. Other than that absolutely no other symptoms.

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  8. I have had a couple of sessions like that with my DH. He had low B/P before his new heart valve. It's a different matter when it's one of your own. I thinking training goes out the windowl lol
    Hope all will return to normal soon.

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  9. What a shock. So glad like you say that you were at home and in a reasonably safe environment and trained to know just what to do, you handled it so well and probably made a scary time for him much more bearable. I hope they get his tablets set at a better level to stabilise his blood pressure so it doesn't happen again. It sometimes takes this sort of scare to make us appreciate our normal good health.

    Glad everything seems okay now. How long do we have to wait for part two .... I'm on the edge of my chair!!

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    1. Thank you Sue - posting second part now.

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  10. Gosh how worrying :( Good you are trained - I am so glad I am as well ( not nurse, but a First aider plus lots of extras, due to my work in the outdoors with children) My DH had a very bad turn this time last year and I had to keep him going until the medics got here - I remember thinking it was one thing doing it to a resusi Annie - another thing doing it to your Dearly Beloved.

    I hope all is ok now and you can get the BP medication adjusted so this does not happen again.

    xxx

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    1. My resuscitation training was done by St. John's as they barely touched on it during training. Glad I didn't need to do though, must have been a bigh shock for you.

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  11. Just catching up with my reading and spotted your later posts. Just wanted to say what a fright this must have been and hope all okay now. Will read the updates later tonight.
    Patricia x

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    1. Yes it was a fright but all seems okay at the moment.

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