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DH in hospital with Covid

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vampirequeen Tue 29-Dec-20 03:21:31

Sorry to post here but it's 3am and I need to vent and talk and I know that I won't wake anyone up but I can still get the words out.

DH has just been taken into hospital by two of the nastiest ambulance women I have ever met. They weren't bothered by how ill he is. There only concern was that we didn't have masks ....they're in the car...and we'd run out of paracetamol. FFS we've been ill for 8 days. It's not like we can nip out to the shops for some more.

Poor DH has been far worse than me and I've been really ill. It attacks you at your weakest points. He's had a terrible headache for days and today it got significantly worse. We phoned 111 yesterday and spoke to a doctor who reassured us but about 1am today he started to vomit and there was blood in it. So I phoned 111 again and they sent an ambulance.

At first I thought they weren't going to take him. They kept telling him he should have taken paracetamol even though we tried to explain that he'd tried it when the headache first started and it hadn't helped. They asked if he was sure he wanted to go to hospital because they'd only give him paracetamol and what was the point if he wouldn't take it. He never said he wouldn't take it. He said that it hadn't worked. Poor DH is incredibly dizzy too and they made him walk to the ambulance. I even asked them to help him and they just said he'd be OK. He nearly fell over the step due to being dizzy but they just carried on. I know they don't want Covid in their ambulances or in the hospitals but some people have to go and we didn't call them independently. We went through the system and let 111 make the decision.

So now I'm worried sick about DH cos he's on his own and I'm trapped cos I have Covid too. I can only wait for a phone call when he's well enough.

Sorry for the rant and the bad language but I needed to get it off my chest. The worry is bad enough without the anger I feel on top.

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Toadinthehole Wed 30-Dec-20 11:02:49

Fanny, from watching all the ‘Ambulance’ programmes over the last year, one particularly focussed on taking covid patients to hospital, we didn’t see any evidence of ‘ lower grade’ health professionals acting as paramedics, which is what we’re talking about. In the hospitals themselves....yes, I agree, everyone has had had to step up as it were. I understand what you’re saying, but at the end the end of the day, the patients must come first. When I was a nurse, we were always taught, how ever much we were frightened, it was far worse for the patient, and the way VQ and her husband were treated was just not on. We’ll have to just agree to disagree?.

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Luckygirl Wed 30-Dec-20 11:45:45

I have had cause to call in the ambulance folk several times in the last few years and they have been unfailingly kind and thoughtful, I am glad to say. On only one occasion did they do the wrong thing (in my opinion) but were still pleasant. They are so efficient and professional.

The problems start when you arrive at A&E.........

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FannyCornforth Wed 30-Dec-20 12:27:50

Ok Toad, thank you, it's a fraught area!
tchsmile

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dragonfly46 Wed 30-Dec-20 12:33:37

I have usually been more than happy with the paramedics who attended both my elderly parents, often in the middle of the night.

However, on the advice of my GP I rang 999 for my DH 5 years ago as he was very ill and I could not get him back into bed. The paramedic who came diagnosed flu and refused to take him to hospital. In the end he rang my GP who told he he had to take him in as I could not manage him. It turned out that he had Legionnaires disease and nearly died.

Not all paramedics are sympathetic.

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Luckygirl Wed 30-Dec-20 13:39:37

I find the paramedics tend to err on the safe side and nearly always take you in.

On one occasion they didn't, but rang for advice from consultant on duty in A&E first. Under normal circumstances I would have been taken in, but they had to weigh up covid risk vs heart risk.

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