Thursday 5 December 2019

Mike is rushed to hospital...

This morning was very cold and frosty and I took Sophie to Broughton to meet her manager because they were off to Birmingham to a Women's prison for an employability event.

I returned home and enjoyed a coffee before getting ready for work. Mike came into the bedroom while I was dressing and said he felt terrible. He sounded really wheezy. I told him to see Keith and went off to work.

Mid-morning I received a text from Mike to say he had called 111 (the NHS helpline number) and they had advised he go to A&E but Keith managed to get him an appointment at the GP surgery for 1pm. However, at the surgery, Mike felt really breathless so after seeing a nurse, they said he needed to go to hospital straight away. Keith drove him home, as Mike refused to go to the hospital and try and walk from the car park to A&E so Keith called an ambulance.

He then called me on the work phone line and Sara and Nicola told me to go home straight away. Sophie was about two minutes from the village, so I sped home to get her and we both dashed off to the hospital. I had actually passed Mike's ambulance and Keith in my car following, on the way home.

When Sophie and I arrived at A&E we were let through into the main part and found Mike and Keith waiting in the corridor with the Paramedics. Mike looked fine but had an oxygen tube in his nose. He had been taking selfies in the ambulance so he couldn't have been that bad!

Luckily a room became available and he was seen by a doctor. He was given a nebuliser to use and kept on oxygen while we waited to see what would happen. I felt really guilty but Mike looked absolutely fine. He wasn't pale or wheezing and was joking about and constantly messaging all his mates.

We waited with him and a nurse came to do things to him before they took him off for an x-ray. When he returned, he was taken to a tiny cubicle and a nurse came to take blood. We said we'd go home and then return as there was no room for all of us in the cubicle and it could be a couple of hours before a doctor would come and look at the results.

Keith followed me home through heavy traffic (it was 5pm) and after being home for about half an hour, Mike called to say they were keeping him in overnight and could we bring him some things. Sophie sorted out his phone charger, which was urgent as we needed to be able to keep in touch with him. Keith and I went back down while Sophie stayed at home.

Mike was still in the cubicle and was attached to the nebuliser again. We didn't know which ward he would be taken to but we found out it would be one of the new wards in the Nye Bevan building opposite A&E. We stayed until almost 8pm but there was no point hanging about as it could take ages for a doctor to come and see him and A&E was very busy indeed.

I felt terrible going home but he kept in touch with us all evening, including sending several selfies!

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