Call an Ambulance when there is Loss of Consciousness

A week ago, last Sunday evening, I dialled 999 in a panic looking for an ambulance. (I was watching television when I heard a thud as Graham hit the ground) Luckily, the person at the other end of the phone was very calm and talked me through what to do as he was regaining consciousness:

1 Do not let him move or sit up.

2 Put him in the recovery position.

3 Do not give him anything to drink.

Graham had been out for what seemed for ages, but in reality was probably only a minute. When he ‘came to’ initially he was dazed and confused and unaware of what happened.

When the two paramedics arrived I was calmer (well, a little less frantic anyway) and they could not have been more wonderful. Re-assuring and kind, they examined and questioned Graham and whisked him off to Beaumont Hospital. I naively thought we could wait and go to the doctor.

No, this was a loss of consciousness for about a minute and required hospitalisation and immediate investigation.

IF THERE IS LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS CALL AN AMBULANCE!

A & E was very busy but Graham had lots of tests including an ECG, a brain scan and an X-ray by 4 am. (His head had hit a tiled floor). The staff in Beaumont Hospital A&E were superb: cheerful, efficient, helpful, re-assuring.

This had happened on the Sunday night of a bank holiday weekend in Ireland.

More tests on the Monday (including an ultrasound check) were followed with a 24-hour heart monitor on the Tuesday night when he had another ‘episode’ (his heart stopped briefly and he had another blackout) the next day right in front of the cardiologist who was visiting him at that precise moment!

Whisked off to the Coronary Care Unit, he was brilliantly looked after (a couple of minor episodes also occurred) until he had a pacemaker fitted the following morning and was home that evening.

It is incidents such as this that makes you take stock and count your blessings. I wrote a post last year about how to stay married 35 years without killing your husband. It was a little tongue-in-cheek but contained many truths.

In fact, Graham also wrote a reply which you can read here.

Marriage/living together with a partner is not always easy. It requires commitment, forgiveness (or a bad memory), patience, a sense of humour and most of all it requires LOVE.

I got a huge fright last Sunday when I found Graham unconscious on the floor and I am grateful we have been given more time together. Life is not a dress rehearsal so live the life you have got!

I have covered this on Facebook and Instagram, but I know that hundreds of you do not do social media and are email only subscribers, which is why I have written this post on the blog.

Thank you everyone for all of your messages of support. It has meant a lot. This scare has made us realise that we are not infallible. We do have regular blood tests and I have had regular mammograms, cervical checks and I had a dexa scan which you can read about here.

We pride ourselves on our fitness, but now we both realise that we need to be more proactive with our health check-ups and I will be recording it all on the blog.

Do share with your friends.

Stay healthy and thank you for reading.