The Galling of Carl
Was woken from my sleep by the sound of Carl tossing and turning in the next room. Calliope was in there repeatedly standing on Carl's head too which didn't help. At 4pm I could hear Carl groaning, and asked him if he was alright.
Turns out he wasn't alright at all. He was in excruciating agony - and having pains in his stomach and chest. Got up and called the ambulance right away, struggling into my trousers as I talked to the emergency call handler. He was asking me if he was still breathing and so on. Carl was able to talk but was looking ashen, and very poor. The paramedics arrived fairly quickly and shortly after we went off to the ambulance at the end of the Twitten. Carl in absolute agony. There were lots of questions, and after he was jabbed with a rather agricultural needle in the arm was given some morphine. Fairly quickly, once they'd hooked him up, much to our relief it became clear that he wasn't having another heart attack. Carl much steadier and braver than I would have been I think.
Off to A&E in the ambulance after he had been dosed up with morphine. Arrived there about 4:20ish to the sound of a screaming woman, and Carl was pushed into a bay where he was seen by nurses and doctors, and he slipped in and out of a morphine induced sleep.
I went out at one point and was given a glass of water, otherwise was left sitting there with nothing do for the next four hours or so. Staring in a dazed half-asleep way at the curtain with strange patterns of atoms in it, listening to the various A&E conversations around me. A&E certainly is a lively place even at 5am. Eventually it occurred to me to ask where a vending machine was to be found, and at about 8am had the nicest cup of plastic tea I can remember.
Then Carl was sent off to the Clinical Decision Unit, where he spent the rest of the day. Initially they'd placed him on a chair and he was almost falling off it. Everyone assumed that Carl and I were gay, an impression only supported by me having to persuad the CDU nurse to give my "friend" a bed.
I went home for a nap and to regroup at about 10:30 in the morning. Fell into a deep sleep before Calliope woke me up ten minutes later by standing on my face, and I couldn't get back to sleep again. Lorraine came by in the afternoon and we drove back to the hospital. In the interim, Carl had developed a feud with the rather unsmiling nurse in the ward, and was busy being rude to her. The fact is he was still in severe pain, and being constantly asked things like "how would you rate your pain on a scale of 1-10" was badly getting on his nerves. However we still managed to have a good chat and Carl was laughing a lot, despite it being agonising. And it was top to have Lorraine there, and she and Carl got on very well. Lorraine struts about a bit in hospitals having been a ward sister and this is very reassuring.
Anyway, by the end of the day it had become clear a gallstone, lodged in the neck of an infected gall bladder had caused the trouble. Once it was clear Carl would be spending the night in the hospital, Lorraine and I drove home, via her place, and we had fish and chips. Then I had a long phone chat with Carl's wife Jayne, who was sounding fairly cheery considering. And found myself falling asleep on the sofa and was sent to bed by Lorriane.
Was woken from my sleep by the sound of Carl tossing and turning in the next room. Calliope was in there repeatedly standing on Carl's head too which didn't help. At 4pm I could hear Carl groaning, and asked him if he was alright.
Turns out he wasn't alright at all. He was in excruciating agony - and having pains in his stomach and chest. Got up and called the ambulance right away, struggling into my trousers as I talked to the emergency call handler. He was asking me if he was still breathing and so on. Carl was able to talk but was looking ashen, and very poor. The paramedics arrived fairly quickly and shortly after we went off to the ambulance at the end of the Twitten. Carl in absolute agony. There were lots of questions, and after he was jabbed with a rather agricultural needle in the arm was given some morphine. Fairly quickly, once they'd hooked him up, much to our relief it became clear that he wasn't having another heart attack. Carl much steadier and braver than I would have been I think.
Off to A&E in the ambulance after he had been dosed up with morphine. Arrived there about 4:20ish to the sound of a screaming woman, and Carl was pushed into a bay where he was seen by nurses and doctors, and he slipped in and out of a morphine induced sleep.
I went out at one point and was given a glass of water, otherwise was left sitting there with nothing do for the next four hours or so. Staring in a dazed half-asleep way at the curtain with strange patterns of atoms in it, listening to the various A&E conversations around me. A&E certainly is a lively place even at 5am. Eventually it occurred to me to ask where a vending machine was to be found, and at about 8am had the nicest cup of plastic tea I can remember.
Then Carl was sent off to the Clinical Decision Unit, where he spent the rest of the day. Initially they'd placed him on a chair and he was almost falling off it. Everyone assumed that Carl and I were gay, an impression only supported by me having to persuad the CDU nurse to give my "friend" a bed.
I went home for a nap and to regroup at about 10:30 in the morning. Fell into a deep sleep before Calliope woke me up ten minutes later by standing on my face, and I couldn't get back to sleep again. Lorraine came by in the afternoon and we drove back to the hospital. In the interim, Carl had developed a feud with the rather unsmiling nurse in the ward, and was busy being rude to her. The fact is he was still in severe pain, and being constantly asked things like "how would you rate your pain on a scale of 1-10" was badly getting on his nerves. However we still managed to have a good chat and Carl was laughing a lot, despite it being agonising. And it was top to have Lorraine there, and she and Carl got on very well. Lorraine struts about a bit in hospitals having been a ward sister and this is very reassuring.
Anyway, by the end of the day it had become clear a gallstone, lodged in the neck of an infected gall bladder had caused the trouble. Once it was clear Carl would be spending the night in the hospital, Lorraine and I drove home, via her place, and we had fish and chips. Then I had a long phone chat with Carl's wife Jayne, who was sounding fairly cheery considering. And found myself falling asleep on the sofa and was sent to bed by Lorriane.
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