Not the way to spend Sunday

You definitely don't want to spend a sunny Sunday in A and E, either as a patient or a relative.  But, after the Pri-mate suffered chest pains  in the morning after volunteering to walk up the hill to get milk and bread from the shop, that's exactly what happened.  When he came home, looking decidedly dodgy, I rang our GP for advice and she promptly rang for an ambulance.  Although we live in quite a remote rural area (nearest hospital almost an hour's drive) within minutes a First Responder arrived laden with gear and quickly had him pinned down and attached to a heart monitor.  About 30 minutes later paramedics arrived in an ambulance, did an ECG print-out and we were soon being whirled away under blue lights and sirens.

A and E on a Sunday is a crowded melee of rugby and football players clutching arms, heads and legs, dripping blood and mud on the floor in equal quantities.  A group of DIY enthusiasts who had either fallen off ladders or tried to remove parts of their anatomy with stanley knives, sat or lay on trolleys glumly in the corridors.  A queue of ambulances at the door delivered more casualties to a department already full.  We had nothing but admiration for the staff as they cheerfully tried to cope.

By early evening Neil was feeling better, the heart monitor showing normal readings, but he was ordered to remain in resuss until blood tests and x-ray results came back.  Then he was told that he would have to remain in hospital overnight 'just in case' and for more tests.  The mere thought of it made him feel so ill he instantly discharged himself.  Good friends collected us and we staggered back home to our own bed.    He's fine this morning, but should (of course) have stayed in hospital as a precaution.  But he's hospital phobic and of the opinion that only the really sick should be in there, which (of course) doesn't include him!![image error]