A long day, and a long blog post.
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| Longleat House |
Sally had a rough night, but we had a lovely breakfast and set off with the coach to Longleat. One of my distant relatives married into the Thynne family, so I'm distantly related to the Marquis - and after a tour of the house (with a borrowed wheelchair) we found the family tree and I found my relative (see pic). The rooms in Longleat House are amazing - and I took lots of photos of the fabulous ceilings. If I can dig out our family tree, I can show how I'm related (I will update the Sheppard Family History blog at some point).
Tired after the tour, I tried pushing Sally on her wheeler, but it wasn't really suitable as a wheelchair, so she slowly made it back to the coach at around 1.15. Climbing into the coach, which has very high steps, wasn't easy, and on the final step into the seating area her legs gave way and she collapsed downward. I and a helpful coach guest tried to lift her but the angle and dead weight made it impossible. She slid down and wedged her leg under the dashboard. This leg, by the way, is heavily bandaged as she has an ulcer.
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| Thynne Family Tree |
At 1.30 the Longleat Paramedic (we'll call him Joe) arrived, along with some other Longleat staff. The coach driver (we'll call him Mike) stayed with us as Joe assessed the situation and amazingly managed to manouevre Sally into the jump seat at the front. Sally was distraught that we were going to delay the coach from going round the safari park - but there was nothing to be done. We couldn't move her as she couldn't take her own weight on her legs, and we couldn't drive off with her in an unsafe seat.
Joe called for an ambulance - but we were told the waiting time was unknown and nothing was available. Mike sent the coach trip off around Longleat and they enjoyed the other attractions and, as darkness fell, the amazing light exhibition (which was also on the tour itinerary). Sally and I, with Mike, and Joe, sat on the coach - waiting. Joe phoned the ambulance a couple of times, but by 6pm there was still no sign or indication of any arrival. Having rested though in the seat, and with Joe and other Longleat staff's help, we managed to get Sally from the coach and into a wheelchair and she was taken to the First Aid room at Longleat where we were looked after by Joe and the duty manager, (we'll call her Hannah) in charge of visitors (she had a posh title, but I can't remember it) and another Joe. An eventual plan was hatched by Hannah that we could call a special taxi and get Sally to hospital that way. Taxi arrived promptly and with Joe's help, we got her in. As we wheeled from First Aid to the taxi pick up, Hannah and Joe 2 asked if we'd eaten (not since breakfast) and Joe 2 dashed off and returned with two sets of sandwiches, crisps and bottled water for us. I cannot fault how marvellously Longleat staff looked after us. They even arranged for the coach tour to come back so they could complete their Safari.
We arrived at the hospital at 8pm and after a speedy triage Sally was put on a trolly and we joined corridor care. Thankfully we were also moved into a bay reasonably quickly. Sally had her bloods taken (after several attempts), had an ECG and was monitored and observed regularly and the nurses were caring and helpful but rushed off their feet. We saw our first doctor at 12.45. At 4.20am the doctor came and told us that Sally had actually had a mild heart attack. We were all surprised as there were no signs at all. Apparently this is typical as women present very differently to men with heart problems. This doctor had her suspicions with the slightly abnormal ECG and some raised markers in her blood. Another doctor with twirly moustaches appeared and he and our first doctor did an echo scan of the heart which I watched. Good results, no signs of fluid around the heart, and no major issues - in fact it didn't really look like she had actually had a heart attack, but it was confirmed later that she had. I thought that was a good time to update Sheena, and it was lovely to be able to message with her on my phone.
I had managed 10 minutes kip in the chair by now and was flagging, Sally was nodding off every now and then but constantly woken by the automatic blood pressure cuff and other regular observations. At one point she had a blood pressure crash and went onto intravenous fluids and had her legs elevated - it felt critical, but she rallied. It was turning into a very long night. We were still in the Emergency Department High Care cubicle, but she was moved to the Medical Assessment Ward. By 9am we decided I should go back to the hotel and collect her things, and - on Sheena's insistence - get some rest. I took a taxi to the station, a two stop train ride (it was 10am but with the weird light and my lack of sleep it felt like 4pm) and then a taxi back to the hotel, I took a shower, changed my stoma bag and crashed for two or three hours. Sheena meanwhile drove from Suffolk to Swindon, and we then went back to the hotel for around 4.30pm.
It was a 4 1/2 hour drive to Swindon from home, and then another 45 minutes to the hospital - and the queues of traffic going into Bath were awful, but luckily we cut off beforehand to get to the hospital. We stayed with Sally and had updates from the nursing staff and one of the doctors and eventually left her to return to the hotel. We arrived in time for supper and Mike the coach driver (who I had kept up to date by text) and the others were all asking after Sally. Of course as soon as we arrived, one of the other coach passengers said 'Hello Sheena...'
The following day (Sunday) we went back to the hospital and spent more time with Sally. They weren't so worried about her heart, or the fluid on her lungs (new one), but the ulcer on her leg was worse so she was on intravenous antibiotics. We spent as much time as we could, had lunch in the hospital, and then set off after saying our goodbyes. The M4 was shut from Bath to Swindon, and our journey home took nearly 6 hours.
The doctors say Sally needs to have treatment for her leg for at least two weeks - probably intravenous but possibly oral, if she gets better enough. We are going to see if we can get her moved to our local hospital, but these things all take time. Message me for updates, or message Sally and cheer her up!
