you know you are an experienced ambulance chaser when…

Though our medical adventure is normal to us, it seems to not be exactly typical. Even for people living through crazy medical rides, we seem to stand out a little. Like others, we are experienced ambulance chasers and people adept at hallway vigils.

We know the drill.

  • dial 911
  • stay calm and give the facts
  • remove the dogs from the house before the ambulance arrives
  • make sure the door is unlocked
  • grab medication
  • throw clothes on
  • when the professionals have the situation under control, leave for the hospital

and that is a typical ambulance chaser.

As my husband’s situation became more serious, there are a few situations that have me come to the conclusion that I am possibly not even a typical ambulance chaser.

In the last 25 years, I  have run behind and sometimes ahead of an ambulance a fair number of times, more or less at least once a year. Most of the times, I was racing to see what my husband’s condition was. What I found was sometimes quite all right and other times  not so good.

His last ambulance ride was at his last seizure. He had actually been seizure free for over two years, not only status- free,  but completely seizure free.

Then one day, in honour of our girl coming home from university for the summer, it happened. He seized. Worried about it turning into a status and no longer having any medication that could help us, I called for an ambulance; just in case.

When the ambulance technicians came in, my husband was already coming around and able to say his name. The technicians asked if they should transport him to the hospital and my man did not see the necessity. I asked him to get checked out because of the unexpected seizure. I was sure that he would simply be checked out and sent home with said medication.

Oh, how wrong I was!

The doctor did his interview. He asked if J-M had been hospitalised. My husband told him of his 6 brain surgeries and his statuses. The emergency room doctor listened intently. He then stated that J-M’s case was too intense for him. The doctor refused to keep my husband but also refused to release him. He was having J-M transferred to another hospital where J-M’s neurologist regularly did rounds. he could not do so at the time because of the late hour. My husband was to be transferred the next morning. He basically refused to have J-M released until there was proof of an appointment with J-M’s regular neurologist. The emergency room doctor explained, he did not want anyone else playing with my husband’s medication.

Just imagine; J-M’s case was too intense for an emergency room doctor in the developped world. Add to that, this time J-M was not only conscious and respondent but actually argumentative.

All I could think was: funny. Isn’t it funny that the emergency room doctor at the hospital did not feel up to the challenge. They had access to medication to stop the seizure if it turned into a status. They could intubate him if the status was so intense that he would stop breathing again.

Doctors have also had me come in to witness potentially deadly seizures. In one such case, the nurse tried to medicate him through an already existing intravenous drip but his body became so rigid that the medication did not go in on the first attempt.

What was I to do with him at home or on a drive if he were to have a seizure if two different hospitals had issues controlling the situation with all their tools?

At least the doctor’s understanding of the situation made me feel less foolish to have asked J-M to go to the hospital.

But…it begs to question; Are we up a creek without a paddle if when J-M seizes the emergency room doctor finds his case too heavy? How are the kids and I to deal with it? What support will be out there for us?

We took that situation in stride, as we have learned to do throughout the years. In retrospect the doctor’s reaction helps me understand that J-M’s case is a little unreal. It is amazing to see everything J-M has gone through as we rode on his ride too. I am grateful we have come out the other side.

I guess the situation now officially makes me an experienced ambulance chaser.

Please join us next week for THE SPOUSE.

Feel free to drop me a line or a question.