An eventful evening. Our friends came with us to A&E. As I said, Hubby had a very heavy fall, bashed his chest, and sustained more than one head wound. One was particularly nasty and would require sealing, hence the trip to A&E. A nice young couple came to our assistance. They got a chair for Hubby and a lot of paper cloths to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. The girl was a nurse, and she was very strict with Hubby that, like it or not, this is a head injury that needs attention. He eventually conceded. She also applied padding and bandages before we set off. When we got there and he was triaged, they confirmed the headwound needed attention, but because he was experiencing chest pain, they wanted an ECG, too. Cut a long story short. We persuaded our friends to go back to the hotel at 1am. to get some sleep. I obviously remained with Hubby. We were there until 4.35 am. What happened was he had an irregular ECG, which sparked off all kinds of alarm bells. While we were there, he had a CT scan of his head, the wound was glued and sterile stripped, 2 ECGs, full obs every 30 mins, chest X Ray, and 2 lots of bloods
I'm glad to say they ruled out heart attack from the bloods (they reckon the irregularity is something that's always been there). No concussion or bleed on the brain. They reckoned the chest pain was from the fall, but to be 100% sure, they wanted to rule out a pulmonary embolism. As a result, he got a blood thinning jab, and we were told to return the next day for yet another CT scan.
We collapsed into bed at 4.50am. Hospital then rang at 10 am to ask us to get back there for 1.30pm so he could be prepped for a CT scan to check for blood clots. We'd missed breakfast. Hubby didn't feel much like eating, but I needed something with my meds. My legs were agony, too. Found a little cafe nearby where I got a wonderful Polish breakfast. Hubby only had coffee. Uber back to hospital.
He had to get a cannula fitted so they could inject dye. Unfortunately, the young nurse missed with the first one, and because of the blood thinning jab, we got a bleeder, which I spotted first. Panic over, cannula in other arm, scan carried out. It was very busy, though. Hubby was getting a bit fraught, worrying they'd found something serious while I was trying to convince him that it was busy, they would assess the scans in order. Be patient! They did offer food, but again, he wasn't hungry.
We eventually saw the doctor at 6.30. No embolism! He did say that there were some emphysemic signs on the lungs and to go see his GP when we get back as he may benefit from an inhaler. He said this is very common among ex smokers. He also mentioned fatty deposits in the arteries, to which I muttered, cholesterol/statins! Hubby was asking what's that, and the Doc just said - just what your wife said. See your GP and get started on statins. I've since told him we can make changes to his diet too.
Panic over, we had to go straight to the restaurant to meet up with everyone. We were shattered, and it was a source of great amusement that we were both drinking water only. We slipped away after the main course as sleep was getting essential.
He's a bit bruised and battered. Black eyes appearing, still not eating much, but he is drinking water. He still has chest pain but is a lot happier knowing it's from the fall.
I have to say, A&E to the early hours is an experience, but once alarm bells ring, they can't do enough. Even although we were there hours. Something was always happening, and the waiting was all about test results. He's certainly had quite a MOT.