Posted on 02/02/2007 4:42:31 AM PST by 60Gunner
I wish I had a nickel for every patient who drove himself/herself to the hospital when they experienced chest pain and shortness of breath and wound up having a heart attack. I'd be living on my own private island in French Polynesia right now.
Note to all and sundry: if you are having chest pain, nausea, sweating, weakness, palpitations, or shortness of breath- or any combination of one or more of those symptoms- CALL 911. DO NOT DRIVE YOURSELF TO THE HOSPITAL.
This may seem silly to someone who only lives five or ten minutes away from a hospital. But if you have those symptoms, it indicates that your heart is already being starved of oxygen (myocardial ischemia). If your heart is ischemic, you may be only seconds away from that heart muscle actually dying (myocardial infarction).
Not minutes, people; seconds. All it takes to convert your chest pain from ischemia to infarct is a shift of that clot by a distance that could fit easily on the head of a pin.
If that happens while you are driving yourself to the ER, you will not only be hurting yourself. You will also harm anyone standing in the path of your vehicle as you lose control. It's happened. I encountered such a person on one of my days off when he rear-ended me at an intersection. I got out to give him a piece of my mind and ended up performing CPR. On my day off. Don't drive yourself!
And don't get a friend or loved one to drive you, either. You may avoid hitting another car when your heart stops, but your friend will be a little distracted by your agonal breathing and will have to live with the guilt forever. Don't do that to your friend or loved one.
Medic units are trained to give care within minutes of the call and to transport you to the ER safely, while providing continuing progressive care for you all the way there. They exist for this reason. USE THEM.
Oh, and here are two more good reasons to let EMS take you to the ER:
1: The Medic Unit can run through red lights without getting stopped by a policeman who doesn't know you are dying;
2: Traffic will get out of the way of the Medic Unit- one way or another.
So when you have symptoms of a heart attack, call 911. Soon, you will be traveling quickly and safely to the ER while passing the corpses of those unfortunate souls who chose to drive themselves and died on the way.
Next time make a dramatic entrance, come in the ER door groaining, clutching your chest and collapse in front of the admission clerk. You will get taken directly back to the ER.
Must suck to live your city
Ride an ambulance and live
Save money and die......
I guess you could always give a fake name - like they do up here.
Joe Dokes (Pssst Maria, where is little Jose?")
ER Tech "Ah Mr Dokes, is that spelled with an 'a'?"
Joe "Que? No, I mean, yes, an 'a'."
ER Tech "Tenga por favor un asiento, un doctor estará con yu pronto"
Joe "Thanks. Uh, do I have to show insurance card? You know back home this kind of visit is free"
ER Tech "Have a nice day." Walks off.
Make those Spainish classes from high school pay off.
She had been in a post-op room with lots of empty beds. But she was told she couldn't stay there and had to go back to the ER. I think they should have kept her there until a bed became available in the ER.
How's your wife now? That idiot really shouldn't be driving. Duh. But it does now bring to light why sometimes you see the ambulance speeding and sometimes they are moving slow. I never put much thought into it.
Thanks, Gunner. Worth remembering.
Have a nice (stress-free?) weekend.
That reminds me of a scene I watched some 20+ years ago on a busy street here in my city. Some ambulance was charging down the street in a fairly heavy traffic situation, until it got stuck at the edge of a park (across from where I was standing), with some lady frozen stopped dead in front of the vehicle. The ambulance driver got on the bullhorn and blurted out, "MOVE IT, A$$HOLE !!!" and that finally did the trick. ;-D
I asked my hubby to read your post.
He was so impressed with your advice that he printed out a copy for his coworkers to read.
I think I'll do the same thing on Monday.
Thanks again.
You are welcome, Mary.
Cheers!
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