Why do Christians always introduce themselves as Christians? It’s odd. No-one else introduces themselves by their faith. I really don’t care whether or not anyone I meet has a faith. It’s irrelevant and private to each individual. I am only interested in a person’s intent. Whatever brings comfort in life is a good thing, but it really doesn’t need to be announced constantly.
The Christians in this case were an older, middle-aged couple who happened by and stopped for a chat as people often do. They seemed nice. They also asked me if there was anything I wanted for them to pray for. I explained that I am not a Christian, but if they felt the need to pray for me, that would be fine, as long as their intent was not negative. They seemed happy with that and went on their way.
Funny people, Christians.
Calling for an ambulance round these parts is a strange experience. I had a bit of a wobbly moment one evening. My heart was all over the place and I became short of breath. It felt like I was missing beats; my heart was beating irregularly. It came on in mild flutters. I took a couple of blasts on the old GTN spray, but things got worse. I kept thinking that the episode would pass. It didn’t. It got to the point that I really thought, “Shit. I need an ambulance.”
I provided the details of who I am, where I am and what I was experiencing to the operator. I was harassed for the post code of my location. I tried several times to explain that I do not have a post code as I’m in a caravan on an industrial estate. Eventually, I told the operator to look up the post code of the nearest factory. I then became subject to a very odd barrage of questions. Whenever I struggled to reply, I was asked in an increasingly curt way to answer the questions. I told the operator that I was struggling to answer as I was having trouble breathing. The operator didn’t appear to appreciate that I was in trouble. The questions were becoming very odd. It got to a point that I said, “I’m having a heart attack! I’ve not been kidnapped by aliens!” I think the weirdest question was, “Have you been injected with any foreign bodies?”!(?)
By the time the ambulance had arrived, the episode had almost passed. I was still in some pain, but it felt more like bruising. I was given a check over including an ECG. The ambulance crew wanted to take me to the hospital, but I declined, mainly due to my not being able to secure my home due to the lack of a door.
My sons were not best pleased with me and Michael having failed to get any joy from any of the GPs in the area, resorted to contacting the non-emergency hospital number for advice. The nurse who took his call, ‘phoned me and told me that I needed to go to the hospital for a thorough check up. She explained that none of the local surgeries would have the equipment to check me over fully.
The next day, Daniel turned up to caravan-sit while Michael took me to the hospital. We had to go to A&E as the hospital is closed to all other traffic. I am told that the coronavirus cases were few and there had been just seven deaths up to this point. Michael was not allowed to accompany me into the hospital.
I was met at the door by a nurse who gave me a quick check over to make sure I wasn’t infectious and provided me with alcohol rub and a face mask. It was reasonably quiet in there, which meant that I was seen quickly. I had blood tests, an ECG and X-rays, then given the all clear. All in all, I was in and out of there in no more than three hours. And I got lunch!
I had to explain several times the sequence of events, and it didn’t help that they had no information on me. The last known address they had was of a residence that I had vacated 30 years ago!
One recurring question was, “How do you know that you’ve had a heart attack?” I replied that I have had heart attacks in the past, so knew from experience. They seemed appeased, especially once I’d been through the symptoms with them and explained everything that I had been through previously.
I don’t know why I had an attack. Possibly a combination of too much dairy and gluten in my diet recently, along with a lot of negative thoughts about my health. One interesting thing though; it would appear that my self-medicating is doing the job. I’ve not been able to get a prescription of the pharmaceutical crap since I left Cornwall, so have been using Nature’s medicine. The results from the tests show that other than the episode I had, I’m doing well.
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