I am not posting this for drama or sympathy in any form. Sometimes guys are just stupid. That was me.
I got up in the morning not feeling my best but just ignored it. Walked the dogs twice and headed off to town to grocery shop. In the store, I started to feel worse, hot flashes and the very real chance of passing out. I got everything in the truck and headed for home. I knew I was in real trouble but being a guy I drove right past the hospital to take the groceries home. I passed out on the kitchen floor, never in my life have I felt such pain. Shooting from my lower back right up to my shoulder, just a constant wave of pain.
The EMS arrived along with the Fire Department. They loaded me up and off we went to the Haliburton Hospital I had just passed. Again guys are so stupid sometimes. The hospital determined it was not my heart but probably abdominal bleeding. Because they do not have a CT Scan machine they arranged to get EMS back along with an RN, a very kind lady who kept me talking all the way. The ride from Haliburton to Lindsay is maybe an hour and fifteen minutes, Ron Fellows would have been proud of this guy he made it record time. Into emergency then to CT and right into the Trauma Centre. The on duty Doctor clearly do not want to operate, he looked almost fearful.
They put out a "Life or Limb" call and Toronto General said they would take me. Air Ambulance was called in, my first ride in a helicopter that I have no memory of at all. Forty minutes later we landed on the roof of Sick Kids then across the road to TGH. They were waiting for me and the surgeon said they had to move right now. Into the operating room but they could not find the source of the bleeding. I lost six litres of blood. Five days later I am still a mess and frankly I am not sure I will get over this for a long time.
So my point of this story is two fold.
First, if you have medical issues do not ignore the obvious. Get help, don't put it off.
Second, the medical system works, at least it worked for me and I hope everyone else. The frontline medical people were just incredible, perhaps in spite of their political masters. Not one let me down among the maybe fifty people involved in this event.
Try to keep the Billy Bob Thread to a minimum, laughing at the point is really not the best medicine!!!
I got up in the morning not feeling my best but just ignored it. Walked the dogs twice and headed off to town to grocery shop. In the store, I started to feel worse, hot flashes and the very real chance of passing out. I got everything in the truck and headed for home. I knew I was in real trouble but being a guy I drove right past the hospital to take the groceries home. I passed out on the kitchen floor, never in my life have I felt such pain. Shooting from my lower back right up to my shoulder, just a constant wave of pain.
The EMS arrived along with the Fire Department. They loaded me up and off we went to the Haliburton Hospital I had just passed. Again guys are so stupid sometimes. The hospital determined it was not my heart but probably abdominal bleeding. Because they do not have a CT Scan machine they arranged to get EMS back along with an RN, a very kind lady who kept me talking all the way. The ride from Haliburton to Lindsay is maybe an hour and fifteen minutes, Ron Fellows would have been proud of this guy he made it record time. Into emergency then to CT and right into the Trauma Centre. The on duty Doctor clearly do not want to operate, he looked almost fearful.
They put out a "Life or Limb" call and Toronto General said they would take me. Air Ambulance was called in, my first ride in a helicopter that I have no memory of at all. Forty minutes later we landed on the roof of Sick Kids then across the road to TGH. They were waiting for me and the surgeon said they had to move right now. Into the operating room but they could not find the source of the bleeding. I lost six litres of blood. Five days later I am still a mess and frankly I am not sure I will get over this for a long time.
So my point of this story is two fold.
First, if you have medical issues do not ignore the obvious. Get help, don't put it off.
Second, the medical system works, at least it worked for me and I hope everyone else. The frontline medical people were just incredible, perhaps in spite of their political masters. Not one let me down among the maybe fifty people involved in this event.
Try to keep the Billy Bob Thread to a minimum, laughing at the point is really not the best medicine!!!
