More bumble trouble

This was one of my pool shifts and a shorter day for me. I was assigned the ‘spare’ car but only in theory because an actual spare FRU doesn’t exist – not one that runs anyway. So I spent a few hours wandering around trying to find a suitably fit-for-purpose vehicle until I negotiated ‘borrowing’ one from management.

The shift was routine and I only needed an ambulance for one call – the first one – when a woman had a near-faint at a tube station. I left her crying with the crew after I’d chatted to her and managed to root out the stress she was suffering, thus her panicky-fainty condition. I have that effect and it was good for her to get it out of her system with people she trusted.

Next was a fit in the street. The 35 year-old man was a diabetic and had probably had a hypoglycaemic seizure but I couldn’t be sure because the cops with him had given him orange juice when he recovered and his BM was normal when I checked it. He got a carbohydrate anyway and I drove him to hospital in the car. We crawled for ages in heavy traffic and passed the lovely Spitfire that currently sits on Whitehall – it’s only little. Small but deadly. Like me :-)

A bee sting to the ear after that. The 40 year-old bus driver thought it was a wasp but I looked inside his lug-hole and a nasty looking stinger (see pic) was lodged in the cartilage. I removed it carefully and he got the fright of his life when he saw it. I sometimes wish the bees that leave these things could see the faces of their victims when they are taken out – they might reform. Again, small but deadly – literally.

Luckily for him he has no allergies but I cautioned him and advised him to get some antihistamine and go to see his GP if his throbbing ear and face got worse. He was happy to do that and I left him with his colleagues. Then I drove back to station so that I could deliver the car to someone who needed it more than me. This and yet another warning light on the dashboard, ended my shift.

Be(e) safe.