I'm back on 4 day shifts now and it's been steady, all genuine jobs again. I like it like that. After 2 days and 3 nights I was whacked out. My last rostered night we had 2 diabetic hypos one after the other. The first, a regular patient, I treated with IV glucose. He stayed at home. The second, we had to give him an IM glucagen injection. I tried to get IV access but as I put the cannula into the vein he flinched and sent it flying. I've been to this chap before and gave him IV glucose but he wasn't happy after he came around because he said it sent his blood sugar too high. This time after the injection he was OK. It worked quicker than I expected but was still a bit fussy about eating some sandwiches because again he was worried that his sugar would end up too high. There's no helping some people. He stayed at home as well.

I did yet another overtime shift with yet another trainee. First job was to an 83 year old who fell down a full flight of stairs and was suffering severe respiratory distress. Asthmatic. Although she had no visible injuries she was really struggling to breath. Good air entry and no wheeze but really struggling. She had chest pain which seemed to be restricting her breathing so I cannulated her in view of giving her some morphine. By the time we immobilised her and got her on the truck the pain had subsided although her breathing was still causing her problems. At hospital they could find no sign of any injuries so put it down to an asthma attack brought on by the fall.
Another call, this time to a male in his fifties with no cardiac history. Unwell with dizziness, shaking, slight shortness of breath and palpitations. ECG showed AF at 150 beats per minute.
Third call was to back up one of the other night crews who had got their vehicle stuck in the mud. We took their patient, who had been suffering chest pain, and loaded him up on to our vehicle and took him in. Nitrates and O2 eased the pain but once the O2 came off the pain returned.
Our last job that night was an ITU patient who had a bleed on the brain. He was intubated and ventilated and an anaesthetist was travelling with us. At 04.00 am there isn't much on the road so we didn't take long to get to the receiving hospital. When we arrived the DR got out looking rather green and was feeling nauseated. On the way he nearly vomited, obviously doesn't travel that well then! LOL. I did offer to cannulate him an give an anti-emetic. He smiled and politely refused. We handed over our patient to the neurosurgeons and put the kit back in the vehicle. The DR asked if he could sit in the front on the way back. 'Fine by me, I'll get my head down on the trolley on the way back'.