Lanny
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I just had a big scare today but, now safely back at home in bed. My blood sugars were rising fast all day on Thursday 14/05/20 despite me putting all of my insulin doses up & up all day. BS reached 15.9 after dinner & it took me all night of corrections to get that down, every 2 hours, until about 7am to BS 7.5 when I felt comfortable enough to sleep: it was going down so slowly. Got up today, 15/05/20 very late at 13:10 BS 11.2 & still very strong smell of sugar in my urine which was there all night every time I went to the toilet. Felt very rough & knew something was very wrong & it was no longer just hayfever anymore. Rang GP & he thought there was a slight chance I had CV19. An ambulance picked me up from home & took me to hospital. There was a clean side & a CV19 side. From answering questions in the ambulance they decided to take me into the clean side. Because of my history of tachycardia, bells palsy, temporarily stopped my breathing reflexes from working in May 2017, & asthma as well as being type 2 on insulin I had an ECG, chest x-rays where they wheeled the machine into my cubicle, not usually done that way & have to go from A&E to x-ray department & back, The doctor told me x-rays showed that I had pneumonia in both lungs but, worse in the left. They took blood tests to check oxygen levels in my blood immediately & they were the same 96% as was taken by fingertip pulse oximeter in the ambulance. Further tests for CV19, white blood cells counts etc. that I know, from previous admission for Bell’s palsy in May 2017, takes about 4/5 hours to do the blood work. It was a scary wait but, in the meantime they put 2 antibiotics injections into the vein Catheter in the back of my hand & 1 antibiotic tablet by mouth as well. I had a mask put on me by the paramedics in the ambulance that picked me up. They had to don protection gear too before putting my mask on & took me into the ambulance. Everybody in A&E had full protective gear on as well. Everything piece of equipment was throughly wiped down before & after using it. I felt scared AND also safe at the same time. Very odd feeling both at the same time. Blood tests taken around 18:00 & blood results came back around 22:30 & I didn’t have CV19 & my white blood cells count was normal. There were no ketones in my urine when I had to go on a commode, not allowed to use the toilets in the A&E as usually would do, but, blood test showed ketones of 0.1 just before I was discharged & left the hospital after getting antibiotics tablets for 7. days. Also oxygen levels had improved to 97% just before I left around 23:00 after antibiotics went in about 19:00.
I slept a little bit now & wide awake again after sleeping a lot the last few days. Felt the immediate change in my breathing being much easier while lying horizontal in bed.
Everything was very efficiently done, staff very busy but, nice & kind. I’ve never been more grateful for our NHS here in the UK.
I’ve seen healthcare in Hong Kong when my mum was dying of pancreatic cancer in 2015, diagnosed 01/06/15 & passed away 15/07/15. Sure, it’s very good for the rich but, for the average person it’s completely different. For starters, everything has to be paid for & you won’t even be admitted into hospital without paying first: 100 dollars; a bit less than, exchange rates, £10; 100 dollars per night thereafter & meds prices added on top of that. That’s the government hospitals for the average person. Private hospitals costing a lot more: not many but, the very rich can afford that. The doctors are nice & kind, in the main allowing for bedside manners but, the nurses very often are not.
Our NHS in the UK IS really good & completely free! We REALLY are very lucky & privileged to have the NHS!
I slept a little bit now & wide awake again after sleeping a lot the last few days. Felt the immediate change in my breathing being much easier while lying horizontal in bed.
Everything was very efficiently done, staff very busy but, nice & kind. I’ve never been more grateful for our NHS here in the UK.
I’ve seen healthcare in Hong Kong when my mum was dying of pancreatic cancer in 2015, diagnosed 01/06/15 & passed away 15/07/15. Sure, it’s very good for the rich but, for the average person it’s completely different. For starters, everything has to be paid for & you won’t even be admitted into hospital without paying first: 100 dollars; a bit less than, exchange rates, £10; 100 dollars per night thereafter & meds prices added on top of that. That’s the government hospitals for the average person. Private hospitals costing a lot more: not many but, the very rich can afford that. The doctors are nice & kind, in the main allowing for bedside manners but, the nurses very often are not.
Our NHS in the UK IS really good & completely free! We REALLY are very lucky & privileged to have the NHS!