When We Said ........

........ "Everything I have is yours"

I hardly thought that that this would include this horrible chest infection that Hubby so lovingly passed onto me.

It all began on Monday morning when Hubby awoke with what appeared to be the most awful cold. By Wednesday this 'cold' had gone to his chest and feeling so ill he resigned himself to having to take the day off work and see a doctor and there began the problem.

He telephoned the surgery to ask for advice, only to be told to stay at home and telephone the National Swine Fever Helpline. On calling them and explaining the situation, he was told "phone an ambulance now, you obviously can't talk without pausing for breath, this is a medical emergency."

"I don't need an ambulance," replied Hubby, "It's not unusual for people to pause for breath whilst having a conversation, we do it all the time."

So after about 5 minutes of 'tooing and throwing' with the helpline insisting Hubby needed an ambulance urgently and Hubby trying to explain that, sure, he was poorly but he did not need the emergency services, Hubby hung up, thanking them for all their 'help'.

What to do next? As Hubby has regular check up's at the hospital (he has Crohn's Disease), I suggested that he call his consultant and ask his advice as, after all, there was a strong possibility he'd need to stop his medication until his chest cleared anyway.

"Yes, stop your medication," said the consultant, agreeing that an ambulance was not required. "And, if your chest is no better tomorrow, go to the walk in centre at the hospital."

Feeling no better and having spent another night sitting propped up in bed, Hubby took himself off to the suggested walk in centre, only to be told (yeah, you guessed) that he should have stayed at home and CALLED AN AMBULANCE. By now, feeling thoroughly frustrated, Hubby decided to stage an one-man protest and sit there until seen.

And, so a few hours later, he returned with a diagnosis of a chest infection and a course of anti-biotics.

I know that some people are really ill due to this swine fever but, as is typical of this government, total over- reaction seems to be the order of the day and so we are being treat as if we have no common-sense whats-so-ever, I mean surely the vast majority of us know when we really need an ambulance and, besides which, can you just imagine, with an already overstretched NHS, what would happen if everyone of us was to call the emergency services at the first sign of getting a cold.

Anyway to go back to where I started, I just want to thank Hubby for sharing this with me - yes, this morning I awoke with a runny nose and coughing. I can only hope that it doesn't end up with a repeat performance of yesterday, fingers crossed.