The biggest danger; one of the biggest dangers of my job is contact with other peoples bodily fluids. Yesterday was a very near miss.
We went to see an old chap who wasnt feeling very well. Initially we didnt get much information as he was staring into space and his wife, how can I put it, had difficulty focusing. Anyway while I struggled my crewmate was getting on with some basic obs.
The reason for him being unwell became clear. He had a very low blood sugar. It then transpired that he was diabetic.
We started on the sugary drinks because we both think that its less traumatic than sticking a needle in someones vein. 2 went down easy and I was starting to think that everything was going well and we might be able to sort it out there.
Drink 3 went down and then came straight back up again.
He was sick, although that doesn't really do it justice. He was Exorcist sick. It shot across the room, almost reaching the window. It was a bit like a scene from The Matrix, you know, where the camera pans round the action really quickly.
There was no warning, he just opened his mouth and out it came. I was sitting next to him and my crewmate says that its the quickest that she's ever seen me move.
We then decided to give him some sugar in the vein and this worked well. He became a lot more focused and we discovered that he had been sick before. This was obviously why his sugars were low.
We took him in. Hypo's I normally leave at home but this time beacuse we couldnt guarantee his sugars wouldnt stay up we couldnt take the risk
And yes we both escaped untouched.
