I was up early this morning! Was due to provide First Aid cover at another national festival in Cardiff for 8am, but because I was in work this afternoon I only stayed until 12pm but it wasn’t a boring morning in the slightest! Never is, to be honest, because even if we don’t get any casualties the company is good.
I misjudged the traffic and left a bit later than I should have and got stuck in the traffic in the city centre and I ended up being 15 minutes late. I didn’t have time to do anything this morning, except the essencials such as getting dressed, washing, brushing teeth and going to papershop etc. While I was there I got the only cereal bar they had and was chomping at it as I drove. When I got to our base I was greeted with toast and coffee – perfect!!
We had a bit of a natter before being paired up and being sent out into the crowds. The organisers of the event could not have pushed us more to the back of the festival if they tried. There were no sign posts, except for a really small red cross first aid symbol on the map, which very little people had. So as we were walking about people were approaching us so it’s good we were out and about. Small things here and there, nothing major except a young girl who kept vomiting but my colleague and I didn’t deal with them, another two did.
While we were walking around we went into one of the many buildings, just to look around at the art work and the music etc that was happening that day. We heard a huge bump and turned around and saw a womans legs hanging out from behind a chair. We walked over to see if she was ok but she fell and banged her head against a glass wall. Went down with quite a wallop. Her head was hurting slightly but it was her neck which was giving her problems. After asking the general questions about consciousness, concussion and spinal injuries nothing was apparent but to stay on the safe side we tried to support her head but she wouldn’t have it, we offered her oxygen but she refused, offered a chair to take her to the first aid post to give her a good checking over and do paperwork etc (it was a very busy place and most of our kit is at base) but she didn’t want that either. Need to be careful with neck pain, especially after the whack she had. I think she was embarrassed, because she worked there, people trying to fuss over her but she just wanted to get on with the job but in the end we convinced her to come back to base with us, it was only a short walk anyway.
She laid down on the bed for a short time while we did some obs and checks, refused any further treatment (her neck was still hurting) so we gave her a head injury card to take with her and told her if she feels worse or doesn’t get any better or any other symptoms start to either call for us or if she’s at home, see a doctor or go to A&E. She was very appreciative of our care and help but unfortunately there’s only so much we can do. If she refuses treatment she refuses but we did the best we could.
Back out on ‘the beat’ my colleague and I preformed an operation. Seriously! Well, it was serious, but not on a living person. Nor an animal, before you say! There were a lot of stores etc around the place, offering different activities, freebies, lectures/talks, food etc and one of the stores was about a medical school. They had a plastic body and put the game ‘operation’ on top and we had to get the ‘organs’ out of him! When we did it we were given a free stress ball shaped like a doctor. It’s so cool!
So yeah anyway the morning was interesting, took me ages to get home because I tried to be smart. I thought I wouldn’t need the sat nav, only got to follow signs for the M4 – how hard can it be?? Well I did just that, and ended up driving towards Barry. I thought this wasn’t right, turned on the sat nav, “take the next exit… !!!” Ended up putting 15 minutes on my journey! Felt like it took forever to get out of Cardiff.
Got up somewhat early today (early for me, anyway), had some breakfast, went down the paper shop then made my way into the garden again. I thought I got all the weeds and stuff yesterday but my dad said I missed a wild bush, I thought it looked quite nice and I thought it was planted but I removed it. After pulling out the weeds yesterday I could get to some more grass behind the bushes so I got the strimmer out and strimmed away. I moved a lot of the wood and stacked it in a pile in the corner of the garden, I’ll remove that sometime. Today I thought I’d finish the grass and start clearing up the rubbish.
Buckets full of manky water with Gawd only knows WHAT was in there. I tipped a lot of it down the drains and put some clean water down it after. When I looked up I saw a brown spider crawlling up my arm and heck, didn’t I scream!!! Dancing around like a mad idiot I blew the thing off my arm and couldn’t settle until I saw it on the path, knowing it was totally off me.
I went into the kitchen and got some clear sandwich bags and put them on my hands to pick up the rubbish as I didn’t want them on my gloves nor my hands. I told my dad anything that we didn’t need, chuck it. Am tired of us keeping things we think we’ll use, but we don’t. I binned quite a lot of plant pots, a few broken buckets, cupboard doors, an old chair, crisps packets, rusty tins – you name it, it was there. I put them all in black bags and took them to the tips, but not before stopping for a break and eating a chocolate cornetto, yum!!! The bags were quite heavy and at one stage I had to ask one of the guys there to help me as I couldn’t lift them out of the car, nevermind into the tips!!
I then went to No Frills to see if they had any bird feeder tables. We have a washing line in our garden which we hang the bird food from. I haven’t used the washing line for the right purpose for a looong time, I’m always scared if I put clothes up there to dry a spider will crawl in and make a home there or something but I think I will take the risk and put clothes out there sometime. Especially towels, they’re a pain to dry.
As I stopped working today I took off my gloves and noticed a little red worm on one of my fingers. Icky, ick, ICK!!!
I haven’t got much time today as I am due in work this afternoon and want a bit of dinner first but maybe when I come home I’ll probably do some more. Depends how tired I am and if the weather is still good.
I was in the garden again today. I’m not green fingered and hate the thought of gardening but it has to be done and the benefits are great when you see a lovely garden. So today I’ve been out in my rags with the grass strimmer and my gardening gloves, a pair of clipper thingies, a hand grabber and a saw!
My garden is quite big and using a strimmer is quite rediculous. I had to stop every few feet as my back was aching and I had to stamp my feet to make sure nothing was crawling up my legs. I thought I’d make an effort so I moved some plant pots out the way and was easily distracted – and scared off – when I saw the woodlous crawling and scurrying away to find cover. I thought I’d stop with the grass and wait until they had departed and found a new home because whenever I cut the grass I hate it when bits of it fling up at me, I always think that there’s part of an insect, some blood or a wing or something splashing into my face. Funniliy enough, always towards the eyes!!
The rose bushes got a bit wild so as I edged towards them I tried to dodge so that the branches wouldn’t go in my hair, didn’t want anything crawling in it.
Half way through the gardening I thought I’d pop to B&Q to see if they had any mesh to replace our garden fence. I couldn’t find B&Q so ended up in No Frills. Just before I left I measured the area where we want the fence and I estimated roughly 36ft. When I got to No Frills I checked out the mesh and had to use the converter on my phone to convert the measurements to feet. There wasn’t much stock down No Frills and nothing that caught my fancy so am hoping to go to B&Q tomorrow sometime. The tallest bit of mesh they had went up to my knees and I thought well that’s no good – it’s not going to stop a dog, is it?
When I got back home I had a quick drink then tackled the garden again. Finished off the grass and moved onto the weeds and stingys etc. Putting on my gardening gloves I edged towards one of our bushes, examined the stingys and weeds and pulled away. Using all my strength I managed to yank some of the bastards out but others were so stubborn it wasn’t going to happen. Oh the colourful words I used!!! So I grabbed the clipper thingies and knelt down to try and find the roots. My heart was racing – seriously!! I honestly thought a spider was going to jump out infront of my face and if that happened I’d be on the floor with a heart attack. I managed to clip away the stingies and weeds with a lot of the bushes but there was one weed that wasn’t going to go. I tried with the clippers but couldn’t snip it so I went and got my dads saw and sawed the thing in half. I saw a look of horror on my dads face as I handled the saw I don’t think he knew what I was going to do with it!
My hair is a bit long but the front of it is shorter so I tied my hair back and put on a headband to keep the front part back. As I was knealing over the weeds I saw something black fall across my head and I fell into a huge panic. I dropped the rake (thankfully didn’t land in my foot) and run my hands through my hair – forgetting I was wearing the gloves. This made me panic even more, imagine all the tiny flies, grass and general shite on them things!! So I fling them off and ran hands through hair onto to realise it was that – my hair!! My hair had come away from the headband and was covering my face. I felt a huge sense of relief.
When I was tidying up the garden I raked all the weeds down the garden path. As I was dragging some of the stingies kept catching onto the bushes as if to say “please don’t bin me!! I’m sorry please don’t bin me!!!” but I hated the buggers and just yanked at them, bloody things.
The garden does look a lot better now but I intend to work on it again tomorrow. I need to get some mesh sometime and maybe, just maybe, put some more plants out there but that was enough work for one day.
I felt like typing up a post about the British Red Cross, I have been a member of the British Red Cross for two years now and without a doubt it’s the best decision I have made. Our mission is to help people in crisis – whoever and wherever they are – and being a member of the BRC we need to abide by the 7 fundamental principles:
The start of the Red Cross Movement was inspired by a Swiss businessman named Henry Dunant in 1863. He was disgusted at the lack of care the wounded recieved, on both sides, from the Battle of Solferino in 1859. As a result volunteers were trained in peacetime to offer neutral and impartial help during times of war. The Red Cross has developed a lot since then and if I was to type out everything I’d be here all day so if you’re interested read this link: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The Red Cross are always looking for volunteers to help out in any of the 14 services they offer, including First Aid, Emergency Response, Messaging & Tracing, Camoflage and Theraputic Care. I found this video on YouTube a long while ago and it’s sent to all police, local authorities etc throughout the country talking about our Emergency Response service so I thought I’d share it here. It gives an insight into how hard the Red Cross works to look after and protect people who are in crisis and how appreciated and respected the organisation is. If you’re ever bored or want to spend a few hours a week, or even a few hours a month, helping out with a charity then do consider the Red Cross. You seriously will not regret it!!
Posted by flummoxed1 on May 8, 2009 in health, life
Gawd sometimes I hate being female. It’s that time now where it feels like there’s an armed serial killer blasting my insides and I just want to curl up and die. Started when I was at work, and forgot to take my medication with me that helps the pains so I had to grin and bear it for a few hours until I saw my senior and asked if she had any spare painkillers. Ended up taking double the dose I should have just to try and minimize it. It’s no fun anytime but at work it’s a nightmare, having to walk around continuously, visiting flats, sounding happy and sitting down when you just can’t get comfortable. I went as white as a sheet and my colleague kept asking if I was ok and said I should go home early but it was a bingo night so I couldn’t have really left early.
Work as busy, as it often seems to be these days. As well as bingo we had a tenant fall and had to end up in hospital, looks like she’ll need to have an operation tomorrow. I don’t trust the treatment in our hospitals these days and often people have gone into hosptial with somewhat simple problems and either getting an infection and having to overcome that, or not returning due to poor care. Fingers crossed all will be ok though.
So now I’m home and pigging out on Ben & Jerrys ice cream. Couldn’t decide between which flavour to get, so I ended up getting ‘Half baked’ described as, “A crazy concoction of chocolate ice cream and vanilla ice cream mixed with fudge brownies and gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough”. Yummilicious!!
Well tomorrow morning I’m off to the market then hoping to raise some money for the British Red Cross Appeal Week, then going out in the evening with some friends, all being well anyway. Now I’m off to talk to my lovely boyfriend. See ya!!
I have a headache. I have a headache. I have a headache. I have a headache.
Work today was nonstop busy. Started with handover which took an hour because the person giving it just couldn’t stop gassing, then started our rounds which took 3 hours then we had three tenants who were unwell, one with heart problems, other severe constipation and another one who had really bad nose bleeds. I spent a lot of time with the one who had nose bleeds and it was due to her not taking her BP medication, although she wouldn’t admit to it. Oh no, would she heck. I spent a good amount of time in her flat yesterday trying to explain and the evidence she wasn’t taking her medication properly were right there infront of her. Tonight after spending time in her flat trying to explain and comfort her I think I needed the BP medication to lower mine! Haha
My arm has been hurting like CRAZY the past few days. It’s hurting right now. Last night I tried putting a support bandage around it and it seemed to help a little but not much, I just couldn’t settle down last night at all and was up about 4am mastering Suduku!! I actually finished a puzzle too YAY!!!
Was talking to my Red Cross manager and they’ve managed to find me a makeup kit for the casualty simulation and I’m todging over that. Can’t wait to play with it. I was asked to go for an exhibition for first aid to do makeup and casualty stuff but it’s the weekend I’m going to Widnes to spend time with my lovely boyfriend and have a BBQ etc if weather is right, been planned for a while now.
Anyway my mum is visiting at the moment and she’s eating Mint Imperials. Driving me absolutely crazy. Eat quietly. Stop crunching. Suck the sweet until it’s tiny then swallow it, ok? Please? As if.
*Pinches self* Yes I’m still here. Last few weeks have been so manic it’s unbelievable. I won’t write out everything that has happened as I’ll be here all night and it may bore you into a coma but to put it in short form…
I have a new boyfriend (been together 5weeks now), his name is Jim and he makes me very happy. He spent a week here and it was so perfect, it felt like heaven. Nothing beats the feeling of being in his arms or his company. The distance is a bitch, he lives in Widnes which is quite a trek from here but I know we’ll make it work as we think a lot of each other. I’m seeing him again next Thursday and time can’t go quick enough.
I’ve been doing a lot of Red Cross stuff, was on a Casualty Simulation weekend and got to play with makeup, creating bruises, burns, cuts, fractures and learn how to be a casualty like medical conditions and unconsciousness. I’ll now be asked to help out at training courses and ambulance assessments to either apply makeup to casualties or be a casualty myself. People always say it’s easy to be unconscious, all you have to do is lie there with your eyes shut! It’s so not true. It’s very hard. Once the senario has started and you need to play unconcious – that’s it, you’ve gotta stay in role until the assessor says, “casualty come alive”. You need to keep your eyes closed try not to flicker them, control breathing and sometimes pretend your airway is getting obstructed so the people being assessed will open your airway. If you’re ticklish that’s not good as you can’t laugh or smile. Seeing as your eyes are shut you can’t see what’s happening around you and need to trust and allow people to tough and get near you. Also your body needs to go entirely limp, it’s hard because instinct is to help if someone is raising your leg or lifting your arm, turning you onto your side or transfering you. So yeah anyway it was a great course. I’m waiting for my makeup bag now.
Went away for a horse racing weekend doing first aid. Saturday was quiet then on Sunday we had to call out 3 ambulances and an air ambulance. After most of us left at the end of the day there was another casualty who had to be air lifted to hospital.
I’m into Suduku!! Jim’s fault!! I’m working on another puzzle right now so this is taking a while to type haha
Oh and I turned 21 last week! Had an absolutely great birthday, could not have been better.
I’m looking into other week – the situation at work hasn’t really changed and I’m sick of it now. The girl I’m covering for is still off and our new employers have done nothing about her, but then they’ve done bugger all since taking over anyway, with anything. We’ve got no policies at work, no paperwork, not even letterheads. They haven’t got a website and the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing.
I took the IHCD exam and failed it, with the other 11 people also. Everyone failed apart from one and I was so upset, I was an absolute wreak. I could not stop crying. The first assessment I went on was Trauma and I think I was more traumatised than the casualty!! I should not have done that one first. Anyway I am hoping to resit it soon with more practise. Thing is I was kinda put in for the training a bit too late and I crammed it all in, I didn’t do too bad though, I know I can do it just need to chillax and practise more.
So yeah that’s a little update. Hope all is well with you all!!
If you have just stumbled across my blog then allow me to say "hi!" =)
This blog is kept by a 21 year old female living in Wales UK. It's a personal blog used as a way of expression for my thoughts, opinions and random blurbs. Some posts are deeply thought out whereas others are heat of the moment. The topics range between all areas of my life. All entries are my opinion and by no means do they intend to offend. Rarely do I post material that could - but there's always that chance!
If you'd like to know more about me then click 'About Me' in the navigation bar at the top. Thanks for reading. =) x
