S has had a fit

This was the first time I've seen anything quite like this. I had left her sitting on the the toilet waiting for the mobile hairdresser. When I went back in after a few minutes she was still sitting on the loo but twisted up. She looked as if she was wringing her hands and she looked very agitated. She was totally unresponsive. Also her breathing and a little bit of coughing suggested she might start to vomit.

Then she slipped down to the floor. I couldn't stop her but was able to stop her banging anything in the process. She was in an uncomfortable sitting position against the radiator but I was reluctant to move her in case we ended up in a worse position. Her breathing sounded quite laboured and gurgly so I decided to call 999. It wasn't considered 'life threatening' so it took a while before an ambulance became available during which time the operator stayed on the line though I can't say she said much. She asked but I was unable to say whether S was asleep or unconscious. Then a 'volunteer first responder' arrived. Finally, the ambulance. By this time things were looking a little better. S opened her eyes a bit (she normally has them closed for much of the time).

They decided on the Accident and Emergency department at our large local hospital. S's daughter had arrived by now which was great and she followed us to the hospital. In the ambulance S looked better still, holding her head up normally, not back on the pillow and with open eyes for much of the time.

I won't bore you with a full account but in the 5 or so hours we saw many different people in a variety of uniforms, most of whom did a little bit (mostly tests) then went away. Blood tests suggested she might have a slight infection. They gave her a chest x-ray which was fine and talked of testing her urine but dropped this idea, probably because they realised it would not be easy. Blood pressure, pulse etc were all in the normal range from almost the time we got there.

Eventually, they said she could go home but we could contact them if there were any further problems. I was fine with that.

She is not back to normal mobility wise yet but can stand and walk. She's eating normally. The stairs are more of a challenge than usual so we stayed upstairs on the first evening and had to stay downstairs yesterday as she just couldn't get up the stairs.

Such events are always shocking. I know things might get worse again but at the moment I'm fairly hopeful that this might just be a one-off. She has been prescribed antibiotics for the suspected UTI but unfortunately the first med prescribed made her vomit so I'm hoping to get a replacement by this evening.