ONLY THE LONELY

Doris, an elderly lady, wobbles uneasily down the high street. She has sleek, snow white hair and is wearing a sky blue cardigan on top of pure white trousers and top. She looks side to side at each passerby on the pavement, confused. The road beside her thrives with cars and motorbikes, all speeding down the one way road. She then stops very abruptly. A couple behind her on the busy pavement dodge her before looking back at her peculiarly. She then turns and faces a shop the opposite side of the road. Her foot departs the pavement and touches the surface of the road...

Dixie is sat in the ambulance station chatting to another member of the unit while Iain attends a casualty. Her radio speaks softly behind a static sound overtaking the radio: "Control to 3006; confused elderly lady found on the side of the road. Nearly run over, no other casualties reported. Over." Dixie lifts the radio up to her mouth and replies, before calling her fellow paramedic to come and help.

Doris is sat in a coffee shop with the driver of the car which fortunately swerved and just missed her. The ambulance stops outside the shop, and Dixie and her partner leave the vehicle, armed with a first aid bag, and enter the building. One of the workers in the shop guide Dixie to the casualty.

"Alright love, my name's Dixie, can you tell me your name?" Dixie asks comfortingly. Doris looks at Dixie, and smiles. After a moment of silence she responds.

"Doris. Doris Purnell." She replies in a frail tone. Dixie carefully analyses the body for injury.

"And do you remember how this happened Doris?"

"How what happened? Where am I? Who are you?" Doris replies full of fear, worry.

"It's alright love, I'm Dixie, a paramedic. I'm going to help you, okay? Now can you remember at anything about how his happened?" Dixie asks soothingly, ensuring she isn't scaring Doris at all. Doris looks around, she begins to fidget a bit, before speaking.

"I... I can't remember. Why are you here? I don't need any help, I'm fine." Replies Doris softly.

Dixie looks up to her partner, and he gives a nod before looking back to Doris. "Do you remember nearly being run over Doris? You walked into the road and this kind gentleman here swerved and dodged you. He's concerned for your health, and I just want to take you and get you checked over. I'm sure you're fine, and I'll give you V.I.P treatment, I promise. Is there anyone you'd like me to call for you? Your husband?"

"Who's my husband?" Doris asks inquisitively.

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Maya continues to run down an alleyway, struggling to catch her breath. She keeps running until she reaches a garden door. She undoes the latch on the garden door and opens it. In front of her stands a stunning Victorian era house. The bottom of the house is entwined in dark green ivy, while the ivy has also snaked its way down the garden and consumed the grass. There's a pathway which leads straight up to a porch. Maya stands in the middle of the brick archway and looks ahead at the house. After a minute of halting she begins to walk confidently down the pathway and up to the porch door. She looks down to a 'Welcome' mat, and lifts the top left hand corner up halfway before picking up a key.

Her hands shake restlessly as she attempts to fit the key in the lock. She misses first time, but gets there the second time. She pushes the door open and it creaks. The door slams behind her.

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The ambulance pulls up outside the ED. Dixie opens the doors and moves the bed which Doris lies in to the small lift which moves the bed down and allows her to escort her patient into the building. Rita and Cal greet the patient with a big smile.

"Okay Dixie, what have we got?" Cal asks Dixie. Dixie begins to walk into the ED, with Doris next to her in the bed and her other paramedic, Cal, and Rita by her side.

"Alright Cal, Rita. This is Doris Purnell. She walked into a road full of moving traffic at Holby town before nearly being run over. She's very confused and is struggling to remember recent events. Her pulse is 65, resps of 15, GCS of 15, hypertensive with a BP 140/90. She refused any medication at the scene, and is convinced she's fine." Dixie says, as she wheels Doris in her bed to cubicles.

"Let's move her over in 3...2...1..." And the four move her over.

Cal and Rita look at each other. They nod at each other, as if they know what they're thinking.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Asks Rita to Cal.

"I think so. Okay Rita, can we have a look at Doris's history, past medical history and the history of a relative please. Can we also find out her age and spouses? Also could we have a CT scan?" But the last few words of Cal fall silent. He flicks through Doris's patient notes, he looks up at Rita, and hands the note over to her.

"Scrap that. We'll look through those scans. Can we have an MMSE examination too please?. Okay Doris, is there anyone you'd like to be here with you right now? Your husband? Can you remember how this happened; where you were at the time of the incident?" 

Doris looks up at Cal and smiles with such innocence. She asks her infamous question again. "Who's my husband?"