The Blurred Line

Day 4 - Plane to London

Saturday was a bit of an adventure. I woke up to be told I would finally be transferred at 11am – though I was still thinking, "I'll believe it when I see it." I was also worried that my wonderful mum wouldn't be able to fly with me if we went by helicopter. I couldn't imagine going by plane – would I be in some sort of jumbo jet with other passengers and first class treatment? Free cups of tea?

The thought of going home was overwhelming. All my family are in London and most important of all: my sister. I knew she'd be a wreck and that a soon as I'd see her I'd burst into tears. I love her so much, that blondie bear, and just wanted a huge hug from her. In fact, when the paramedics arrived to transport me to the airport, I was "having a moment" (crying) with my mum as I was so happy that I'd be able to see her soon.

They said my mum could come to – I was still unsure whether my mum could travel after that on the helicopter/ plane. We also had rather a lot of luggage – two quite big bags. You know me (possibly), I never travel light! And my mum is worse! I didn't see the spaceship lift as I was transported again which I remember thinking was a bit of a shame. But the lovely Mairi sat in the back with us in the ambulance and convinced me to write this blog so thank her for all the gruesome details, etc, that I've subjected you to!

When we go to the airport, we had to wait a little while for the plane to land – so I was getting a plane. When it landed, it was not the jumbo jet I had imagined but a really nice but small yellow Scottish air ambulance plane. And they could take my mum! Mum and the luggage went in first but they had to put the door down and open a much larger one for me to enter. It was really odd – there was a ramp that slid out that then was lowered down and I was transferred into the quite narrow bed for the plane. I didn't have to do anything – these strong men simply grabbed bits of my sheet and used a plastic slab to easily lift and slide me into the other bed. The ramp going up with me was an interesting experience. I felt like I was either levitating or being prepared for some sort of production line.

Inside the plane was quite small. Our luggage was held precariously in a large net at the end and there were a couple of seats which my mum and paramedic could sit on. There were also some very yummy galaxy chocolate eggs- the ones with gold edible stuff round the outside. They were technically one of the pilots, who look very dashing in their uniforms, but the paramedic kept feeding them to me like they were medicine and then tried to blame to on me when there were a few missing!

When my mum asked where the paramedic would like to sit so she wasn't in the way one of the pilots shouted to the other, "Where does Darren want to sit?" To which the other replied, "On his arse!"

I was not particularly well on the plane. My pulse was 126 when it should be about 70 and my oxygen saturation was 88% instead of the normal near 100%. The oxygen mask he gave made me feel a lot better but my mum says that she "was not a happy mummy". Darren was a lovely Scottish chatter the entire time. If you watch the program "Outlander" (you should do because it's absolutely fantastic!), the boy who throws a tomato is his son and his son was in Waterloo Road and wins Judo championships and all sorts of things. He seemed like a very proud dad and also a really great guy.

The view was dismal though and we had 90 mph head winds which meant that our hour and a half journey actually took three hours. I couldn't see a thing as my bed was too low but mum saw Wembley Stadium and a bit of London about 5 minutes before we landed.

We flew into RAF Northolt which is where the Queen flies from and into on her various oversees trips as well as many celebrities. When we landed, there was a group of curious firemen who obviously thought they'd see someone famous – nope just plain old me! I think they were also curious about how I would be transferred from the plane into the ambulance that was already waiting.

I came done on the slide again and thankfully stopped before I hit just air and no ramp. I had this awful thought that I would just fly off into mid-air and come crashing down but thankfully I didn't. Instead the bed stopped and then was lowered to ground height where I could yet again be transferred into another bed like before. My paramedics this time weren't the chatty Scottish paramedics like before but were very cool in appearance with their almost 'Men in Black' looing sunglasses. But they were still very friendly – Jake and Sarah. Unlike Mairi, I'm not sure Jake enjoyed hearing my story – in fact he went a shade of green.

Getting into A and E was interesting. First we went into a very small corridor for the adult ambulance admissions and then the poor paramedics had to transfer me into another bed in this incredibly narrow room that just about fit the two beds width ways. They expertly manoeuvred me in though which was rather impressive.

I was introduced to Chris the nurse who looked after me in A and E who was horrendously sarcastic which was brilliant. If only I could remember the things he said but unfortunately I can't. Maybe they'll come back to me. I remember one bit with the oxygen saturation that I said "ET phone home" to him. I spent a rather long time there – they were trying to sort out the bed that had been reserved for me. They gave me a tuna sandwich though and I had literally just opened the packet when my sister and my dad walked through the door. I was so excited to see my sister that I catapulted the sandwich over the bed and it fell down the inaccessible side. While my sister tearfully hugged me, my mum searched on her hands and knees under the bed for the sandwich. Half of it could be saved and it was a very yummy half indeed. My sister, Susanna, and my dad had been distraught and would have come up to Scotland if I hadn't come home on Saturday.

The wait in A and E was painful on all accounts. We spent 7 hours in there but at least were transferred into a slightly bigger room after a little while. I was in a horrendous amount of pain but we couldn't see many staff. I had oramorph and all sorts of drugs with me that they'd just handed to us in Inverness that my mum has since disposed of with the local chemist. So my mum found a nurse and asked if I could take the oramorph prescribed and given which she thankfully said yes too. I made me a bit more comfortable. Arthur's rice crackers saved us all from starvation, especially my mum who had had nothing to eat all day though she said that she'd felt sick anyway and didn't want to sleep.

I was finally moved up to the surgical ward and got my own side room – very posh! It had a picture and view and everything. My family had to leave pretty quickly as it was going on 11pm by this time. Being in the side room, I felt quite lonely ad forgotten about and didn't have anything to distract myself except sleeping. I also needed to be changed due to the soakage which eventually happened but not for a while. Well at least I always sleep better after a good cry.

Mairi and me.

Me on the plane.