When i was a few years into my career as a Paramedic i had this one call, it was a lady in a nursing home who you couldnt help but love.
Sometimes when shit gets tough i find myself thinking of her and her unshakable spirit.
It was a stinking hot day and i was working with W, we had pulled up at a rest home to a fall incident.
before i had even walked in her room she cursed at me and yell that i wasnt taken her anywhere, she wasnt going to no damn hospital.
She laughed and looked at me, i greeted her with a smile and said well lets just get a look at ya aye.
She was a tough old duck but so lovely, her spirit was strong and through all she had been through she smiled and laughed, her laugh was infectious one you couldnt help but laugh along with.
When she laughed though she let out a whimper... her hip hurt.
Elderly ladies quite often break their hips in falls, the other is a femur but i suspected a hip.
i did a assessment and my fears were correct, her hip was purple and swollen.
I thought it best that we give her some pain relief before we moved her onto the chair and get her out of that maze they called a nursing home.
I told her i'd put a line in while W went for the chair.
"miss and i'll take the needle out myself and poke you in the eye"
Huh no pressure then
I got the line in first try which i was grateful for cause i kinda have a feeling she was serious.
We got morphine onboard and her into the chair.
On the way to the hospital i sat in the back carrying out my checks and chatting with her.
L was an amazing woman i could have chatted with her all day, she was a refugee from the second world war and at the tender age of 9 witnessed her whole family being slain while she hid in a ditch. She use to hide in the trenches of dead bodies when she heard anyone getting close and scavenge for food out of bins and where ever she could. She mostly lived in the woods doing her best to avoid the Germans.
She sat there in the back sharing with me history sharing tales of her children and grandchildren and things she had done over the years.
Her spirit was amazing, her laugh infectious, she had a sharp tounge that made her a pain in the ass but at the same time a pleasure she was a proud woman and we became friends.
I later worked in the nursing home she was living in because she never did regain her ability to walk, i would sit with her and listen to her stories on my lunch break, i became friends with her family and yesterday i received an email from her son telling me she had passed away.
I wish her peace now and only hope that one day i will be just as fiery as she was.
