Have You Ever Been In An Ambulance?

[Breezy_Carol]

Only once. DS was 2 and fell and split his head that would need stitches. It was icy out and there was no way I could strap him in a car seat and drive to the ER. I rode up front with him in the back. He thought it was really cool and loved when they used the siren, just for his enjoyment I think.

 

[freckles and boo]

Only once as a patient. I was in labor but I was also firmly in denial. My husband was in San Diego, it was three weeks before my due date, and I had a two-year-old to take care of. There was no way in hell I was going to have a baby that day! My baby had other plans and unfortunately by the time I accepted it I was almost nine centimeters dilated and couldn't get myself to the car, let alone my other daughter. It was a very, very fast trip because those paramedics did NOT want to deliver a baby in that ambulance.

 

[anewvance]

Only one time for me. It was after my car accident, the lady turned left on a solid green light right in front of me, to this day I have no idea what the heck she was thinking.

I had hurt my knee, foot and neck, the airbags went off too. So I had to have the whole neck brace deal and was put on the gurney and all. Yes those ambulances are pretty bumpy, you would think for how much they put into them it would be a smoother ride... every time we stopped, I felt like I was flying backwards.

 

[mickeyboat]

Nope. I have "toured" an ambulance, though, and a fire truck, a police car, and emergency helicopter. I love having kids!

 

[Sherri]

July 4th 1992 I was in preterm labor with dd. They sent me by ambulance from our local hospital to Penn in Center city since they had more means to deal with a preterm baby. The nurse at the local hospital told me to be prepared to have the baby in the ambulance and if that happend she would probably die. So needless to say it was the longest ride of my life.
I never felt so sad.
Good news is dd held off until full term and is here to shop with me and play tennis. But I never forgot that ride, not ever.

 

[minnieandme]

yes, but it wasn't for me. My mom fell and broke her ankle running to get the bus to go to work. There was snow on the ground at the time. One of our neighbors rang the bell to tell me she fell so I went outside to check on her. We was waiting for the ambulance to arrive, so I just rode with her to the hospital.

 

[cybrkitn]

Twice. One as a child, when I fell off my swingset and hurt my back. The second time was as a passenger b/c DH was bit by a pit bull (bhc - before having a child).

 

[JVL1018]

Yes, but not for myself.
It was incredibly hot last Memorial Day, after a cool spring, so we weren't used to the heat.

My son was riding on the firetruck(DH is a firefighter), DD decided to march with her softball team instead, and I didn't feel like riding with DS, so I asked DH to make SURE he was in the cab of the truck, not up on top of the hoses because I was worried that he would screw around and fall off.

DH promised.The FD comes marching past where I was sitting, and no DH, another FF says I think Jim's in the chief's truck with Matt.
So I look in the chief's truck and he says, "Something happened to Matthew-they're back in the ambulance."
So I run thorugh the parade (what a sight! LOL)to the ambulance ..DH is back there with DS-he had passed out from being too hot, since he was ON TOP OF THE FIRETRUCK! I could have killed DH.

In fact he was still passed out, he had woken slightly and then went to sleep, slept for a couple of hours and then we went up to the firehouse for the bbq and he was racing aorund like nothing ever happened.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Yes, I had a bad sledding accident on a family vacation in Vermont; my DBIL slammed into my foot and I could not walk. Well, my family thought it was the funniest thing and was taking pictures left and right as they carried me off the slope in a strecher, which wasn't easy due to the snow and ice.

My sister came with me...but talked the entire time to the EMTs...it was a pretty long ride too...we had to go to New Hampshire.

Thank God it was only a bad sprain (crutches for about a week, bad swelling and my foot was black) but it hurt for over a year. Darn scar tissue now...thank God for Cortizone shots.

 

[pixiedust218]

When my dd was 1 week old, she had stopped breathing . I was in the ambulance up front because they needed room in the back to work on her. Thank God all turned out well and she is a healthy 15 year old.

 

[kerrynic78]

When my dd was 1 week old, she had stopped breathing . I was in the ambulance up front because they needed room in the back to work on her. Thank God all turned out well and she is a healthy 15 year old.

How scary, I can't even imagine!

 

[Erin1700]

yes, my DD had a seizure and we ran her ourselves to the nearest ER, which was close by. The seizure lasted 20 minutes and once under control, they transfered her to a bigger hospital. they used sirens and all which was good b/c when we got a block away she started again and this lasted 25 minutes. We spent 5 days in the Peds ICU. They said they were febrile seizures.

 

[lemondog]

My one and only ambulance trip (so far, knock on wood) was in 1996, after a car accident. I rammed my little Nissan Sentra into the back of a stopped Cadillac at 40 mph. Needless to say my car was crushed like a tin can. It also did not have airbags (it was a 1990) and my forehead busted open on the steering wheel. All in all I was very lucky -- just a bad cut on the forehead and a banged up knee. If I had not been wearing a seatbelt the police officer said I most likely would have had mortal injuries.

 

[Tink-in-Training]

My first and hopefully ONLY ambulance experience was recent.

I was at work and experiencing my first migraine, a complex one, to boot. (In case you aren't familiar, a complex migraine isn't just pain/sensitivity, it's loss of feeling, vision impairment, etc.) I was up in one of the Firm's Sick Rooms (I work for a large law firm that provides such godsends) and was so scared of the numbness I was feeling down one side and the fact that I couldn't focus on anything that I finally had a coworker call an ambulance to take me in. I can't tell you how efficient everything was! They locked down all the elevators to take me down in a trauma chair (not the gurney). I only remember the following things about the ride:

- The back door of the ambulance was broken (hence the chair, not the gurney) and I had to get myself in.
- How very nice they all were. They tried to keep me with it, warm and comforted me when I started crying.
- Spending the entire ride trying to keep myself from being further acquainted with my breakfast (for the 97th time) from hours earlier.
- Complete disorientation as to what direction we were traveling in.

Here's something I didn't know, in some (all?) large cities, the EMTs call you in to the ER on the way. Here in Beantown, their job was to actually convince the ER that I needed a bed and not to just be kept sitting in the waiting room.

Due to the fact that in addition to a complex migraine I could've also had a tumor, a bleeding anyuerism or some sort of stroke, I got the bed. A CAT scan, 2 MRI's and one spinal tap later, I got the 'official' word I was ok.

While the ambulance experience was pretty quick and easy, it's certainly not an experience I want to repeat!

 

[NMAmy]

My first time was last week. Not the fun-filled experience I had hoped.

The paramedics were great.

 

[DVC-Don]

I drove one as a volunteer for 3.5 years and yes, I've even been the patient 4 times. Twice for chest pain (turned out not to be my heart) and twice for a gall bladder attack.

 

[pilikia97]

Yup. Twice, actually. Both times for severe low blood sugars when i was a teenager (I am a type I diabetic)...first time I was almost 15 and my parents did not know about Glucagon Emergency kits yet so they called 911 when they couldn't get my mouth open to get any glucose gel in me and I was severely spastic.
Second time I remember very clearly because I was 17 and had just started seriously dating my boyfriend like 2 weeks earlier. We were at his house watching a movie and I stupidly missed a snack time. Blood sugars dropped quickly and I went unresponsive on him! He called my dad who instructed him to call 911 immediately and try to make sure I was not in any position to hurt myself if I went spastic. Ambulance showed up 10 minutes before my dad, lol, and my boyfriend was having the time of his life! He got to ride in the front with the driver and I could hear him asking them all questions constantly about their jobs and how does this and how does that work .
Appearently I did not scare him off with it because he became well versed in my treatment and now we have been married for almost 10 years

 

[Kama89]

Yes. Three times if you count air ambulance. Once via automobile for a car accident at 17 although I remember very little other than hearing one EMT say to the other, "Lights but no sirens, too traumatized". The first air ambulance was while in preterm labor, the second while accompanying my son.

 

[Tybug]

Once... I woke up one pre-dawn morning in severe pain. Went to the medical center(no hospital in my town at the time) and discovered I had kidney stones. It took the nurse over 30 minutes to get the IV inserted before they figured out what was wrong. Then decided I needed to go to the hospital an hour and a half away. They wouldn't let DH drive me with the IV in place and I refused to let them remove it if I was going to need another when I got there... so the only option was an ambulance.

 

[Sinderelli]

Yes. just this past January. My 7 year old son suffered a seizure while taking a bath. Thank God, he did not ingest any water but his seizure lasted 45 minutes. He had "febrile" seizures as a baby, but now that he is 7 he was diagnosed with epilepsy. Fever lowers his threshold for seizures and must be aggressively treated. The sight and sound of the ambulance will haunt me forever.

On a good note, my baby turns 8 tomorrow and is a normal, active, sports loving kid!