"Netcare 911, what is your emergency?"

"I can't wake up my husband"

This was the conversation I had this morning after discovering that Grant had become unconscious in his sleep.

It had been a slow morning, being a public holiday, and when I tried to wake him to speak to his business partner who had arrived for their 10:00 a.m. meeting, he was not responding at all although still breathing.

After calling Grant's step mom, Poppie we decided to call the paramedics as we were not able to move him on our own.

The Netcare guys arrived swiftly (we could hear the sirens in the distance!) and were very calm and professional. They quickly established that it was either an allergic reaction to or an overdose of the liquid morphine he had recently been prescribed by the Military hospital who are responsible for the treatment of his back. They administered a morphine antidote shortly after which he woke up. He was very confused as to why there were 4 huge men sitting on his bed!!!

They stabilised his blood pressure and other vital signs before transferring him onto a stretcher (no mean feat) and into the ambulance.

The trip to the hospital was weird, I've never driven in an ambulance before and I found it rather claustrophobic. You can't see where you are going (apart from a narrow strip at the top of the windows) and because I was facing backwards I felt very disorientated and had no idea where I was going! Grant must of felt even more confused.

Anyway, he was taken into the Emergency Unit (EU) which was overflowing with people, most of them donning masks as they were exhibiting signs and symptoms of Swine Flu. But arriving in an ambulance has it's advantages and we went straight through - no queue's!!

The EU doctor confirmed that it was definitely the morphine but rather a build up of it in his system that caused his breathing to become supressed and therefore lose consciousness. (I was a bit freaked out when the sister said to him "oh no, we can't give you that, we don't want you to go into a coma again" I hadn't thought of it as a coma but I guess that is just a state of unconsiousness at many different levels...will have to Google that one.)

Another 2 hours in the EU until they finally transferred him to High Care as no beds were available in ICU.

He is fine now, although quite freaked out, he is spending the night there and if all is well he should come home tomorrow. They will have to sort out what kind of medication he can take before he is discharged though because he is definitely NOT taking the morphine again.

The girls spent the day with my parents and Grants step mom so I didn't have to worry about them which was a huge relief.

I have never had to call paramedics before so it's not something I had much experience in - in fact I didn't even know what number to dial and initially called 107 which is a huge general emergency call centre and they told me who to call. The Netcare guys were really great. So if you ever need an ambulance or paramedic dial 082911.

Thanks Clayton, Dewald, Michael and Rob of Netcare for your lifesaving assistance and care.