Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Scaredy Cat

Oh, for the sake of all that is holy! Man up, man!
Category A.
Immediately Life Threatening.
Lights and Sirens.
16 year old male.
Difficulty in Breathing.
"Do you have asthma?"
"No."
"Do you have any medical conditions?"
"No."
"Do you know why you're breathing quite so quickly?"
"Um, yes..."
Normally, people with breathing problems who are struggling for oxygen have a habit of turning grey, or even blue. They don't tend to turn a tomato-like shade of red, especially their cheeks and ears. I wait until he decides he wants to tell me what happened. His mates are all trying to suppress their laughter. One is laughing so hard, he has tears running down his cheek.
Now, I know that as human beings we have a very nasty (but irresistible) tendency to mock the afflicted, but, other than the fact he was having a panic attack, I couldn't quite work out what he was afflicted by. Eventually, he manages to control his breathing enough to tell me what had really happened. He handed me the box that the latest horror DVD had come in, and with the most embarrassed look, and just the hint of a resigned smile, just said:
"It scared the hell out of me..."
I was glad that just at that point, the ambulance crew turned up. I had to leave the room in a hurry, just before he'd see me join his friends in the fits of laughter.
I really couldn't help it. Sorry.

6 comments:

Wanderlust said...

Well come on. At least tell us what he was watching! I mean, was it Category A Scary? - Kristin

Crazy Newt said...

Having had a panic attack all of once in my life (completely different situation, though, ha ha!) I can honestly say it feels like a heavy midget is sitting on your chest.

But to have one because of a horror movie!? That's just bad. Next thing you know, dude will be crying at chick flicks!

medic999 said...

So can I assume that the crew 'blue lighted' him in with a pre-alert then? :-)

Oy Va Goy said...

Yeah what was the film?

I saw one just before Christmas that took me to the very brink of puking with fear.

InsomniacMedic said...

By popular demand -
Think it was called something like "30 days and nights / of nights", or something along those lines... Don't think his mates are ever going to let him live it down... :)

Oy Va Goy said...

Thanks. The one that made me so scared was called Paranormal Activity.