DH just been taken to french hospital

[AirbnbhostAWOL]

On holiday in France. DH woke me up at 12.30 with intense pain in his left shoulder. Couldn't get comfortable. I put some voltarol on it and we propped him up on the bed, and turned the light out. Next thing I know he's fainted/lost consciousness, and is making a terrible groaning noise and his eyes have rolled back in his head. I can't rouse him, and obviously called emergency services.
He then woke up but was very confused and sweaty. We spent a long time using a combination of my long ago a level french and the operators broken English, but they sent an ambulance.
By the time the ambulance arrived he was better, although in a lot of pain and very pale and clammy. They had an amazing interpreter on board, they took his vitals, and seems convinced it is not his heart, but have taken him to hospital anyway.
I am in the apartment with two DC who slept through almost the whole thing (DD appeared right at the end but half asleep and has gone back to bed). He seemed ok and is obviously in the right place, but now the adrenaline has left my system I feel very shaky and tearful. It was fucking terrifying when he lost consciousness, I genuinely thought he was dying.
If anyone is up to keep me company it would be appreciated

My son is a fainter usually brought on by needles or the sight of blood. If he faints but doesn't fall to the floor as he's propped up in some way he starts to jerk and has the rolled back eyes. Getting him flat is the key to bringing him round as then the blood flow to the brain is restored as it's level with the heart. I was told it's not uncommon if you faint but don't fall down.

If your husband was propped up on pillows this could be what happened to him.

Yes - to doing all the driving.

It is probably obvious - but be careful around water too.

My DH had a sudden seizure when on holiday. He collapsed without any warning. We were so lucky this didn't happen a little earlier in the day when he was snorkelling!

Update:
DH is fine. Very tired, whacked out on codeine, and in a sling, but fine.
Re fainting, two of the two times he was in hospital surrounded by medical professionals when it happened. No one was concerned it was a seizure. Ditto the time on the train - he went to hospital because he hit his head falling over, but the hospital checked him over and just treated the head injury, zero concerns about the fainting. The same when he saw the doctor after the playground incident. So, nothing that can be described as a medical condition, because all the medical professionals have treated it as just one of those things. It does sound much more like the vaso vagal Syncopy than anything else that has been mentioned. My mother used to suffer from epilepsy and this is nothing like that. But of course we will seek medical advice back in the UK and I will drive.

The doctor examined him thoroughly and is certain it is muscular, not ligament.

We all have GHICs. The ambulance would not accept them. They look to be a private ambulance company, I suspect they were sent to us because of the interpreter on board. I have not yet attempted to contact them to get a copy of the invoice; I might request assistance from the reception of the place we are staying.

Our holiday is not ruined, it is just a blip. We are tired, but we went to the local market this morning (partly to go to the pharmacy), and I'm about to take DC to the beach while DH snoozes. I will also have to do all the packing as well as the driving, but we are sacking off any cooking or picnic preparation in favour of pizzas on the beach tonight, and possibly McDonald's for our journey tomorrow. Savage we know but also very easy. I also had plans to do a load of laundry today, but fuck it, people can turn their pants inside out 🤣 (we should be fine). And I'm obviously forgoing my lunchtime glass of rose!

I might not post for a bit because I have never had an ambition to be a trending topic, but I do want to thank everyone again. I know mnet can have a bad reputation but everyone has been very nice. I've been waiting for someone to steam in and tell me I'm an idiot, but no! It has been helpful and kind.

Oops! I did try trawl through but missed it! In my defense was recovering from my own recent episode .

I tried to thank everyone but it got too long and I'm tired!!

imagine doing that here in the UK!

Glad he’s back OP my DH has had similar episodes, last time it’s was an overnight stay for observation and diagnosis was sever migraine.

With the almost fainting when you gave birth, that sounds to me like my panic attacks.

Make sure you keep your receipts and the brown forms which the doctor issues. Also keep anything from the pharmacie as they tend to print receipts on the back of the ordonnance. Anything not covered by his GHIC, you can reclaim from the NHS Overseas Business Services when you get back. It's a really simple process. I did it last year for an incident, also in France.

imagine doing that here in the UK!

Sounds worth it for the care that Op's husband had!

I wouldn't have a problem with a private ambulance at that upfront cost TBH. Once you have the major medical costs covered with a combo of GHIC/Insurance it's a relief to get such rapid attention!

A credit card is very useful for the excess (mutuelles not covered by GHIC etc.) - just in case!

Hi
sounds very similar to my partner - he had a rotator cuff injury year ago but the slightest thing will set it off and when it does it excruciating pain around the shoulder and across the chest.

You can pay for private care in the UK, but the difference is the ambulance driver would not demand payment from the ATM before drop-off.

Sounds very scary for you, don’t take this the wrong way though, I have a friend that loses consciousness over worrying about things like extreme pain. He lost consciousness once when he had severe back pain because subconsciously he panicked and thought it was something awful. He did the same when his girlfriend’s period was late 😂 but all was fine. He does it a lot and it’s usually over subconscious worry. That might not be the same for your DH but when you mentioned about fainting when giving birth it made me think of my friend.

Some miserable comments here. The NHS/Ambulance service would have treated it as a category one and the level of care would have been the same if not better. In fact I think you've been scammed out €260. A french person in the UK wouldn't have paid and a french person would have been charged €30-€50 up front.

I’m not sure about some of that, I know we would be charged more than that where I am (very rural), the departmental fee (one way) is about €60 just for them turning up, then there’s an extra fee that starts to stack up if the journey is more than 3 km (which it will be)….you could get close to €200 quite quickly if it was known to be a round trip and the crew were going to loiter at the hospital to do the return leg.

So sorry to hear about your ordeal, and hope DH gets well quickly.

They DO come out this quickly in the UK. My DH had a stroke a couple of years ago, during COVID lockdown, and the paramedics were here withing 15 minutes. He's fine now btw.

Are these costs for a foreign citizen or for a French citizen?

As you have said already, you know the name of the company and town of the ambulance so all you have to do is phone them for an invoice. There are no publie ones as such, other than the fire service which the French people call out if there is a medical emergency. You won’t get the fire engine and crew turning up though, just a big van and a medical team. Enjoy in rest of your holiday.

@LivelyBlake

Those numbers are based on info on the website of one of our local hospital transport providers.…

FWIW I (UK citizen, registered in the French system) had a condition where I had to briefly consider using one of the private transport providers to do a daily run from home to hospital for treatment so I know their charges can get high quite quickly, even for someone within the system, even if it’s a routine run in office hours. Overnight, short notice, who knows.

Have to say from what I’ve seen though the service those companies provide can be very good.

You call up the fire service for a medical emergency? And they take you to the cash machine before the hospital?

Utterly bonkers.

No, the service is free via the fire service and the private ambulance would send you a bill. No money exchanges hands as there is the national medical card which tells them you have paid your taxes to be in the system or you are French.
It is not utterly bonkers, it stops foreigners scamming the service. OP will get an invoice and she will get refunded.

*You call up the fire service for a medical emergency? And they take you to the cash machine before the hospital?

Utterly bonkers.*

It might have been but that is not what happened.

Seems like the operator decided to send out one of the local medical and transport providers (private ambulance) rather than the state funded Sapeur pompiers…(they are the red truck, blue light brigade)

It’s a very different system to the UK but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong or that scams are going on, it’s just different and it does take some getting used to

For info typical such company here:

ambulances-stambroise.fr/fr/page/accueil

For non French. You have a Carte Vitale (social security card) if you are in the French system. Pre Brexit your EU E1-11 card would have covered it. French health care is excellent - despite this “government’s” best efforts to bring it to its knees. So glad your DH is recovering OP. Enjoy the rest of your hols chez nous 😎

notimagain
True, the operator is a medical person and knew what was best.

Thank goodness he’s ok.
VERY unprofessional of the ambulance service to stop for cash on the way… and awful to not give him a receipt of some sort.. They would know about holiday insurance… or insurance in general!