Episode 4 Countryside 999

From the Highlands of Scotland, to the coast of Cornwall,

the Great British countryside is spectacular.

But we work and play in it at our peril.

And when things go wrong,

the emergency services race to the rescue.

This chap is having a heart attack and we need to get him in quickly.

There's no police courses for this.

Going hundreds of miles against the clock,

battling the elements, and braving the weather.

HE CRIES OUT

From fields and forests,

to cliffs and country roads,

we'll be right at the heart of the action.

With police fighting crime...

I could seize your dogs, I could seize your van,

but I'm going to summons you all to court.

..paramedics saving lives...

..and wardens safeguarding our lives.

Come out of the way!

We're there as the emergency services pull together

to pick up, patch up, and protect the public.

This is Countryside 999.

Coming up, the Cornwall Air Ambulance

take charge of some precious cargo.

A man in agony is blue-lit to hospital in Dumfries

for life-saving surgery.

Acute abdominal pain. His abdomen is absolutely rigid to touch.

Argh!

And quite possibly the world's toughest 86-year-old

soaks up painful treatment in Penzance.

I've lost a chunk of my leg!

It didn't feel all that painful.

Lying on the southern lowlands of Scotland,

Dumfries and Galloway is dominated by farmland.

It's where over 40% of Scotland's dairy herd chew the cud,

alongside 15% of Scotland's sheep.

That makes for a lot of winding country roads fit for farmers...

..but not for paramedics in a hurry.

That doesn't stop the Dumfries and Galloway Ambulance Service

getting to life-threatening emergencies

in an average of eight minutes.

Paramedic and ex-Londoner Paul Votier

has been with the Scottish Ambulance Service for 10 years.

'One of the best things about this job is,

'you don't know what you're doing from day to day.'

You can come in, sit and watch telly and not turn a wheel,

or there's just the one job, and you go and you've made a big difference

in someone's life.

It's been a quiet morning for Paul and his partner Keith McWhan,

but in the early afternoon, a call comes in.

The call was given as this adult male collapsed with chest pains,

so straightaway you're thinking, yes, you know, it's a cardiac pain.

This has the potential to be a life-threatening condition.

These small, country lanes, you know, there's lots of blind spots,

lots of hazards. So we have to get there as quickly

but as safely as we can.

From their base in Lockerbie, the team are racing to a dairy farm

a few miles south.

It takes just six minutes.

-Hi, there.

-Hiya.

-How you doing?

-Hello.

As we walked through the door, he was on the floor, on his knees, writhing.

-Is he on medication, is he?

-No.

-Nothing at all?

-No.

Barbara called 999.

Her 52-year-old partner Robert is on his knees,

and in excruciating pain.

Have you injured yourself at all?

-No. Arrgghh!

-Barbara?!

Robert's neighbour Jennifer has heard his cries through the wall.

Whatever's causing the pain doesn't seem to be coming from his chest.

-Arrrgh...!

-Is that sore for me to press your stomach there?

-I can't... I...

-It's quite hard.

Robert's stomach is hard around the abdomen.

Dead in the centre, is it?

Paul and Keith have ruled out a heart attack,

but there's clearly something very wrong.

For someone to be that severe in pain, they've either got a very

low pain threshold or what they're experiencing is life-threatening.

Let's get him out and then we'll put him on the bed, eh?

Within four minutes they move Robert to the ambulance

for easier access to life-saving kit and pain relief.

See if you can start walking him out and I'll get the...

We'll get something for the pain.

'There's a lot of guarding and rigidness to his tummy,'

which indicates there's something severe going on.

Either he's got a bleed inside his stomach...

'He's got some sort of leakage in there that's causing this irritation

'and this pain.'

Paul and Keith think the leakage may be caused by a stomach ulcer.

Sharp scratch coming up.

Nice and still, mate.

Did this pain come on all of a sudden, Robert, or was it gradual?

I... I...

Has it been building up all day?

Argh! After lunch.

After lunch?

-Was it after you had something to eat?

-Yep.

Their worry is the ulcer might have burst,

allowing stomach acids and bacteria to infect the abdomen.

Infection that can spread

and quickly lead to multiple organ failure.

It becomes a time-critical situation for us.

It's a condition that can progressively get worse in minutes.

Can you get some tape as well?

He's so sweaty, it isn't sticking.

The pain is unbearable for Robert...

Argh...

And the wait agonising for his partner Barbara.

I was really worried.

I don't think I was panicking until he was actually in the ambulance,

and I saw how much sweat. Cos it was just lashing off him.

Fix that the best you can. You might have to dry him. He's quite sweaty.

Robert's agonised writhing and sweating is making it difficult

to give him the morphine he desperately needs.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Robert, just a wee second, son...

Here we go, Robert. Thank you.

Here comes the pain relief, all right?

-Cheers.

-Just takes a bit of time. It's coming in now, all right? Ready?

-Nice and slowly this goes in, Robert.

-Argh...

You've had the first bit of pain relief go through.

You'll feel that work straightaway.

That'll take the edge right off it.

We'll have some more ready to go when we get you to the hospital.

-But 10 minutes later...

-Arrrgh!

..Robert's still in agony.

There's a question we ask patients to gauge their level of pain,

and it's a scale from zero to 10,

zero being no pain, 10 being the most excruciating pain

'they've ever experienced. And just by looking at this gentleman,'

the way he was behaving, you could safely say that he was nine, 10.

Argh...argh!

Where is it exactly, Robert?

In there! Arrgh...

There's no let-up for Robert.

Paul tries more pain relief.

Robert, we're not going to hang around.

We'll get you sorted out for this pain.

-Argh!

-Lie back a wee bit, Robert.

See if that's any... Is that any better?

-No.

-No?

-No.

-Has that 15 helped him at all?

-No.

Yeah, blood pressure 111 over 76.

Paul and Keith now only have one option,

to get Robert into accident and emergency...

fast.

Best place this gentlemen needed to be was in hospital, where the

surgeons would need to see him.

-For Barbara, it's an agonising separation.

-I was kind of worried

I wouldn't get to Dumfries quick enough to see him,

in case he didn't make it. Cos I didn't know whether

he'd make it there or not.

SIREN

Cornwall is home to some of Britain's most romantic

and evocative landscapes.

It's got its own language and its own myths.

King Arthur and his Knights are said to have held court here.

And it's easy to see how legends come about

against such a dramatic backdrop.

It's a landscape perfect for dreaming in,

but not very easy to get around.

Unless you've got one of these.

The Cornwall Air Ambulance Service deals with real-life drama

across the county.

Mark Fuzzard has been a paramedic for 10 years...

..nearly eight of them in the air.

I've actually taken more people to hospital in the helicopter

than I have done by road.

'You don't know what you're going to be dealing with

'from minute to minute, let alone from day to day.'

A 999 call has just come in.

OK, mate. All right, mate. No worries, we're on our way.

We're going to 23-year-old lady who's come off a horse

and has been kicked in the chest by this horse.

And they can be quite nasty accidents, actually.

It's quite a powerful animal. So she's got breathing problems.

The patient is 14 miles from the air ambulance base in Newquay,

on a farm near Bodmin.

It's just a short hop for the chopper, which could be crucial.

It's an all too familiar emergency for second paramedic Ian Hooper

and the team.

Over the last five years, the air ambulance

has been called to 134 incidents involving horses.

A rapid response vehicle is on its way.

Horses can do serious damage.

I've seen quite a few incidents where horses have actually kicked out

and kicked patients, and they've had horrendous injuries.

So potentially, this lady could be in a lot of trouble.

They're met by the patient's dad, Boris.

She's got good air movement, from what I can feel.

23-year-old Miranda had been walking her dad's prize horse

when it kicked out.

The blow hit her in the back.

Miranda, we're going to have to cut your top off to have a look

at your chest properly, OK?

You just keep your head nice and still.

-How any times did it kick you, do you know?

-Once.

-Just the once?

So it's a swift kick right in your back here? And you weren't on it,

you were just standing up? OK.

Can we sit you up a little bit?

We're happy that you haven't got an neck injury there.

Mark needs to check Miranda's chest and breathing.

Her boyfriend Kester holds her up.

Deep breath. And relax.

Deep breath. Uh..

Does it feel difficult when you're breathing? Difficult to breathe?

Could you give the pain a score, nought being no pain, 10 being the

worst pain you can imagine? What score would you give the pain now?

Um... Eight. About an 8/10, OK.

Is that your house?

I reckon we can stand you up, yeah?

-Yeah?

-Good to go?

Miranda is helped to the house.

Right, which way do we go?

You live here, I've no idea where the front door is!

Follow Dad.

And the offending horse, Merlin, is locked in the stable.

We're going to examine you properly, but on first looking, it looks

like you possibly might have one,

possibly two, fractured ribs. At worst, at the moment, all right?

-We got a little bit of reddening here, haven't we?

-Yeah.

-I think it's just the one isn't it?

-Yes, just the one rib.

Your horse, is it?

It's his fault.

You've got a chest injury,

but you don't need to be in hospital right now.

They won't X-ray it at this point. There's nothing that will be done.

It's a matter of managing your pain.

And getting you to breathe deeply,

-and, you know, treating you here really, all right?

-OK.

Miranda has been lucky. She's got away with a suspected broken rib.

The paramedics are leaving her in her sister's capable hands.

So you've got to take two Paracetemol, and then two Ibuprofen.

-And then two Ibu...

-Fantastic!

-Yeah, you got it. You'll make a very good nurse.

-Thanks.

It's nice to be able to go to patients sometimes and they're

not that injured, or not as poorly as first thought.

Sometimes it's nice when you actually get there and they're not serious.

But for the Cornwall Air Ambulance, cases like this

are few and far between.

OK, we've got a one-year-old, a little baby, who's not very well.

He's having some breathing problems.

BABY CRIES

Aw, mate.

Back in Dumfries and Galloway, the ambulance paramedic team

have been called out to 52-year-old dairyman Robert,

who's suffering agonising abdominal pains.

Argh!

Paul and Keith suspect Robert has serious internal bleeding or leakage

from an ulcer, which, if untreated, could be fatal.

But they don't know how bad it is, and they're worried that the bleed

from the ulcer might lead to cardiac arrest.

Your heart will work faster and faster and faster

until it's got no blood left to pump around, and it will just stop.

The nearest hospital is Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary,

16 miles away.

We knew we are 20-25 minutes away from a hospital.

It's time-critical.

You need to get the gentleman in as quick as possible,

because we don't know

how this is going to progress, how it's going to pan out.

Keith calls the hospital to forewarn the trauma team.

Acute abdominal pain, his abdomen is absolutely rigid to touch.

He tells them pain relief isn't working.

Seems to have no effect at the moment.

The worst scenario is a patient goes into cardiac arrest.

And then Keith has to start a basic life support in the back.

Right now, Keith just wants to manage Robert's pain.

He encourages him to use Entonox,

a pain-relieving mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen.

Keep taking that. If you're able to take that,

that should start to relax and get the edge off.

Robert's starting to relax a little.

The morphine and Entonox may just be working.

Look at me, Robert.

That's fine, your eyes are starting to...

The pupils are...

In an emergency like this,

life in the back of the van can be pretty hairy.

Oooh...

Jeez.

Argh!

Right, we're just drawing into the hospital.

So what will do is, we'll take you in on this bed.

We'll not move you of this bed, then we'll get you

transferred when we're inside the casualty unit.

Within 22 minutes, Robert arrives at accident and emergency.

-I'm just going to get some blood from you.

-OK.

There'll be a sharp scratch, OK?

Consultant David Pedley thinks a ruptured stomach ulcer

is the most likely cause of pain.

You've got a hell of a lot of pain. you know that already, OK?

The signs suggest that you might have had an ulcer in your tummy,

which has burst, or ruptured into your tummy, OK?

But he won't risk a major operation until he's convinced.

A CT scan will give the medical team a clear picture

of what's going on in Robert's abdomen.

Just looking for free gas, for air where it shouldn't be, if you like.

That will be diagnostic of what we think this chap's got.

If you look very, very closely, there are a couple of small areas

where there is gas leaked out of his duodenum.

A little bit of extra fluid near his liver.

That's convinced surgeons that he needs to go to theatre

for an operation. So it looks like the initial hunch was right.

They've found the ulcer.

And Dr Pedley thinks he knows what caused it.

This gentleman was taking anti-inflammatory tablets

which have inflamed his stomach and caused it to rupture.

Consultant surgeon Patrick Collins will be performing the operation.

I'll cut up and down the middle of your tummy, so we'll make

an initial incision at the top part of your tummy here, which is

where the problem's likely to be.

If it is a small ulcer, we'll just stitch it shut.

Anything you want to ask?

-No.

-No. OK.

I mean, sometimes we get surprises, but I would put my money on it.

-There's obviously something causing the pain.

-Yes, absolutely.

It's a relief to find out what's causing Robert's pain,

but now Barbara has to wait for him to get through the operation.

They just told me that he was going to have surgery.

And just said that he'd be down there for a wee while.

It was quite frightening.

Just four hours after Lockerbie Ambulance Station took the call,

Robert is about to have major surgery.

If left, this gentleman would become very unwell.

He'd basically develop a severe infection, affecting

most of his abdomen, and certainly a high risk that he would die

if nothing was done.

Patrick Collins and his team are now preparing to save Robert's life.

Many of Cornwall's 4.5 million yearly visitors go there

to walk, ride, or climb, and enjoy Cornwall's stunning scenery.

It's a landscape crossed by 2,400 miles of pathways,

taking you along clay trails and old miners' tramways,

past deep lakes and over windswept moors.

But being out and about in Cornwall's stunning countryside

can be hazardous.

West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance has an urgent care unit

which provides treatment 24 hours a day, all year round.

Over the high summer months, they can expect to see

over 5,000 patients with a huge range of problems.

Today, Marion has been brought in with a gruesome-looking leg injury.

-It looks quite nasty.

-We're going to get the doctor to review this.

Staff nurse Kate Venning is first to see her.

We'll see what we can do. How long ago did it happen, Marion?

-About an hour ago.

-OK. And it was on concrete?

No, I was passing a stile,

and my leg caught on a bit of bark on a tree.

-Right. OK. And you're up-to-date with your tetanus?

-Pardon?

-You're up-to-date with your tetanus?

-Yes, yes.

And how is your health in general?

I've been under a lot of stress lately,

because I've just moved to Cornwall from the Midlands.

86-year-old, Belgian-raised Marion

has just moved to Cornwall to be closer to her son, Roderick,

and to pursue her favourite pastime, hiking.

So Marion, we might need to have a little look at it,

and move it around a little bit.

-Yes.

-So would you like some pain relief, just in case?

-I've got no pain.

-OK.

-So if it does get painful, then just ask, and we can give you some.

-Yes.

-All right?

-I should be all right.

'I didn't think it was serious.

'I thought it was just a scratch. I did wonder why it bled so much.'

My dirty shoes! I've been hiking today.

Just a soaked gauze.

Oh, it's come down a bit, actually.

That was kind of up there when I first looked.

Kate's concerned Marion must be in a lot of pain but, incredibly,

Marion's not complaining.

It looks pretty severe. I was a bit taken aback with it.

-Kate's called in Dr Neil Davidson.

-Hello, I'm Dr Davidson.

And she's told him about the lack of pain relief.

Have you had any pain relief, cos it must be sore, is it?

-No, it's not hurting.

-So you don't want any pain relief?

-No, thank you.

I've had a look at it. I've lost a chunk of my leg.

It didn't feel all that painful.

The blood just poured into my shoe.

It will be full of blood.

-How does one mend a hole like that?

-Well, we have ways.

NURSE LAUGHS

Although the wound is deep,

Dr Davidson thinks he can fix it.

I think that will close quite nicely.

The problem is, it's going to stop you walking for a wee while.

You've got a good cut there.

Yes, it's quite a big laceration that's gone through the skin

and taken the fatty layer of the subcutaneous tissue as well.

There's a thing in medicine

where the solution to pollution is dilution, so you wash it out

with about a litre of salt water,

and that'll clean it out.

Salt water washing over an open wound can be excruciating.

It can make grown men cry.

We're going to put about a litre through,

just to give it a really good flush, get any bits out. All right?

But Marion isn't a grown man.

-Is that OK?

-Yes, that's fine.

-Is it sore?

-No, not at all.

-Good, good.

She's far tougher than that.

When my friend sees this, he'll faint.

NURSE LAUGHS

You are coping very well.

-Are you sure you're OK?

-Yes, it's fine.

'She's amazing.

'She's not feeling that at all.'

After Kate cleans the wound,

Dr Davidson stitches it up.

And this time, Marion is given anaesthetic.

This is local anaesthetic.

I'm going to just...what we call infiltrate, just around the edges.

because I suspect there will be a little bit of feeling there,

even though there doesn't seem to be very much.

Can you actually feel me touching you there?

-I guess not.

-No? No?

-I think I've gone numb.

-Yeah.

The stitches should dissolve in a week,

long enough for the healing process to begin.

-Sorry, was that pain again then?

-Oh, not really. Just sensitive.

-I'm impressed with your pain threshold.

-Yeah, I'm impressed too.

-Stop whilst we're ahead.

-OK.

-Thank you, Doctor.

Thank you. You were a star patient.

It's fascinating, watching an expert at work.

Next, Kate provides the finishing touches,

using sticky sterilised strips.

You could do with like another pair of hands doing this,

because it's a bit of unravelling, a bit of pushing,

and kind of a bit of sticking at the same time.

Brilliant. That went better than expected, really.

The subcutaneous tissues came together very nicely.

Exactly the same with the skin.

It will actually heal beautifully.

And surprisingly little pain as well.

Three hours later, as Marion heads home,

she does start to feel a little something.

I'm hungry, yes!

I haven't eaten since 12!

As the chopper flies, it's about 15 minutes

from Penzance to the air ambulance base in Newquay.

From here, they deal with around 800 emergency calls a year.

For the helicopter in Cornwall, horse incidents are quite common.

From injuries to illness,

no two calls are ever the same.

-Can you say that? Ibuprofen?

-I...bu...pro...fen.

Brilliant. Fantastic.

But some patients can affect the team more than others.

No, that's fine. We'll be on our way, yep. Brilliant. Thanks, Kelly.

Thanks, babe. Bye.

OK, we've got a one-year-old, a little baby, who's not very well.

Having some breathing problems.

Once we got the call, and we realised that

we were on our way to a one-year-old with breathing difficulties,

it obviously gets your adrenaline flowing a little bit.

From the air ambulance base in Newquay,

its 20 miles to Tintagel,

on Cornwall's far north-western edge.

It's a ten-minute flight

and it seems to be a familiar address.

Their records show this little boy has been emergency lifted

to hospital before, each time with breathing difficulties.

Second paramedic Ian Hooper and the team are new to the case.

But with respiratory problems causing a fifth of all deaths

in children in the UK, Ian knows this is serious.

They land as close as they can.

Once we'd got to the scene and had a chat with Dad,

he told me a little bit more in-depth about the little one's

problems that he'd had, and he'd had since birth.

One-year-old James has a medical condition

that gives him severe breathing problems.

He's had respiratory arrest which means he's actually

stopped breathing, that needed intervention. That needed doctors

to intervene to kind of start him breathing again.

-What's this little chap called?

-James.

-James. Hello, James!

Do you mind if I just have a little listen to your chest a minute?

When you say he's had a bit of an uncomfortable night,

can you explain that to me a little more?

Normally he's quite happy, he goes to sleep at seven o'clock.

-Top lip was swelling when he was trying to get the breath.

-OK.

-His nostrils were really flaring.

-OK. Signs of distress breathing.

Pulling right in here.

James has Di Georges syndrome, a medical condition

caused by an irregularity of the chromosomes.

It can affect various areas of the body.

Young children with the disorder may suffer from weak immune systems,

heart defects, kidney and eye problems...

..which can lead to even more complications.

This little chap has problems with his airway.

And his airway could collapse at any moment.

And he also has been recently diagnosed with sleep apnoea,

which means he stops breathing through his sleep.

James, I'm just going to have a little listen to your chest.

'So although the little child didn't look that poorly once we'd got there,

'his respiratory was slightly elevated, and he had a little bit

'of recession, which means you can actually see the skin

'in between his ribs sucking in as he's breathing.'

-Hey, you.

-Yeah, he grunts with every...

Yeah. His respiratory rate's quite high. It's up over 60,

which is quite high.

James's respiratory, or breathing rate

is twice as fast as it should be for a child of his age.

JAMES COUGHS Whoops!

And the effort he has to put into breathing

is making his heart beat faster.

Well, I said his heart was high. That, for him,

-it's normally about 105.

-What was his heart rate on the SpO2?

-148.

Yeah, I was going to say, it's ticking along around 150/160 now.

-OK, and his sats are...?

-98.

-98, OK. Which is good for you!

-Yeah.

yeah, he's quite bright at the moment.

Yeah, like we said, he's so happy.

He could be on death's door

and he still smiles. He's what we call a happy baby!

I want to take his blood sugar,

cos obviously he's been breathing quite rapidly.

He burns up glucose quite quickly.

-I'll just take his glucose level, if that's OK.

-Now you're going to cry.

Yeah, unfortunately this is where I become the nasty man.

OK. I'm sorry, James.

I think what we'll do is, we'll pop him in.

He needed to go to hospital, but he didn't appear that poorly.

Potentially, with his history,

he could become very poorly very quickly.

And that's why we decided that we really needed to get this little one

into hospital quite quickly, in case anything deteriorates.

This is little James, one.

Respiratory rate's quite high, between 60 and 70.

He's tapping along at around 160 beats a minute.

James's condition means it's not his first time in a helicopter.

And this'll be his sixth air ambulance trip in...?

This will be the second in Cornwall. We've had Devon, and Air Sea Rescue.

All right, OK. So four helicopter trips in? Right.

One of those trips has already saved his life.

Respiratory system...

-JAMES COUGHS

-..just goes down the line.

Oh, mate.

-JAMES CRIES

-Oh, mate.

The air ambulance almost always sends small passengers to sleep.

Ian Hooper has to be extra vigilant,

making sure James doesn't drift into unconsciousness, or stop breathing.

The worst possible outcome for a scenario like that

is for the patient to stop breathing.

For him to have been breathing so hard that he now becomes

very tired, his respiratory rate will start to drop,

drop dramatically, until the point where he stops breathing at all.

Within 15 minutes, James is at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro.

It's a little short trip round to the front of the hospital.

-You'll be there in a few minutes, OK?

-OK, lovely. Thank you.

No problem at all.

He's in the right place now, and he's going to get seen by the docs.

Now at hospital, James can get the steroids and antibiotics

he badly needs.

In the Scottish lowlands of Dumfries and Galloway,

paramedic team Paul and Keith rushed to help a man in agonising pain.

Argh!

Suspecting Robert has life-threatening internal bleeding,

they got him to Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary

in 22 minutes.

He collapsed on the floor approximately 20 minutes ago

with acute abdominal pain.

His abdomen is absolutely rigid.

Consultant surgeon Patrick Collins

is almost certain it's a burst ulcer.

-Is that what's causing the pain?

-I think so. Can't be 100% sure.

I would put my money on it.

If it is a burst ulcer, this operation will save Robert's life.

He's had a general anaesthetic,

so he's had some drugs to put him off to sleep.

-OK...

-Yes.

And he's had a breathing chip put down to do the breathing for him.

A few minutes into the operation,

Patrick Collins finds what he's looking for.

We've opened up his abdomen via a midline incision which showed

a perforated duodenal ulcer,

so that's an ulcer in the first part of the small bowel

has given way, or perforated.

Around one in ten people have a stomach ulcer

at some point in their lives.

But they're usually spotted early and easily treated.

These days, ruptured ulcers are extremely rare.

Robert's been unlucky,

but at least now he's getting the treatment he needs.

So we've stitched that shut -

quite a straightforward procedure - and patched it up,

and washed everything out, and closed up his belly again.

So he should do fine now.

Ten days later, Robert is back home.

He and his partner Barbara are recovering from the shock.

The muscles went into spasm.

And everything was just, you know,

it was excruciating. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Well, he actually thought that was it, his days were numbered.

He thought he was away, because he thought it was his heart.

I'd actually said to Barbara, if I pass away here,

tell the grandkids I love them. I remember saying that.

Because I really thought, "I'm not getting out of here."

But then, the ambulance arrived.

And the next thing I remember, it had only been five, ten minutes,

and the ambulance fellow came in.

I thought they were really quick.

I was kind of worried that it WAS his heart,

and I wouldn't to Dumfries quick enough to see him,

or anything like that.

I think I panicked more after he was away, trying to get sorted out

and get over to the hospital, in case he didn't make it.

Because I didn't know whether he'd make it there or not.

Oh, I just don't know what I would have done if I'd lost him,

to be quite honest.

I'm really grateful to the ambulance men for what they did.

Now Robert is very much on the mend.

They operated, from there to my belly button, and I had

a tube sticking in there. I'm getting these stitches out today,

these staples anyway.

-So much for having a six-pack.

-He's bored.

He's a bad patient. He really is a bad patient. He's bored.

It does your head in sometimes. But I don't mind that.

He's still here!

Funny enough, I said to Barbara, last night, "Do you know what?

"I'm home a week now, but you could have been burying me this week."

I said, "That's why you've got to live life to the full,

"Cos you don't know what's around the corner."

And I'm just thankful I've got another chance.

And I'm going to make the most of it.

It's been all go for the emergency services of rural Britain.

Predictably, Marion recovered from her nasty leg wound quickly,

and was out hiking again on Bodmin Moor in six weeks.

After two nights in hospital, little James is back home

and waiting to have an operation to remove his tonsils,

which should help him breathe more easily.

Robert got back to work in the dairy eight weeks after

his life-saving operation.

He's now planning to take Barbara on holiday.

And you thought it was quiet in the countryside.