Calling an Ambulance

On the topic of medical phone calls, let's discuss what goes into a call to an ambulance.

For people who are chronic illness sufferers, calling an ambulance is absolutely the last resort.
We are fully aware, at all times, of the resources it takes for us to maintain some faction of normalcy. Medications, imaging, procedures, hospital staff, nurses, infusion clinics.
We know that our bodies will continue to malfunction and lose function and continuously become worse over time (in many cases).
Having pooling amounts of blood in the stool, for instance, would mean an instant trip to the doctor or an emergency room for any healthy individual. For someone with Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, or any other inflammatory bowel disease, this might just be a bad day. We will try everything at home before even contacting our own doctor, and we usually will not go to the ER unless our specialist suggests it. We can try going on full fluids, try a medicated enema, try to give our intestines a break by fasting. Then, after DAYS of consistent bleeding, THAT is when we start thinking about contacting our specialist and going in. Often, I will be severely weakened from fasting and blood loss by the time I finally call.
When a chronic illness patient calls an ambulance, it is likely that he/she has already taken every possible step to alleviate their own complications by themselves.

Most people who are in constant pain can become quite stubborn. Suddenly, cracked ribs or a sprained ankle are just a nuisance, so we can manage to drive ourselves to Urgent Care or the like. Constant vomiting or defecation is at a level of someone else driving us, but not using an ambulance.

I have ridden in several ambulances over the years. In every case that I have called to be taken to the ER, I have thought to be in serious, potentially fatal, danger.
Of course there are the odd situations - like needing an EMT to remove dissolved pieces of contact from my eyeballs because I am not doing it by myself and I can't drive. Or when I was in a car accident and was ordered to be taken to the ER by ambulance...- but most ambulance trips were because I had severe pancreatitis, or was bleeding everywhere, or thought I might have an internal surgical injury, or thought I was dying, or having a severe allergic reaction.

But even on days when I have reacted to something and cannot breathe properly, every severe hive reaction from a medication, and most instances of intestinal swelling, I have either driven myself or had someone else give me a ride.

Please trust me when I say that most people avoid calling an ambulance for days or hours before giving in. No one WANTS to make that phone call.
It is another step that makes the situation more real. It feels more dire when you have tried everything and still have to call an ambulance.