"Very rude, dismissive paramedic"

I needed to call 999 as I couldn't catch my breath. My calf was painful and had been for days.

I'd had in the past a DVT that travelled to my lungs causing a PE.

I spent 10 days in ICU due to blood clots, which saw me losing 54cm of bowel.

I live with an enlarged heart.

I thought it prudent to get things checked out, so I called 999. It is not something which was undertaken lightly, as I know how stretched NHS services are.

As soon as one of the paramedics walked through the door, I felt there was a rude and confrontational attitude. Their manner felt off. They implied that I was a time-waster.

They put my symptoms down to me being anxious, which they said was denoted by the fact I was talking fast. I talk fast. My mother talks fast. My father talks fast. I told them this, but it was dismissed as anxiety.

They ran through some tests, all the while giving me the impression they thought I had called them out for no reason. That it was likely a virus. I asked how I could have got a virus when I rarely leave the house. I was told I had likely picked it up on something carried into the house. My mother who was there asked how I was. The paramedic reached across, touched her and told her to be quiet.

It was at this point I told the paramedic that I thought them rude and aggressive. They said they would leave and they would let themselves out. And that was that. They both left.

I am not a timewaster. I am still receiving outpatient treatment under the care of 2 specialists at the hospital whom I see every 6 months. I have regular blood tests at the hospital. I know my body and when something isn't right.

My mother was shocked. Stunned by the behaviour. As was I. The paramedic in question, it felt like their mind was made up from the moment they clapped eyes upon me. I don't know whether I reminded them of someone they didn't especially care for or whether they'd just had a bad day. I don't know. I was, however, treated with contempt.

I am not here to bash the NHS. I am alive and being well-looked after on an ongoing basis by the organisation. I do have a right, however, to be able to call 999 where I feel it appropriate and not be spoken to in such an appalling manner by a visiting paramedic, even before running checks. I certainly don't need to be made to feel that I have wasted anyone's time.