This is your alarm call.

You’d be surprised how superstitious psychiatric nurses are. Belief systems that would have us reaching for the mental health act forms if expressed by a member of the public are firmly entrenched in the mind of your average crisis team worker. One of the most prevalent is the firm conviction that if you mention someone’s name (as in “I wonder how Agnes Nitt is doing these days”) within a week they will turn up threatening to take an overdose unless you stop their husband from leaving them, sort out their child’s behavioural problem, and personally see to it that all their washing up is done.

Last weekend I made a casual observation to Kerry and a couple of friends that were visiting:

“We haven’t had to take Amy to Casualty in ages”.

4am this morning we were driving to the hospital with a 2 year old with respiratory problems.

Amy had pneumonia about a year ago and ever since has been very prone to chest infections. We have fairly comprehensive guidance on when to seek medical advice – if her breaths per minute go above a certain number and she appears to be breathing with her belly and ribs rather than her chest then we take her in. This invariably happens on a weekend or in the middle of the night so our only recourse is A&E. We wouldn’t have noticed this morning if she hadn’t woken up around three thirty and clambered into our bed.

She’s fine, as we knew she would be. While the doctor was examining her she demonstrated her sheer professionalism by lifting up her pyjama top ready for examination as soon as she saw the stethoscope. As usual we had to explain that she’s a resilient little bounder and so always looks bright and cheerful even when she’s very ill. She was placed on a nebuliser and had all her observations taken. There was some talk of an x-ray but her breathing soon eased and that was forgotten about. The staff were all very pleasant and reassured us that we did the right thing, and so we all went home with a little bottle of antibiotics and a deep desire to go back to bed.