On a warm autumn morning, we sat with Elizabeth on the patio at the back of the ward. This area was developed long ago to ensure patients receive a lot of fresh air, a curative I still support. A nurse but her head of of the door and asked is any of us had seen 'M'. M was the most able patient on BIU, and was able to walk around on his own. He sometimes came out onto the patio to smoke, but always accompanied by a nurse. Elizabeth had seen M come out and said 'he went that'a way'. The nurse hurried in and a second later five nurses rushed out. On of them called security. There all headed off in different directions. As we guessed, M was on probation, though this was supposed to be confidential information.
On Elizabeth's last day on ICU, a good friend and her two daughters visited in the evening. The younger daughter was not feeling too well, and after a while asked to leave. I went with her out to find some fresh air as she was feeling faint. The the corridor she fell to her knees and slumped on the floor. She explained that she didn't like hospitals and was feeling light headed. A nurse noticed and within seconds they had jumped into action. She was ushered into a side room and obs were made (blood pressure, temperature, heart rate.) She received excellent nursing care that evening- couldn't have been in a better place.
As Christmas approached on BIU, there was great excitement about the growing generous prises on offer in the Christmas ward raffle. We, and other visitors bought our tickets. One time we visited Elizabeth we had to wait while a nurse helped her with a bed pan. The curtains were drawn and the nurse carried out a brimming bowel of warm urine. "Why not put it in the raffle?" Elizabeth called out.
From university tutorials to 'Communication Group' - what are contrast. When Liz began to be able to speak again a number of people asked if she was Welsh?, or French. In the group Liz was told of for giggling too much. She found that she was surrounded by people with serious brain injuries, but unlike her, these had affected memory.
With the date of the BIU Christmas party drawing close, the pressure was on to sell as many raffle tickets, and 'guess the name of the dog' tickets as possible. Liz went with J into the canteen where they touted for business. Liz called out "Guess the name of the dog......guess my name." It all became very confused.
Our friend James visited Elizabeth on the day she moved from BIU to NRU. The staff made a guard of honour by the door, and Elizabeth left in her wheelchair with James pushing her. She got a warm welcome at NRU. She was offered a cup of tea by the housekeeper, which was very kind, except she was still 'nil by mouth', being PEG fed.
Nearly all of Elizabeth's therapists were excellent. One that stood out as not that spent nearly all of her allotted time with Liz trying to work out how to put the breaks 'on' on her wheelchair. This was extraordinary for someone who works with disabled people everyday. In the end she did a youtube search for a demonstration video.
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