The following day Liz was given a place in the Neuro Critical Care ward on the 11th floor of the Royal Hallamshire Building close to the Sheffield University site. The nurse told us that Elizabeth would be taken by ambulance between the two Sheffield Hospitals. He reassured us that the journey had been assessed as safe for Liz. When we go to the Neuro Critical Care ward, we discovered that there was a room with our name on the door, set aside for families in shock. This was a ward where most visitors are vulnerable and upset. This was part of the skill of the staff, to care for families, friends and patients.
Elizabeth came round from the sedation and we went in to see her. I will never forget our first contact. Liz could was pleased to see us. She could move her right arm and pointed with it to her left side. There was such a look of despair. Her eyes said it all. "Look what's happened to my left side- I can move it at all."
Liz was in a high tech bed. She had a bank of monitors measuring her breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. The beeps became a familiar accompaniment to the ward atmosphere, which was otherwise calm and subdued. The peace might be broken by someone in the neighbouring bed trying to pull out canulars or feeding tubes triggering a riot of noise. This was a mark of the confusion faced by people with brain injuries. Elizabeth was not in this position, though she was put in a 'boxing glove' over night occasionally to prevent her for pulling out a tube.
Elizabeth initially was interbated with a breathing tube. The sophisticated machinery ensured that Elizabeth was able to use her lungs to breath, but supplied the right volume of oxygen. The challenge for the body is that if the machine did all the breathing, the body would say "thanks, very happy for you to do it", and the diaphragm would thin and weaken as a consequence. No easy life on NCC.
Liz also had a number of canulars fitted. On in her neck was positioned in case the need of an emergency injection to start the heart. She also had a nasal gastric tube feeding her though the night straight into the stomach.
On the first Sunday Elizabeth seemed to have a surprising amount of energy. She could not speak, but we were able to communicate with thumbs up and down. She even attempted to write with right hand. The letters were indistinct but eventually we made out the word Jesus. When we got it right there was a sense of relief all round. Later Elizabeth explain how she had decided that she had wanted to write 'There is a balm in Gilead.' Where were not going to get it. It was a song on her mind at that time and 'Jesus' was what she was on about. She was not showing any fear, and waved up off when we eventually had to leave that evening at 7pm. What a day. Elizabeth was settling into life with one-to one nursing and intensive medical support.
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