The nurses on Intensive Care were absolutely wonderful, very caring. Things that matter to you like they washed my hair, and the day after said, "You won't want your hair washing again because we did it yesterday." So I nodded. And they said, "You do want it washing?" And so I said, "Yes." So the nurse said to me, "Well, do you wash your hair every day?" And I said, "Yes." She said, "Well, if that's important to you and you do that every day at home, that's what we'll do here then."
And after that my hair was washed every day. And that was such a boost to me because that's what I would normally do. And it made me feel human having my hair washed and feeling clean. I was thoroughly washed every day. Some of the nurses went out of their way. I didn't sleep very well once I'd come out of the coma. I think I was frightened of the hallucinations really, and so I didn't sleep well. And I remember one of the nurses coming on duty and saying, "I've brought this stuff for you." And it was lavender wash stuff. And she said, "It says on it that it's helpful to sleep and it keeps you calm. And I thought about you because you've not slept very well." And I thought that was really kind, that she wasn't just washing me with whatever soap they had, but she'd actually gone out of her way.
Another of the nurses got some shampoo for me and said, "The stuff that we use in here isn't great. I've brought you some from home." Things like that made me feel they were not just nursing me, but they were becoming friends. And we actually had some good times. Once I'd come round I can remember being put in a side room because I'd developed MRSA. And so they brought me a television and radio in so that I wouldn't be lonely. And they put the radio on, the nurses, while they were doing whatever they were doing in my room, and turned it up really loud and we were all dancing. I mean I was sort of moving about on the bed and they were dancing round me while they were doing their work. And we were playing games like, you know, "Guess who made this record" and whatever. And I was writing my answers down, and I was putting my hand up and saying, "I know, I know" and writing the answers down. And they were shouting them out. And we had a bit of a party that afternoon. Other nurses kept coming in saying, "What's going on in here?" because we were so lively. And I thoroughly enjoyed that afternoon. So there were some positive aspects to being in Intensive Care. I felt that they'd become friends and that we were having fun. And because I was, I knew I was getting better at that point, I felt quite positive. And so that was a very good experience. |
