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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends

People's stories

Aged 31-40

Interview 02

Interview 02

Age at Interview: 39
Sex: Female
Background: Customer services advisor, married, no children. Ethnic background/nationality: White British.

Brief outline:In 2003 her husband had an accident while cycling on his mountain bike in woods close to their home. The accident left him with a serious head injury, fractures to his neck and spine, and a collapsed lung.

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She felt her husband looked like a stranger after his mountain bike accident and dreaded breaking the news to his parents.
Print When we arrived at the hospital I was taken into a room. The senior nurse went through [my husband's] injuries, which included a fracture in his neck, a collapsed lung and a pretty bad head injury. I wanted to see him. So they took me in to see him. That was quite a shock, seeing him for the first time. Because he was all hooked up to machines and had tubes etc everywhere. What struck me as well was how swollen his face was. It looked totally unlike [my husband]. He had a breathing tube in his mouth and a chest drain coming off. All I could think of at that time though was, “Oh, my God. I've got to tell his parents.” After having been there a short while, and because time was marching on and I didn't want to be ringing them in the middle of the night, I went home. So the friend that had come with me drove me back home and was a bit reluctant to leave me. But I said I'd be fine. Did you know much about Intensive Care at this point? Or was this the first time you'd really heard about ICU and how critical it can be? It was the first experience I'd ever had of ICU. So you came back from work, you went straight to hospital? Yeah. And you saw your husband in ICU? Yes. It might have been quite a blur for you as well at that time. Can you remember, obviously it must have been a huge shock? Yes, I just didn't feel it was my husband at all. It just seemed like a total stranger lying there.

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