Among the many patients I recently visited with my colleague Lucy, was a gentleman in a bed at the far end of a Ward at UCLH. This is a bay of four beds, 1 to 4. This chap was in bed no. 1, half sitting up with his knees bent and foot trailing outside the end of the bed. He looked dishevelled. I hadn’t realised it, but this guy was a very tall man; Lucy had noticed it, as she saw that the bed had been extended at the foot, where I later knocked my shin bone on. She asked him how tall he was, and he said 6'10 and a half inch. And that his wife was only 5'2" - this reminds me of a Victor Borges joke about Mozart being only so high – indicating with two parallel arms, the height of Mozart’s stone bust. Victor then said that by all accounts Mozart was happily married. There was a customary long pause and then he said, “unfortunately Mrs Mozart was not, indicating that “she went all the way to the ground”.
We stayed with this guy for 30 minutes, he was really grateful for the opportunity to talk to someone. A lover of classical music he told us was a volunteer steward at the Royal Albert Hall. His wife, a nurse, had died, and he spoke at length of how he had met her and that they had 30 cats, most of them strays. One called Picasso, also nick-named Stinky Poo. He told us that there were two cats that would climb or jump onto the piano keyboard. One cat would step along the piano keyboard 'adagio' style and most delicately, whilst the other cat would clump clump along with an unusual degree of dissonance. We talked about music, and he said at one point in his life he thought about taking up the violin again, which he had played as a child and teenager, but his wife had said "No, no, the cats won’t stand it". Lucy and I smiled.
Another guy we met sat in an armchair which he had repositioned to enable him to see the comings and goings of doctors and nurses along the corridor, since his own bed was in an annexe to the bay, and he had no direct sight of his fellow patients. (Many nurses push trolleys on which a laptop is placed showing charts and graphs and all kinds of medicinal algorithms.) Lucy introduced herself to this patient and asked him “Are you hungry?” He answered, “No, I’m British”, which made us both laugh out loud. We humoured him a little and then he began to make these very comical faces. The first face, I had never seen before. He managed to make his upper lip ripple along both left and right as if an electrical current has been switched on. There was a definite tremor or quiver right along his upper lip. Left and right, and right to left. The technique must have involved the use of his tongue, and possibly him triggering a wonky nerve! It was very alarming but funny to see. I remarked I was glad he wasn’t out the night before which was Halloween! He laughed. And then he proceeded to produce a series of facial contortions, like the facial expressions the comedian Les Dawson would do when you kind of crumple your whole face. I asked him if he had been on the stage, but he said no.
To be continued!
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Greenthorn
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Loved the story of the face puller, gurning was the name of this, there are some great pictures on the you tube site. The one good thing about the Nightingale wards, was that most patients could see all that was going on, also that staff could easily see if someone was in trouble. As a patient I spent quite a few nights, when unable to sleep, watching a junior nurse, sitting quietly at a table in the centre of the ward, doing her revision for her finals. more comforting than a buzzer.
Thanks SH - I shall look up gurning on YouTube, expecting to be quite shocked ha ha. I too remember the long wards as a boy in hospital. Isn't it reassuring to see a nurse, on duty at night, sitting at a desk in the middle of a ward! The good old days!
You must have met some really interesting people. I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg and there are more stories to come. I think being a hospital volunteer is very rewarding and great for the patients too. Xxxx
Absolutely Sassy. I'm going to try a weekly account, not as long as my first account of two weeks ago. Every week there are nuggets of fun, some inspirational stories and some sad stories. I work on two wards with the elderly and dementia and usually leave the hospital with a real buzz of exhilaration. Yes, patients uplift me! It's amazing how resilient us humans are!
You are doing these people so much good David. I don't know about the U.K. but no visitors are allowed in hospitals now over here. So many people go weeks and months seeing no-one other than the hospital staff. Not only that you get to hear so many interesting stories of people, their lives, loves and experiences. You make a difference. Thank you for your uplifting post. xx ☺️👋🎹🎵🎶🎵
Thanks Cas, I'd always intended writing up about these weekly visits and your own posts have simply inspired me to do so. I'm encouraged by the responses I had from my first, looong posts I'm geared to near weekly reports. You know I enjoy this work. It's when I let go of self-consciousness. I've still got to catch up on last Monday and I have tomorrow's visit to come!🎵🎶🌸🎶🌸🎵🌸🎶🌸🌸
By the way the forget-me-not flower symbol is used (with family permission) to show whether a patient is living with d dementia. I'm sorry to hear of the patients plight in Japanese hospitals. At UCLH there are family liaison officers who facilitate phone calls and video calls with family members. Plus a great team of Volunteer visitors, each doing different kinds of work. Thanks Cas for your support. Really valued. ♥️
Some great stories! A friend of mine worked as a night nurse. She told me of a patient( retired milk man)who would go into the hospital fridge and leave a bottle of milk at the end of everyone's bed!😀
Greenthorn, you play such an important role in those people's lives! Healthcare workers and volunteers change the lives of people in ways they never thought possible. As someone else had already pointed out, you are often the only person that these folks see day to day. Bless you!!!
I really enjoy your stories. Using the forget-me-not flower to indicate dementia is so touching. You do these patients a great service and do us a favor by sharing the stories. Thank you!
Cheering to read how you and Lucy brightened the day for these two people. Quite agree about Nightingale wards-I visited a gentleman pre lockdown who was stuck in a small side room, which he was too disabled to escape from. It looked like solitary confinement.
Thank you for posting your encounters with the patients you meet on the wards, so amusing but also it can be very emotional for you. The patients are so lucky to have you and Lucy to brighten up their day, great job well done xxx
Yes HollyB, there are indeed many touching and emotional stories and I should make sure I give testimony to all. Or at least give fair representation of my visits. Only last Monday I learnt of the death of lady I'd been seeing for 8 weeks or so, the last 3-4 weeks in sharp decline with cancer. I saw her last two weeks ago. One of her daughter's was there and told me her mum used to be a dinner lady. And 20 or more years after her retirement a man stopped her in her local market, a former student who recognised her and told her how she used to give the boys more than the usual plop plop of food on the plate. (I mean she was generous.)The lady was half conscious when I saw her last Monday week but I drew close to her and said my name. Her eyes flickered and she said "keep talking". It brought a tear to my eye for I knew she was still holding on. I told her a lovely story which had happened to me the previous Thursday. I felt privileged to be able to share that with her.
So yes Holly, that was a hard one to take but she was in pain and is now released.♥️
Thank you, Greenthorn, for relating these encounters which you have with your patients. I do hope you realise how much joy you bring to them and also the compassion you show xxx 😊
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