Last Monday I met a patient who lay propped up in bed, but who looked like he was climbing out of mineshaft. He was elderly and thin, skinny arms and shoulders and a bone-worn face. Very few teeth. His redeeming feature was a broad grin. As wide as the river Thames. This was “Dave” the Rocker. An eternal Teddy Boy and an Elvis nutter. He had Elvis tattoos on his fists, for he showed me his clenched hands as if he was a fighter too. There were tattoos all over his body. I think that’s when I visualised him as a miner, covered with coal dust.
It was difficult to understand what Dave was saying. I’m pretty sure he had breathing problems. But Elvis songs he wanted. He was desperate to hear Elvis. His hero. I could find the song titles but for the life of me I could not play them. Perhaps it was a faulty internet signal to my phone. But when I told Dave I couldn’t get each song to play, so he would ask for another Elvis song. The surprising thing was that most of these requests were ballads, whereas I expected them to be more rock ‘n roll. He didn’t seem to care that I couldn’t play any; he just asked me to look for another one!
At one stage he had asked for the Elvis song “The wonder of you.” Again, it wouldn’t play. I told him cheekily I was going to look up “I wonder who the hell you are”. His grin shot sideways even more. He was enjoying the banter between us. Perhaps I was the first person he had spoken with for a few days.
Quite often in life I get things wrong. I get my knickers in a twist. There was a simple explanation for why the tunes didn’t play. I had inadvertently turned down the volume control on my phone to zero!
And so I apologised and suggested “Let’s start again.” Well to compensate for my wasting his time earlier, I played the next four of his Elvis requests. All ballads. He also requested Buddy Holly song, “That’ll be the Day when I die”. It was here that I was going to move on to another patient, but he put his hands together and said “Please”. So, I played Buddy Holly and started saying goodbye. He again put his hands together and begged “One more please.” Of course, I relented and played another Elvis request. This guy was getting his own concert! Not only that but I was simulating playing the guitar. I had the whole bay to myself – no nurses were around.
Four times Dave pout his hands together and pleaded “One more please”. But now I had made my mind up to stop. (I have been trained to close conversations when working as a Prison Visitor.) But Dave wouldn’t have it. But I was adamant. I said “You’re the student and I’m the master. You must learn to listen. I am now finishing this session.” I had to laugh as David was amused by all this, yet fully expectant that I would play yet another request. But I drew the blue curtain to come between us and stuck my left arm out beyond the curtain and waved my fingers as goodbye.
Yet, I didn’t have the heart to walk away! I opened the curtain again to see him and then said “goodbye – see you next week” and I left. I think I had been with Dave half an hour or more. It was a fun session, and I won’t easily forget him. If he is still in hospital, then I am likely to see him tomorrow for "One more please."
