First of all, I sincerely apologise for my lack of blog posts in the past month or two. Things have been somewhat hectic recently, as this post will hopefully begin to explain...
I have had several uni interviews over the past couple of months where I have been asked about what has recently been in the news re the NHS, it has almost always come down to reports of things that nurses are doing wrong. Whether that is not making beds well enough, not doing meds on time, doing paperwork wrong, it doesn't matter. Nurses almost always seem to be criticised for something or other. Up until now I have thankfully never really been in a position where I have had to spend a long period of time in a ward, for myself or visiting someone, so I have generally just gone on what the news articles have said, but after the past few days, I have had to resist the urge to phone up the universities and take back everything I have said, and here is why.
Matthew has been sick this week, and I mean real sick, like, sicker than he's ever been. It started with him groaning every few minutes and complaining to us that he was feeling sick (I had no sympathy, he chose Waterloo road to groan through meaning that I missed most shots of Kevin's beautiful face) Katy and I were convinced that he had a very severe case of 'Skive-ilitis', possibly led on from an incredibly serious case of 'I-have-French-homework-due-tomorrow-that-I-haven't-done syndrome', of course we gave our best medical advice of 'man up and shut up'. Uh huh, medical professionals in the making.
Of course I wasn't happy when he got the next day off school, what big sister would be when they have a 12 hour day ahead of them? I was convinced that he needed to man up and get on with it, I mean, I had to be on my deathbed before I even got a morning off school. I could have a limb hanging off and I would be told to put a wet paper towel on it and get an early night. Anyone else with me?
Long story short I am now sat here writing this next to my brother in his hospital bed. He is exhausted, he is a deathly white colour, he is attached to a drip that feeds him medication whenever he needs it. (Or 'proper good drugs' as Matthew likes to refer to them as..) He has scars across his stomach and for someone who has such a high threshold for pain, he has been complaining of a seven out of ten, for any of us that roughly translates to complete and utter agony.
Acute appendicitis, Peritonitis and pelvic ulcers. Not recommended folks.
And as for us, we have had to watch helplessly. We can't make the pain stop, we can't make the scars go away and we can't chuck the drip out of the window. We can't stop the bright lights, the loud noises and the strange people that he doesn't know coming in and out of his room. (Although I can play with the remote that controls his bed, become engrossed in an episode of pointless on his tv that I nicked from him and perfect the art of stealing his food without him noticing, but apparently that is slightly frowned upon...)
But through all of this, the nurses on the Bramble ward of the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital have been absolutely incredible. They've looked after him to the best of their ability. They have dealt with us coming in and blowing up the disposable gloves and making them in to balloons. They've laughed along with us during a heated discussion during a game of Uno (I'm still convinced that Katy and Matt were ganging up on me). They've dealt with fairly frequent requests for ice cream (obviously all for Matthew, we would never considering nicking even a teaspoon from him, especially not a whole bowl...) they have sat and explained things to him and us when we are confused about his treatment or about what is going on, despite the fact that they have a million and one other things to do. And the sad thing is, 99% of nurses up and down the country are the same as the ones that have been looking after Matt. So why don't we read about them in the newspaper? Why do we only hear about the people that have been failed by the NHS? It makes no sense.
So next time you read about how the medication rounds take too long, remember that the nurse doing the round may be holding their bladder because they haven't had the time to use the toilet. Next time you see in the news that patients aren't getting enough fresh air because a nurse forgets to open the window, remember that they have spent so much time running around caring for people that they could've missed lunch. They are being peed on, puked on, bitten and complained at all whilst doing their absolute level best to care for either you or your family members, and they still do it with a smile on their face. Then they go home and read in the paper that they aren't doing their job right. 99.9% of nurses care. They leave their family to come and care for you and your family. Yet all you have to do is do a google news search on nurses and the majority of the articles that appear are slating nurses. How is this okay and why have we allowed it to go on for so long?!
Next time you hear someone slating the nursing profession, do me a favour and please think of the nurses that have looked after Matthew and our family in the past few days and say something for the nurses all over the world who are as incredible as the ones on Bramble ward.
Thank you.
P.s. He still hasn't done his French homework..
