Archive – Page 6 – Sensing Spaces of Healthcare: NHS Sensory Memory Bank

Memory #12

I remember… The taste of almost cold jacket potatoes with cheese that wouldn’t melt, strawberry jelly topped with a decorated dollop of mousse. Both foods I couldn’t eat for at least a year after.

Memory #13

I remember… The incessant beeping of monitors. Telephones at the nurses’ desk ringing constantly. The unpleasant smell of breakfast wafting in from the HDU. A lone 1980s copy of ‘Pâtés and Terrines’ in the family room, nothing else to read. The atmosphere mixed with the smell of disinfectant and burnt toast.

Memory #14

I remember… Waiting to hear the results of my partner’s breast cancer test … exploring the free lending library in the lobby of the hospital. The smell of well-loved books in this little alcove for a few minutes comforted me by taking over the usual hospital smells. I dropped a pound coin into the donation slot, then took with me a hefty paperback of Margaret Atwood’s Oryx & Crake. The test was good news, so now that book is too.

Memory #15

From 1982

I remember… Possibly link to trauma of visiting someone after a serious accident – walking in to a long, dark ward (green?) with metal framed beds (cream) in long rows either rise. Small windows up high making it feel depressingly like a prison.

Memory #16

From late 1960s

I remember… Going to hospital to have a cut on my forehead treated + stitched when I was in my early teens. The smell was distinctive and powerful and horrible. After leaving I couldn’t get the smell out of my clothes. I vomited.

Memory #17

From 1990s

I remember… My grandfather built and fitted out a small operating theatre in a local hospital in the 1930s. He died before i was born. My office in the 1990s was in the same space. Connecting across the decades and generations was really poignant.

Memory #18

From 2009

I remember… I had an MRI scan back in 2009 in London. Once the machine was on, I was transformed into the unwitting sole audience member for the MRI musical extravaganza. It started slowly, with a low buzzing drone but soon turned into an orchestra of banging and drilling. Each different frequency was seemingly fighting for supremacy to last the longest. The low frequency was winning. Nonetheless, every so often the slightly higher one would cut in briefly just to add a little variety and surprise. Sometimes a drone would start up over which a series of percussion instruments would haphazardly dance like grasshoppers. I thought I was doing rather well for managing to hear it this way, but was nonetheless quite pleased when the white coats came in to release me. Except they told me there was another five minutes or so to go and they just needed to adjust something. So, reluctantly, I stilled myself for the second movement. The lack of dynamic range was a tad disappointing in its limited scope of f to ff and occasionally sfz but the tempo changes were more entertaining. One percussive sound would start up an SOS pulse while another would come in with more of a house music high-hat speed. Then there was a final burst of electrical tones starting low, raising in pitch and then returning to the original low frequency that had kept me entertained throughout. It was this familiar tone that saw me through to the final cadence culminating in a prolonged silence. The white coats returned, the bed was pulled out, (and my cannula rather heavy-handedly removed) and I was free to leave, having experienced the most intense musical performance of my life, performed by a machine.

Memory #19

I remember… I had endoscopies done … I just had a throat spray which should have numbed it. The camera is very uncomfortable & makes you gag, there’s no pain but it’s very uncomfortable and you can’t swallow! It’s bearable but many people choose the nitrous oxide instead.

Memory #20

From early 1980s

I remember… When I had my nose bashed in, I went into hospital. I came in at 9am, at 12.30 I was still sitting there and I’d been forgotten! Lots of people came and went until I was the only one left. It was empty, quiet & shutting down!