Sensing Spaces of Healthcare

I remember… Being in the infirmary with a perforated ulcer, I couldn’t eat after the operation … A Spanish nurse used to make fortified drinks for me which helped a lot. It later transpired I was nauseated from the pain-killers I was being given but I always remembered the nurse & the drinks!

I remember… I had my tonsils removed. When I woke up from the anaesthetic, I couldn’t eat very much. I don’t actually remember very much even though I have a good memory, I just don’t think I was very interested in the hospital as an early teen

I remember… I went to hospital recently. While I was waiting I read my book & had some vending machine chocolate. I felt very comfortable there and the doctors were very kind.

I remember… All my adult GAs 8 of them have had great fun chatting medical history with all the theatre staff …. I love history of anaesthesia so have a great time chatting.

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.

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.

I remember… After the birth of my first child, not long after whilst still in the delivery room I was encouraged to have a shower. I remember the silent corridor & wobbly legs & the shower having someone else’s blood in it. I felt really out of it. It’s like a dreamscape.

I remember… As a child, I had an operation at a NW Hospital (1972). I remember waking up on the ward and being incredibly thirsty and alone. I reached over to get a drink from my bedside and covered myself in undiluted Ribena. I lay there, still thirsty, sick and sticky. … I was unattended for long periods of time.

I remember… In 1967, as a three year old, I was an inpatient at a hospital in London, where I had my tonsils and adenoids removed. On awaking from the operation, I was offered food. The first item proffered was the hardest Rock Cake I have ever experience (then or since). As you can imagine, my throat was not ready for such an assault. The experience remains vivid over 50 years later!

I remember… 11 days after the premature birth of my son in 2007 we were still both in-patients in the hospital’s transitional care unit. I was so tred, and scared, but desperate to be able to breastfeed. When they had time, midwives would try to coach me to get him to latch on, but nothing seemed to work, and I cried a lot each day. On the 11th day, around 11pm, an older, quite grumpy midwife was sitting with me when the baby finally latched on and started to suck. I looked up, and there were tears on the midwife’s face. It was a life changing moment, to feel my son finally getting what he needed from me, and also to understand how much the grumpy-seeming midwife cared about this working. I was so tired, but suddenly could feel some hope and joy coming in to my life again.