Childhood – Sensing Spaces of Healthcare: NHS Sensory Memory Bank

Memory #62

From 1967

I remember… When I was a child I had my appendix out. You were wheeled outside in the rain to your operation!

Memory #47

From 1949

I remember… I had an adenoid operation to remove them in London – Christmas Day, 1949 – I remember the smell of chloroform! I was only 6 years old. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell, it was actually quite refreshing though the mask was scary.

Memory #53

From 1957/58

I remember… I was 2 … the cot next door threw their nappy into my cot. It didn’t smell though!

Memory #4

From 1967

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!

Memory #6

From 1972

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.

Memory #8

I remember… I spent a lot of time in hospital with severe asthma as a little kid. What I remember most is the brightness (colours) and chatter of the playroom, and the sense of excitement at all the toys (it was a VERY good playroom!). There was a particular little wooden village I loved to play with that was almost worth getting ill for. I don’t remember any of the tubes, etc. I would have been hooked up to, or any of the staff who would have had to help me get down the corridor. Just the toys and the colours!