"Practice stretched"

A&E give you a fix, then the ENT options start (mine was a case of nose bleeding, and I'm on blood thinners). The basic option is to stick in effect tampons up your nostrils. That's painful, but it works. Trickier is when they're taken out: will the bleeding start again? And -- critical for this review: will there be anybody there to stop it?

The answers were yes, and no, respectively. I was on the excellent ward 21 by then. ENT had gone home by the time the real bleeding kicked in. It was thickish, clotting blood, coming down the back of the throat in spasms, each connected to the next one. Eventually ENT sent up a linen kind of gag that Sister tied round under the nose. It was ineffective. A doctor appeared and said it would stop. They saw hundreds of patients like me and they were fine. Go to sleep.

In the end -- in the late morning they shoved the tampons back in, then took them out in due course, and -- so far so good. The expertise is there, the judgement -- but not necessarily at the same time. My respect for ward staff is unending. That they're doing it all unmasked is astounding. How those two big African guys run the show calmly, in a orderly manner, humorously, goes beyond belief. That I owe rather a big debt in that area of our rowdy town is deeply appreciated.