"CCU & Bikleigh ward. Overwhealmed by you..."

I arrived in A&E on a tuesday eve with a racing heart (227 BPM). In Critical care for 2 days and then bickleigh for a further 4 days.

There is so much I'd like to say to the people who cared for me in both places. Thank you is so inadequate. I was the most scared I've ever been .

So please let me tell you a couple of incidents, just to illustrate how wonderful these people are:

Critical care on Thursday:

I was tired, scared, hadn't slept much for 2 days (no surprise there, critical care is busy). I'd been sat in the chair bored watching the world go by, nobody perceptibly monitoring me, the machines got that covered and will bing if needed. I was in any case looking like the least needy person there. I sat there feeling exhausted, crawled over to the bed, didn't have the energy to get in and curled up. A few seconds later there is a calm voice in my ear asking if I was ok. I said i was tired, and really i wasn't with it. They pulled the curtains round to darken the area a bit and asked if a wanted a blanket. I grunted something about not caring (sorry if I was rude I wasn't at my best).

I woke about an hour later rested, comfortable and warm and with a blanket carefully tucked around me and in that moment just for a minute everything was fine. .. Thank you in a scary horrible world you made it ok.

Bickleigh ward:

I think its fair to say by the time I got to bickleigh ward on Friday I was going slightly mad. I am a fit active 45 your old bloke, and for 3 days I'd been attached to a heart monitor by a 4ft cable. Then i got Telemetry (a wireless monitor), don't get too excited (I did) the range is limited, but hey I could go to the loo without having to ask first (and really don't underestimate how good that feels). However, lack of sleep and the worry of whats going on (and they couldn't do anything about that, it was all unknown) just built up. I got really down, but did a splendid manly job of hiding it. They weren't fooled for a second. So thank you to the staff who were on nights. your kind words and caring actions while I was trying to have a personal meltdown kept me sane and kept me going. Really you have no idea how significant a difference that makes.

And the other people, the person who did the cleaning and brought the meals round, a ray of sunshine in the day. The person who emptied the bins who knew some of the worst jokes in the world that would have made the nurses blush. Whatever happens don't stop.

Plymouth hospital. wherever you are recruiting these people from, don't let on to anyone else !

You might have noticed I've not mentioned the actual medical care, It is first rate, I can't fault it. But its the people that made a horrible scary week bearable.

Please let them know just how good they are !