"Palliative Care"

On Sunday night, my previously healthy father was taken ill and an ambulance was called.

The paramedics were excellent, providing care on site and resuscitating him mid journey.

At A&E he was prepared for emergency surgery whilst on call support was escalated.

My Mother and I were kept informed of the grave situation whilst we waited before being ushered into resuscitation.

The surgeon carefully confirmed the graveness of the situation, what options existed and the hopelessness of proceeding with restorative care. As a family in a fruitless situation, our world falling apart, we were still given the choice.

Father was given pain killers and taken to a private room on ward C31.

He had lost a lot of blood, was weakening fast and expected to slip away in a few hours.

My sister and brother in law joined us to support him in his final moments; we were not expecting him to see daylight.

We were not prepared for what followed, had no idea how harrowing, lengthy, emotional and exhausting it would become.

Everyone wanted to be there at the end and this started a bedside vigil.

However my father did not slip away like the end of some Hollywood movie, he struggled and fought for 4 days.

Staff on C31 were brilliant.

They did everything they could to make my father comfortable.

This was not easy, getting the balance of drugs to avoid pain but retain a degree of lucidity was difficult.

There were short times when he was in pain and these were the most harrowing.

However staff on C31 did more than just care for the patient, they recognised what we were going through, provided support, explained the roller coaster ride that lay ahead.

They provided a camp bed and comfy chairs whilst we attended around the clock.

They fed and watered us, providing hugs when we were at our lowest.

However one member of staff requires a very special mention. They were totally fantastic, a ray of light during a period of darkness.

Every time they walked into the room, stresses and turmoil poured away.

They were so good with father, always explaining what they were doing to him even when it was unlikely he could hear.

They had a large workload but always found time to check on all of us.

Their focus on the drug charts ensured father remained as comfortable as possible.

For my mother they supplied timely hugs when everything seemed to be falling apart.

It was a shame they were not working on the final day.

Thank you and to everyone involved.