I can’t believe that we are only a few days away from the first year anniversary of the first confirmed COVID-19 case...
Clinician Stories
Re-evaluating the power of touch
The conversation was not one I was unfamiliar with. Discussing a serious diagnosis, a worrying test result, or a life...
Regretfully falling between the cracks.
I first met Karen in 2018. She came in to consult about a possible chest infection, and I went on to discover...
Reconstructing a different life 3
Part 3: The garden That evening I was taken back to theatre to have an external fixator fitted to the femur. The healing process had to start again. Fortunately the left leg fractures were healing well. I was now well enough to eat. I was getting more used to...
Reconstructing a different life 2
Part 2: Terrified I was ventilated for 10 days. My first recollection after my “near death experience” was post extubation. I remember seeing my wife and mother in law and saying, “Hello mum. What are you doing here?” The next few days blur into one partly because I...
Reconstructing a different life 1
Part 1: a moment in time In March 1987 my life changed forever, one morning on my way to work. Everything that happened before that day is now categorised in my mind as “before accident.” Statistically I should never have survived, and I certainly never...
Re-naming: who are we?
"What's in a name? That which we call a roseby any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) I don’t know about you, but nowadays I am rubbish at remembering names. My neurosis reaches a critical point when at social gatherings I am expected to...
Recognising the need for help
David was my GP trainer, my course organiser, my mentor and my partner. I met him in 1998, was trained by him, and then became a Registrar in his practice. It seemed logical and part of life’s natural order that I should become his GP Partner and for ten years we...
Revisiting the basics of care
He was agitated, a tremor in his hands, his leg shaking, foot tapping. He wanted more Tramadol for his pain. Recent directives, figures from the USA and the desire here in the UK to avoid a similar opioid crisis crowded my mind. Sensationalist headlines about GPS as...
Realising: compassion for myself
This story is of a sensitive nature. We want to forewarn readers of this and offer links to sources of support for any of our readers who have suffered personally. www.rapecrisis.org.uk www.rasasc.org/ tel: 0800 028 8022 www.thesurvivorstrust.org/...
Relinquishing old fears
This story is of a sensitive nature. We want to forewarn readers of this and offer links to sources of support for any of our readers who have suffered personally. www.rapecrisis.org.uk www.rasasc.org/ tel: 0800 028 8022 www.thesurvivorstrust.org/...
Reassurance: the comfort of patients
I stopped dead in my tracks when he couldn’t lift his head off the pillow. The smile of greeting was the same but I knew something was very wrong at his inability to raise up to meet me. For a moment time stopped and I froze. Not now? This was quick. Oh no! The last...