Part 4
David Ferrier Ward
Kings College Hospital
1983-1984
British Telecom shares went on sale, reflecting the ethos of a Conservative Government and its capitalistic philosophy .
In contrast the Band Aid charity single went on sale- and we all contemplated the notion of "Feeding the World...."
And I was a Staff Nurse on a Neuro Medical Ward in one of the most famous Hospitals in the country, if not the world. And I was loving it...
DAVID FERRIER WARD
KINGS COLLEGE HOSPITAL
Sir David Ferrier (FRS) (13 January 1843 – 19 March 1928) was a pioneering Scottish neurologist and psychologist. His name adorned the entrance of the 2nd floor Race Track ward in the new ward block that bordered Denmark Hill.
A "Race Track" was so named because the layout, main corridor, circled the floor whole of the 2nd floor. The modern 4 bedded areas were situated on the outer side of the circular corridor - windows looking outward over Ruskin Park and Kings itself. On the inside of the "track" were utility rooms, sluice, store rooms, Nurses Station and offices. It was a wonderful place to have a first "Staff Nurse" post - a wonderful young innovative Sister and a strong team. I was privilege to be there.
And then there were the patients! Wonderful diverse patients with complex problems to challenge a young newly qualified nurse. David Ferrier Ward was a tertiary referral unit, this meaning that it was the final hope for many patients who where sent from around the country when all else had failed elsewhere. Patients with uncontrolled Epilepsy was an example of this - when Fit control failed they would be sent to David Ferrier Ward.
"Fitters" - not now or then a politically correct term for a Ward full of patients with Epilepsy - but it was a fact that on David Ferrier we had a lot of "Fitters". And we were used to dealing with and managing patients having fits of all types. However and Epileptic fit can be very alarming for someone who had never seen one before. Suddenly seeing a patient in the bed next to you thrashing uncontrollably can be a terrifying experience. But the David Ferrier team took it all in our stride, managing the fitting patient until recovered and casting assurance to other patients.
I was so proud of being a Kings Staff Nurse. There was an overwhelmingly sense of positive professional responsibility. I walked into the Ward each day with pride, and left it each day with no less pride. I was on the "Off Duty" as part of a team of Registered Nurses. These were my colleagues, my friends, and I loved being a part of that extraordinary team. We worked together, cohesively, with the intent of helping and caring for our patients. I had never felt do fulfilled.
And soon I found myself being "In Charge". Taking responsibility for a whole team of Nurses, allocating them their work, and running a major Hospital Ward. It was such a wonderful experience. And I had so much to learn. Dealing with tragedy, sadness, grief, pain, conflict and aggression. These emotions, experiences, became my daily work, my routine. And I loved it - I lived and breathed it. I walked tall and proud at being a David Ferrier, Kings Nurse.
Hand Over - that seminal ritual of the Nurse routine. Where one shift "Hands Over" to the next, passing on their patients daily experience, their care, their daily and prospective needs, problems and interventions. I was so proud to lead at Hand Over. Looking back it amazes me how hospital and culture has changed. We all sat in Hand Over - with a Cup of Tea and a Cigarette. Smoking in Sisters Office was normal....
Janet and I were living in our lovely brand new maisonette in Love Walk. We indulged in our 1st washing machine - and Tom enjoyed crashing into my legs in his baby walker as I lay on the floor plumbing it in in our new kitchen. We also treated ourselves with a visit to the Habitat Store in Croydon and bought our first settee.
Love Walk - Literally 5 minutes walk from the main entrance to Kings it was the perfect place for us. A new kitchen and sitting room on the downstairs and a main bedroom, small bedroom and bathroom on the upstairs. Our front door was on the 1st floor of the new building just off Denmark Hill.
And as for Thomas Christopher - he was growing and flourishing. But dear lord he was hard work! Not a natural sleeper he had us up at all times of day and night regardless of our respective Off Duty or Shift patterns. Up at 5 am with a restless bored toddler resulted in me buying my 1st Video Tape player (a Hitachi) at the astronomical price or £300.
Many an early morning was given over to me dozing on the settee with Tom glued to Thomas the Tank...... And Tom was a busy fussy little boy - our Xmas Tree had to be a miniature on a shelf out of reach of curious chubby little hands....
We were bone weary. But he was so lovely - a fussy little toddler who loved everthing as long as it was well ordered and in straight lines. 32 years later I would smile when Tom's son Dafydd would busily line toys cars up along my living room floor in Wales - some of them the very same that Tom had played so particularly with 3 decades earlier.....
To accommodate little Thomas we had to make decisions about our careers. It was agreed that I would take the full time employment route and Janet would take the part time flexible employment route. Working for one of the 1st Nurse Agencies, "London Provincial", Janet worked flexible shifts across Kings, opposite to my Off Duty. She worked everywhere, Todd Ward (Liver failure & transplant), through to general medicine and surgery. We were Ships in the Night, Tom would be handed over as one parent finished work and the other started their clinical shift.
Long Walks - when Jan was working I would walk for hours across South London - pushing my little son in his buggy. From Peckham to Brixton, long slow walks through the endless Parks that were scattered everywhere, a part of the geography of the city. We shopped in Peckham, bags hanging off the the back of the buggy as we strolled home. Ohh life was sooo busy....
The Off Duty structured our daily routine. Late's, Early's, and of course the dreaded Night Shifts. 8 Nights "on" only compensated by 7 nights "off". NIGHTS - the shift stretched interminably, the moment just before the dawn when your whole body rebelled and asked to go to sleep. And then I would go home, and sleep fitfully, aware always of the little boy running around the house. Ohh we were sooo tired....
Nights - a special Nursing experience. So busy, and then so quiet, and then so busy. On David Ferrier you arrived to a turmoil of "settling" the Ward for the night. The late drug round, patients to bed, and the lights out.... Then the long night stretched ahead in the semi gloom of the night lights, snoring from the sidewards, occasional bedpans in the twilight. You could hear the Ward, it breathed with a life of its own as its precious cargo of ill patients slumbered restlessly through the long semi darkness of the night.
Gladys was an elderly patient, and she could never sleep properly at night. So Gladys would knit! Through the long nights on David Ferrier the lamp over Gladys's bed was an oasis of light in an otherwise dark ward. And she clicked away with her needles creating all manner of woollen garments. I would chat for hours with Gladys, listening to stories of her long and colourful life. To this day I treasure the little red woolly Cardigan that she lovingly knitted for Thomas.
And then there was Norma. A pretty woman, a University Lecturer with progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Norma's MS had deteriorated rapidly from her initial diagnosis, and at the time I cared for she had been reduced from an articulate academic to an utterly dependent person who was doubly incontinent and unable to speak. Norma could only call out her distress to us by loud incoherent shouts. On nights Norma would moan in the dark. Her plight "got to me". I find it difficult to countenance that someone of my own age was suffering so..... I can hear to this to this day her calls in the darkness of the night..... Norma taught me that sometimes there is no simple answer.....
And then there came 5 am - just before the Ward was expected to wake. There was an experience, an indescribable sensation, of total exhaustion. But despite that, the ward DID wake up, to another day.....
8 Nights on followed by 7 off. It was a a physical and mental marathon. By the morning of the 8th and last night the exhaustion was overwhelming, palpable. I would claw my way into bed and blissful sleep would wash over me seconds. Downstairs Jan and little Tom would be starting their day.
Let me tell you of 'Rose' and Tom. Rose was a garrulous cross elderly South London woman. She was old, in hospital, and thoroughly pissed off. She had no close family who could visit her. As far as Rose was concerned life was thoroughly miserable, the nurses were all bitches (me included) and quite frankly the sooner she died the better. She delighted in biting and pinching us as we attempted any form of basic care or hygiene. Even offering a cup of tea would result in a baleful stare and retort of "Fuck Off" in a glorious South London lilt. I remember helping Rose into a warm bath with one of my female colleagues when she famously immersed under the water inn an attempt to drown herself!
And then one day Jan came over to the Ward with little Thomas - handing him over to me as she set off for a late. Tom, nearly 2 years old. Toddling and endearing. A ready smile, and the beginnings of speech. I took him on a tour of the ward to meet my patients. As I entered the 4 bedder where Rose was, she saw my in my white tunic and scowled. Then she saw Tom, his little chubby hand in mine as he toddled next to me. He saw her in her bed, waved a chubby hand and yelled "HI". Rose's face burst into the most wonderful sunshine smile I have ever seen, and waved back. Tom trotted over to her and without prompting held her hand. Rose was entranced, captivated, " Oh ain't he fucking lovely". From that day on Tom visited Rose on a regular basis, they became good friends, and I swear he brought a ray of sunshine into the last days of her life. When Rose passed Tom missed his visits to David Ferrier to see the nice old lady.....
At this time my Mother and Father where experiencing serious health problems. My Mother was treated for bowel cancer and had a colostomy formed. She `was really quiet frail. My Father was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, with associated dementia. He retired due to ill health and they found themselves leaving the luxury of the Berkeley Square Penthouse and moving to a small council flat in the Golden Lane Estate in the City.
I remember well travelling on the Tubes with little Thomas in tow to see them, and my Mothers beaming smile on seeing the little grandson that she so adored. But they were not there long, as my Sister arranged for them to move to a small council Bungalow in Ferryside, a far better environment as both their health continued to deteriorate.
David Ferrier Ward
Kings College Hospital
1983-1984
It was the time of the great Miners Strike.
The then Conservative Government was led by Margaret Thatcher, and the conflict between them and the countries Miners erupted on our Televisions nightly. There were images of mounted riot police charging down the massed ranks of striking miners, this setting the tone for the time. When fighting at Orgreave Colliery between police and striking miners it left 64 injured, and the country was shocked and bemused at the Governments bullying tactics.
The then Conservative Government was led by Margaret Thatcher, and the conflict between them and the countries Miners erupted on our Televisions nightly. There were images of mounted riot police charging down the massed ranks of striking miners, this setting the tone for the time. When fighting at Orgreave Colliery between police and striking miners it left 64 injured, and the country was shocked and bemused at the Governments bullying tactics.
It was a time of change, challenge, innovation and deprivation.
The Thames Barrier was opened by HM The Queen. A massive and extraordinary engineering feat by any standard.
In contrast the IRA attempted to assassinate the British Cabinet in the Brighton hotel bombing gave the world a blueprint precursor to modern Terrorism.
The much loved and so familiar English One Pound Note was withdrawn after 150 years in circulation.
British Telecom shares went on sale, reflecting the ethos of a Conservative Government and its capitalistic philosophy .
In contrast the Band Aid charity single went on sale- and we all contemplated the notion of "Feeding the World...."
And of course the HIV virus was beginning to take its ghastly toll.
---------------------------
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DAVID FERRIER WARD
KINGS COLLEGE HOSPITAL
Sir David Ferrier (FRS) (13 January 1843 – 19 March 1928) was a pioneering Scottish neurologist and psychologist. His name adorned the entrance of the 2nd floor Race Track ward in the new ward block that bordered Denmark Hill.
A "Race Track" was so named because the layout, main corridor, circled the floor whole of the 2nd floor. The modern 4 bedded areas were situated on the outer side of the circular corridor - windows looking outward over Ruskin Park and Kings itself. On the inside of the "track" were utility rooms, sluice, store rooms, Nurses Station and offices. It was a wonderful place to have a first "Staff Nurse" post - a wonderful young innovative Sister and a strong team. I was privilege to be there.
And then there were the patients! Wonderful diverse patients with complex problems to challenge a young newly qualified nurse. David Ferrier Ward was a tertiary referral unit, this meaning that it was the final hope for many patients who where sent from around the country when all else had failed elsewhere. Patients with uncontrolled Epilepsy was an example of this - when Fit control failed they would be sent to David Ferrier Ward.
"Fitters" - not now or then a politically correct term for a Ward full of patients with Epilepsy - but it was a fact that on David Ferrier we had a lot of "Fitters". And we were used to dealing with and managing patients having fits of all types. However and Epileptic fit can be very alarming for someone who had never seen one before. Suddenly seeing a patient in the bed next to you thrashing uncontrollably can be a terrifying experience. But the David Ferrier team took it all in our stride, managing the fitting patient until recovered and casting assurance to other patients.
I was so proud of being a Kings Staff Nurse. There was an overwhelmingly sense of positive professional responsibility. I walked into the Ward each day with pride, and left it each day with no less pride. I was on the "Off Duty" as part of a team of Registered Nurses. These were my colleagues, my friends, and I loved being a part of that extraordinary team. We worked together, cohesively, with the intent of helping and caring for our patients. I had never felt do fulfilled.
And soon I found myself being "In Charge". Taking responsibility for a whole team of Nurses, allocating them their work, and running a major Hospital Ward. It was such a wonderful experience. And I had so much to learn. Dealing with tragedy, sadness, grief, pain, conflict and aggression. These emotions, experiences, became my daily work, my routine. And I loved it - I lived and breathed it. I walked tall and proud at being a David Ferrier, Kings Nurse.
Hand Over - that seminal ritual of the Nurse routine. Where one shift "Hands Over" to the next, passing on their patients daily experience, their care, their daily and prospective needs, problems and interventions. I was so proud to lead at Hand Over. Looking back it amazes me how hospital and culture has changed. We all sat in Hand Over - with a Cup of Tea and a Cigarette. Smoking in Sisters Office was normal....
Janet and I were living in our lovely brand new maisonette in Love Walk. We indulged in our 1st washing machine - and Tom enjoyed crashing into my legs in his baby walker as I lay on the floor plumbing it in in our new kitchen. We also treated ourselves with a visit to the Habitat Store in Croydon and bought our first settee.
Love Walk - Literally 5 minutes walk from the main entrance to Kings it was the perfect place for us. A new kitchen and sitting room on the downstairs and a main bedroom, small bedroom and bathroom on the upstairs. Our front door was on the 1st floor of the new building just off Denmark Hill.
And as for Thomas Christopher - he was growing and flourishing. But dear lord he was hard work! Not a natural sleeper he had us up at all times of day and night regardless of our respective Off Duty or Shift patterns. Up at 5 am with a restless bored toddler resulted in me buying my 1st Video Tape player (a Hitachi) at the astronomical price or £300.
And I buy my 1st ever Video Tape??? You may have guessed - "Thomas the Tank Engine".
Many an early morning was given over to me dozing on the settee with Tom glued to Thomas the Tank...... And Tom was a busy fussy little boy - our Xmas Tree had to be a miniature on a shelf out of reach of curious chubby little hands....
We were bone weary. But he was so lovely - a fussy little toddler who loved everthing as long as it was well ordered and in straight lines. 32 years later I would smile when Tom's son Dafydd would busily line toys cars up along my living room floor in Wales - some of them the very same that Tom had played so particularly with 3 decades earlier.....
To accommodate little Thomas we had to make decisions about our careers. It was agreed that I would take the full time employment route and Janet would take the part time flexible employment route. Working for one of the 1st Nurse Agencies, "London Provincial", Janet worked flexible shifts across Kings, opposite to my Off Duty. She worked everywhere, Todd Ward (Liver failure & transplant), through to general medicine and surgery. We were Ships in the Night, Tom would be handed over as one parent finished work and the other started their clinical shift.
Long Walks - when Jan was working I would walk for hours across South London - pushing my little son in his buggy. From Peckham to Brixton, long slow walks through the endless Parks that were scattered everywhere, a part of the geography of the city. We shopped in Peckham, bags hanging off the the back of the buggy as we strolled home. Ohh life was sooo busy....
The Off Duty structured our daily routine. Late's, Early's, and of course the dreaded Night Shifts. 8 Nights "on" only compensated by 7 nights "off". NIGHTS - the shift stretched interminably, the moment just before the dawn when your whole body rebelled and asked to go to sleep. And then I would go home, and sleep fitfully, aware always of the little boy running around the house. Ohh we were sooo tired....
Nights - a special Nursing experience. So busy, and then so quiet, and then so busy. On David Ferrier you arrived to a turmoil of "settling" the Ward for the night. The late drug round, patients to bed, and the lights out.... Then the long night stretched ahead in the semi gloom of the night lights, snoring from the sidewards, occasional bedpans in the twilight. You could hear the Ward, it breathed with a life of its own as its precious cargo of ill patients slumbered restlessly through the long semi darkness of the night.
Gladys was an elderly patient, and she could never sleep properly at night. So Gladys would knit! Through the long nights on David Ferrier the lamp over Gladys's bed was an oasis of light in an otherwise dark ward. And she clicked away with her needles creating all manner of woollen garments. I would chat for hours with Gladys, listening to stories of her long and colourful life. To this day I treasure the little red woolly Cardigan that she lovingly knitted for Thomas.
And then there was Norma. A pretty woman, a University Lecturer with progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Norma's MS had deteriorated rapidly from her initial diagnosis, and at the time I cared for she had been reduced from an articulate academic to an utterly dependent person who was doubly incontinent and unable to speak. Norma could only call out her distress to us by loud incoherent shouts. On nights Norma would moan in the dark. Her plight "got to me". I find it difficult to countenance that someone of my own age was suffering so..... I can hear to this to this day her calls in the darkness of the night..... Norma taught me that sometimes there is no simple answer.....
And then there came 5 am - just before the Ward was expected to wake. There was an experience, an indescribable sensation, of total exhaustion. But despite that, the ward DID wake up, to another day.....
8 Nights on followed by 7 off. It was a a physical and mental marathon. By the morning of the 8th and last night the exhaustion was overwhelming, palpable. I would claw my way into bed and blissful sleep would wash over me seconds. Downstairs Jan and little Tom would be starting their day.
Let me tell you of 'Rose' and Tom. Rose was a garrulous cross elderly South London woman. She was old, in hospital, and thoroughly pissed off. She had no close family who could visit her. As far as Rose was concerned life was thoroughly miserable, the nurses were all bitches (me included) and quite frankly the sooner she died the better. She delighted in biting and pinching us as we attempted any form of basic care or hygiene. Even offering a cup of tea would result in a baleful stare and retort of "Fuck Off" in a glorious South London lilt. I remember helping Rose into a warm bath with one of my female colleagues when she famously immersed under the water inn an attempt to drown herself!
And then one day Jan came over to the Ward with little Thomas - handing him over to me as she set off for a late. Tom, nearly 2 years old. Toddling and endearing. A ready smile, and the beginnings of speech. I took him on a tour of the ward to meet my patients. As I entered the 4 bedder where Rose was, she saw my in my white tunic and scowled. Then she saw Tom, his little chubby hand in mine as he toddled next to me. He saw her in her bed, waved a chubby hand and yelled "HI". Rose's face burst into the most wonderful sunshine smile I have ever seen, and waved back. Tom trotted over to her and without prompting held her hand. Rose was entranced, captivated, " Oh ain't he fucking lovely". From that day on Tom visited Rose on a regular basis, they became good friends, and I swear he brought a ray of sunshine into the last days of her life. When Rose passed Tom missed his visits to David Ferrier to see the nice old lady.....
At this time my Mother and Father where experiencing serious health problems. My Mother was treated for bowel cancer and had a colostomy formed. She `was really quiet frail. My Father was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, with associated dementia. He retired due to ill health and they found themselves leaving the luxury of the Berkeley Square Penthouse and moving to a small council flat in the Golden Lane Estate in the City.
I remember well travelling on the Tubes with little Thomas in tow to see them, and my Mothers beaming smile on seeing the little grandson that she so adored. But they were not there long, as my Sister arranged for them to move to a small council Bungalow in Ferryside, a far better environment as both their health continued to deteriorate.
Jan and `I spend much time considering our future, and planning for our future. We spend hours in Ruskin Park, a green oasis behind Kings, sitting at the Bandstand and reviewing our options. Whilst we do this little Tom plays on on the green lawns of the park.
Moving to Wales is a major part of our thinking. Another and more pressing part of the Jan and Dave Plan is:
MARRIAGE
On the 16th June 1984 Janet and I married at Camberwell Registry office. It was a simple but lovely moment observed by so many of those who loved us.
Our Honeymoon - a day in London Zoo with little Thomas.
IT WAS THE END OF THE BEGINNING.
Moving to Wales is a major part of our thinking. Another and more pressing part of the Jan and Dave Plan is:
MARRIAGE
On the 16th June 1984 Janet and I married at Camberwell Registry office. It was a simple but lovely moment observed by so many of those who loved us.
Our Honeymoon - a day in London Zoo with little Thomas.
IT WAS THE END OF THE BEGINNING.
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