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Posted by Antony Musker
Re: Royal Liverpool Childrens Hospital
on 17/7/2008, 4:50 am, in reply to "Royal Liverpool Childrens Hospital"
82.25.145.108
Hi Gina,
I contracted TB and bronchiectasis at the age of 3-4 and spent a year at Heswall. I am 60 in a few months. I still have memories of it. Although I was treated by a kindly gentleman, Dr Farquhar, I found the whole experience terrifying. Nothing was explained before unpleasant procedures were performed and the air seemed always to be pungent with dettol. Many of the the nurses were harsh. I was tied to a Nelson bed around the wrists and ankles every night so that my head was below my chest. At the time this was thought to be beneficial for bronchiectasis patients. I dreaded it. I was allowed only 30 minutes per week contact with my parents. I remember being delivered to the hospital by my mother and being led by a nurse down a long, dark, tiled corridor to the ward. The nurse held my hand with a firm grip. I remember vividly looking back at my mother and crying - wondering what was happening. Just as vivid, is the memory a year later, when I was allowed out into the fresh air after being bed-bound for so long. A very nice nurse held my hand and took me through the main front door into the hospital grounds. I had been unable to see out from my bed and had more or less forgotten what greenery looked like. I remember reaching out and touching a rather shiny leaf on a bush just by the main hospital entrance. I rubbed the leaf between my fingers and examined its texture - a powerful memory and the start of my recovery.
I would be interested to hear from others of my age with similar experiences.
Some people seem to be nostalgic about the hospital; perhaps they were never patients.
Bye for now,
Antony
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