Today I am really missing my lovely grandma. Born Jenny Epstein, she was only ever known to me as Grandma Jean ("GJ"). She was 94, the most fearless woman I have ever known, and one of my best friends. She died on Jan 2nd, which would've been her 70th wedding anniversary.
She went into @BarnetED on Xmas Eve with pneumonia. They were AMAZING. I don't think for a second this was because I used to be their reg, it's because they're bloody good at looking after sick older people, and remain some of the kindest NHS folk I've ever encountered.
It can't be easy to tell your own colleague and friend that things are irretrievably dire, even though I knew when I walked into Resus. I am so grateful I was surrounded by such wonderful people to hold me up when I felt like my world was collapsing.
The medical reg and consultant were ABOVE-AND-BEYOND kind. The second they found out GJ was an observant Jew they made sure she was seen alive by enough of the on-call team so that if she died on xmas day she could have a certificate issued quickly.
They both offered to give me their personal phone numbers in case the on-call was too busy and said they would come in to do it themselves if required. I can barely even think about this without tearing up from how overwhelmingly kind a gesture it was.
Nevertheless, GJ refused to go. Not before she'd had a good sleep on her syringe drivers. She then woke up enough over the following days to smile at us all and blow kisses. She let me give her a little bit of water and I spent hours by her bedside wishing I had more time...
The nurses were wonderful. So kind and caring to all of us, not just Grandma. I saw two other med regs and a FY1 in the time I was in, all of them went above and beyond to help ( @zackferguson being one, my grandma would have LOVED you I can tell you this for free 😂!)
The point I'm trying to make here is that even when everything is absolutely going to sh*t, there really is *always* something you can do. Being kind really does trump everything. GJ always said you can't teach #kindness, and I think she was right. Thank you #NHSfamily
Oh, I can't believe I forgot to mention @Doctorchr1s and @ChowdryLoraine by name in this. What superstars! And everyone else on Twitter whose handles I don't know, please pass it on!
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