Thank You
Today’s post is a thank you to the doctors, nurses and staff at the Burkitt’s ward in St. James Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
First an update. It is Day +25, a quarter of the first 100 days are behind me. My blood counts are stable. The only issue is my creatanine levels. It came down to 108 yesterday, but at the same time my ciclosporin levels also went down to 69. Therefore they had to increase my dose from 150 to 175. It is the ciclosporin that causes the creatanine to go up and this increased dose may have an impact. I’ll know if this is the case tomorrow, as I have to go into hospital for a checkup. Over the weekend, I have to go back to the Burkitt ward instead of the usual day ward during the week days. It’ll be nice to meet some of my care givers from my four weeks there. I will take a thank you letter and some chocolates for the staff in the ward. The letter will read as follows:
Dear Dr. Conneally, Dr Browne, doctors, nurses, cleaners, and staff in the Burkitt’s ward at St. James Hospital,
I have been writing a thank you note to you for the past week but it has been difficult to convey in words my grateful thanks to all the staff in the Burkitt’s ward. The best way to convey this is to first say thank you and then sharing my experience in the ward with you.
Thank you to Dr. Conneally for being part of the A-Team. I liked your direct approach and saying it as it was without ‘beating around the bush’. The best part of it was that you always had the time to explain everything in detail to satisfy my curiosity.
During my four weeks in hospital I met with at least 21 of the 46 nurses, and while I can’t remember all the names, thank you for your care. The first nurse in charge of my care was Martha, and very quickly she put me at ease on the first day, which set the tone for the rest of my stay. Martha was followed by Mary, who was equally as pleasant. Meeting Martha & Mary meant that I was Lazarus and that too was another sign from above that all will be well. It was great to meet with Susan who also enjoyed talking about cricket. I have lived close to thirty years in Ireland and very rarely get the chance to talk about cricket. I was Marie’s first transplant patient and thank you for doing a good job. I hope you enjoyed your vacation in New Zealand. Susan, hope you enjoy your stay in Australia. Thank you to Martha, Mary, Marie, Susan and all the other nurses who took care of me.
Thank you to the ladies who brought in the meals. I used to love seeing Leonie with her very big smile and a hearty good morning with the breakfast. I hope you enjoyed your two week break in the Canary Islands! Thank you to Joan and Val for cleaning the room and always being very positive about everything. Thank you to John, Gus, Ahmed and the rest of the staff for changing the sheets on a daily basis and always checking in to see if there was anything I needed.
I spent four weeks in a room, never going out, only meeting the staff and my immediate family and I never felt lonely, sad or depressed during my stay in your ward. The only negative emotion was that of fear and somehow you were able to put my mind at rest. It was an amazing experience, where ALL the staff worked as a unit and made my stay in hospital a very comfortable one. Thank you.
If you’ve seen the movie Patch Adams you’ll know this quote; “Transference is inevitable, every human being has an impact on one another …. You treat a disease, you win you loose, but you treat a person, I guarantee you, you win whatever the outcome” As an unit you treated the person ‘Raomal’ and for this I thank you All, the doctors, nurses and all the staff.
Once I am ‘out of the woods’ and back in action, I would like the opportunity to help you in some way, whether in fund raising or in some other way. Please ask!
Thank you and God bless you!
Yours sincerely,
Raomal