In the Midst of Life

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    Miss Jenner saw Priscilla and told her that two specialist opinions had been sought and that her mother would be transferred to a medical ward for treatment for the aftermath of a stroke. Following on from this, her mother would go to a rehabilitation centre. The woman seemed satisfied with this and said, ‘I will reside in London until next week, and then I must return to Durham.’ Then she said, very formally: ‘On behalf of my family I would like to thank you, Miss Jenner, for saving my mother’s life. You obviously acted with great skill.’
    She turned to leave and had to pass her mother’s door. She put her hand on the handle, and paused. One could almost feel the indecision going on in her mind, her sense of duty telling her she should go in, yet opposing that, her fear of seeing her mother, of not knowing what to do or say. She half turned the handle, then released it, and started to walk away. At that moment Maggie came round the corner with an armful of flowers.
    ‘Priscilla! You old stick! You didn’t tell us you were coming in this morning. How is she?’
    Priscilla hesitated before answering. She looked exceedingly discomfited, and then said truthfully, ‘There is no change.’
    ‘Butis she awake? Was she glad to see you?’
    Priscilla could not answer. Her nostrils closed to narrow slits and her shoulders tensed.
    ‘Priscilla!’ Maggie was furious. ‘You are impossible. You came here to see the doctor, not to see Mummy. How could you?’
    ‘Don’t make a scene here in the corridor, with everyone listening.’
    ‘I don’t care if the whole world can hear me! Dear Mummy, lying there ill, and you don’t want to see her.’
    ‘Stop this behaviour. We will go in together.’
    She opened the door, and they entered. The staff nurse and I looked at each other.
    ‘Wow, that was a near thing!’ she said. ‘We don’t want them fighting here in the corridor. You see it all in this life, don’t you, Sister?’
    I could only agree.
    We had a busy morning. There were five cases for theatre. That meant preps and pre-meds, calling the porters, arranging for nurses to escort patients to theatre and, afterwards, back to the ward, post-ops to be received and cared for, and student nurses to be taught the details of post-operative nursing. I was thankful to have a very good staff nurse, who was highly experienced and loved the drama and excitement of an acute surgical ward. She was indispensable on such a morning.
    We had almost forgotten about Mrs Doherty when suddenly Maggie came screaming out of the side ward. ‘Sister, Sister, come quickly. Something’s happened.’
    The staff nurse was there before me. She said, as I entered, ‘I think it’s another stroke. I’ve called the doctor, but of course our team is in theatre. One of the medics will come.’
    One look was enough to confirm Staffs assessment. Mrs Doherty had slithered from her chair, and was slumped on the floor. Her eyes were wide open, but her pupils had receded upwards, and only the whites were showing. Her mouth, hanging to the right side, was open, and copious frothy fluid poured from it.
    Maggiewas sobbing and holding her mother in her arms. Priscilla was leaning against the wall, her face as white as a sheet. She was struggling to control her breathing, and her eyes were staring horrified at her mother.
    ‘My God, we are going to have two strokes on our hands, if we are not careful,’ I thought, and went over to her.
    ‘Would you please go to the office and ring your brother, Jamie? Tell him to come, because this looks serious.’ Giving someone in a state of shock a job to do is usually the best way of dealing with the situation.
    I whispered to a nurse, ‘Go and ask the ward maid to make some strong coffee for that lady. She’s going to need it. Then prepare a lumbar puncture trolley.’
    Two porters were just entering the ward to take the next patient to theatre. It was fortuitous. I called them in to help us lift Mrs Doherty on to the bed and shortly afterwards the medical registrar arrived. She said, ‘We must sedate to stop these muscular spasms, then I will do a lumbar puncture.’ I said that the trolley was ready. We turned the patient, and doctor inserted the long needle between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae. The fluid draining out was heavily bloodstained. ‘We can assume another haemorrhage. This patient belongs to your team, not ours. She must be seen by Miss Jenner.’
    Maggie was in