Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Nurse Ratched

Today I went with Joy to visit her husband John who is in a dementia ward at Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital (Charlies!). John was in need of a haircut, so I took my clippers etc to do a job on him.

He recognised me at first and started telling us all sorts of stories including a robbery which was Ben Hall like. He was very talkative, but little was related to reality, although the way he talked, it was very real and worrying to him.

After a bit of cajoling he let me shave him and cut his hair whilst semi sitting up in bed. He has an extreme fear of heights and his placement on the seventh floor with a nice big picture window wasn't doing anything for his acrophobia.

He has the best nurse I have seen. She is a young gal, kind and somehow knows what will calm John. Her language is suited to John and we felt that he was not afraid when she was there.

There are quite a few nurse Ratcheds (One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) out there but this young lady is certainly not one. I complimented her and hope she will be John's nurse until he is placed in care.

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