On the Wards
Reminded by 31eeweep, have a remix of my first ever post, from the "Sleepwalking" QotW...


In the last decade of his life, my grandfather had a number of strokes. Many were minor, but a couple was fairly major and resulted in him being unable to walk without a frame at the best of times - and even then, he was none too steady on his feet.

Still - it wasn't the strokes that finished him off in the end: it was the gradual shutdown of major internal organs over the course of about a week. As a result, he was hospitalised for the last weeks of his life while various tubes were inserted into him and he responded by turning a livid shade of yellow.

So the picture you have is of a very ill and helpless old man. This picture is accurate. That's what he was.

This did not stop him, one night, from getting up, dressing (I can only assume that this means “dressing gown” rather than the full shirt and tie gig – but you never know), and walking off the ward. It was only by chance that he was seen by the night staff waiting for the lift.

Not sure if being half in a coma counts as sleepwalking, but - dammit - it should.

Length? Half of ward 81, and would’ve been longer if the nurse hadn’t stopped him…
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 14:25, Reply)