I have not published writing for several days because of a moment of inspiration which I put into immediate practice and which could fundamentally change the rest of my life. I have just completed toileting after going to bed with the dawn and rising four hours later, undertaking an important task and then toileting, listening to Radio Five Live where there were three subjects under discussion, one of great significance which overshadowed what I had been doing and feeling, while the other two were frothy and funny but with serious and interesting aspects, primarily because of the calibre of the public involvement.
At the age of 24 and eighteen months after qualification, one of two nurses on a makeshift hospital ship attached to the Falklands force was advised to make ready to receive fifty casualties with burns from the Sir Galahad Troopship when on June 8th 48 men died, most from the Welsh Guards and where a service was being held at St Mary's Church Swansea attended by 25 members of the South Atlantic Medal Association. The former nurse described the task which she and the other nurse faced at that time and subsequently. She explained that she had been advised by on board psychiatrists how to help the injured cope with their situations and also the likely impact on herself and her colleagues. This was remarkable and moving but did not indicate the story she was to unfold.
She continued to nurse the wounded during the campaign. She told one young man who feared his injuries would affect his marriage planned for two months later, but who was able to walk down the aisle his facial injuries having cleared and subsequently leaving no scars, and she told of others where the physical and emotional scars remained.
She dealt with her experience by getting on with her life as a nurse in the navy and then with the army and where for the past 18 years she has served, often on different tours with her husband of eighteen years. He is now on his second tour in Iraq and she is within days of qualifying as a doctor. What courage, what sense of dedication, what remarkable people? How insignificant becomes my needs and interests?
At the age of 24 and eighteen months after qualification, one of two nurses on a makeshift hospital ship attached to the Falklands force was advised to make ready to receive fifty casualties with burns from the Sir Galahad Troopship when on June 8th 48 men died, most from the Welsh Guards and where a service was being held at St Mary's Church Swansea attended by 25 members of the South Atlantic Medal Association. The former nurse described the task which she and the other nurse faced at that time and subsequently. She explained that she had been advised by on board psychiatrists how to help the injured cope with their situations and also the likely impact on herself and her colleagues. This was remarkable and moving but did not indicate the story she was to unfold.
She continued to nurse the wounded during the campaign. She told one young man who feared his injuries would affect his marriage planned for two months later, but who was able to walk down the aisle his facial injuries having cleared and subsequently leaving no scars, and she told of others where the physical and emotional scars remained.
She dealt with her experience by getting on with her life as a nurse in the navy and then with the army and where for the past 18 years she has served, often on different tours with her husband of eighteen years. He is now on his second tour in Iraq and she is within days of qualifying as a doctor. What courage, what sense of dedication, what remarkable people? How insignificant becomes my needs and interests?
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