On day 13 of my hospital stay, Kat the Physio said I was allowed to go for a little adventure, so I actually got to leave the ward and we went up to Level 16 and looked out at the view. UCLH has a tall tower, and is situated pretty in the middle of London, it therefore has a pretty decent view! The big window looking out from the corridor as you leave the lift faces West.

I wore my hospital sock/slippers, and we carried box of tissues, and off I wobbled.

I also had a pretty decent view from my room for that matter. It was nice, especially when it snowed. In the afternoon I would sit in the chair by the window and watch North London finish its day.

We went up to level 16 quite a few times. There was something calming about looking out over the tops of the buildings, watching the buses traverse the streets, watching the world go by. One day as we were getting into the lift to head back down, I ran into a Physio I had seen in ICU briefly. ‘Jen!’ She exclaimed! It took me a minute to place her, but I got there. We had a quick catch up, it was nice to run into her.

One day we even went out the bottom of the building and stood in the sun. Its rays soaked through me and recharged my batteries a little.

Once my Trachy was out and I got the OK to have clear liquids, we started making trips down to the cafe for peppermint tea, and then the next day I was allowed proper tea. That first cup of tea was heavenly. I had been desperate for it. Most of it ended up down my front (I couldn’t close my mouth, so keeping liquid in there was an interesting challenge) but being able to sit in the café and have a cup of tea made me feel a bit human again.

Mum and Dad visited every day. This was amazing, it made me so happy. I looked forward to their visits and was sad when they had to leave. Ma would read me a couple of chapters of a book each time. It brought me no end of warmth and comfort. Da would pop out and get me things like wet wipes and Ribena once I could start drinking.

My days consisted of a few highlights – visit from the doctors, visit from Kat the Physio, visit from my parents. Occasionally I got other visits too.

Near the end of my stay in the ward, I had a visit from the Sister I had met during my first time in ICU. It was so nice to see her. Once again, the people I am meeting along the way are amazing. These poor people who work in ICU – they deal with people just coming out of anaesthetic, and people in their first few days after admission… basically they see everyone at their worst. And a lot of them saw me at my worst. And the amount of love and support I got from a lot of them regardless, was amazing. But it must get disheartening to never see the stage when people get better! You just get them to a stable point and then ship them off to the ward. Anyway, it made my day that Erika came to visit, it was nice to see her again, have a catch up and get a hug.

On my final day, as I was packing up, who popped in to my room but my bestie Rebecca! I was sad it was looking like I wouldn’t see her again, so I was ecstatic when I saw her and gave her a huge hug. We had a bit of a catch up and a chat before she had to run back to work and I had to talk to a nurse about discharge details.

I can’t quite explain how much I like and appreciate these people. I know I only met them for a short period of time, but some nurses (and doctors, nursing assistants, etc.) I felt like I really connected with, and when I was feeling so low, that meant everything. It’s something that’s hard to explain if you’ve never been in this situation. But these nurses were my lifeline. And the fact that they came to visit me after I had left their care will stay with me forever.

View from T16:

View from my room:

Out in the sun (note mum carrying the arsenal for dribble and blood catching. Also note trachy is out):