It’s making a patient’s favourite meal so even when they’re not feeling up to eating much, they can share a moment with their family over dinner, as they would at home. It’s the little things that go unnoticed at any other time. But make the world of difference during the most difficult of times.
We had the privilege of caring for Kat, who was just 36 when she was admitted to our hospice. After two gruelling rounds of treatment, five years apart, it was our Trinity nurses based at Blackpool Victoria Hospital who told Lewis and Kat it was time to come to Trinity.
“It was scary at the time, the thought of going into the hospice,” Lewis says now.
“But as soon as we got there, Kat seemed to become more of herself. She was still in bed, but she was awake more and the nurses just made her feel more at ease. It was relaxing there, and if we wanted for anything, they would try their hardest to make it happen.
“On the first day, the chef popped in and asked what Kat’s favourite meal was. She told him it was a Sunday dinner, so the next Sunday that’s what he made her! They’d got all her favourite bits and did that for her.
“But through our time there, if Kat asked for something specific, they’d try their best to make it.”
Kat had already been to Trinity to use our Living Well Service after her second course of treatment. She’d got to know some of our nurses, and was working on living the best life she could for herself and her two children, as long as she could.
But, during her last spell in hospital, when our teams visited to help with her diet and as doctors said she had weeks to live, our nurses said it was time to go back to the hospice.
“To start with, I was leaving Kat for half an hour or so to go home and have a shower. Then one of the nurses came up to me and said, ‘you know we have a shower here you could use’. It’s the little things you don’t even think about.
“I stayed with her for the whole two weeks she was there, but the rest of the family could come and go every day. I even saw patients who had dogs visiting!
“At times, being with Kat at the bedside was a bit much for our children. But Trinity has this amazing games room, and a massive garden.
“There was one night in the hospice where they put a big screen in Kat’s room and we put on a movie. We let our son choose, so we watched Guardians of the Galaxy. I don’t think Kat was too happy about it, but it was a moment we had together.
“It’s hard to put into words just how amazing Trinity is. They took care of everything; I didn’t need to do anything for Kat. I was simply there with her. That’s priceless.”
The nurses on the In-patient Unit cared for Kat, you can sponsor a nurse here >
