The release of Spring Blight is this Friday, and I admit I’m equally excited as tired about it. This and my endless week of covering the NHS doctors’ strike made my brain shut down to the point I doubted my sanity.

On the last shift, I picked up the patient, let’s call her Dawn Johanas (of course, a fictional name), gathered all the paperwork and went to see her. I was a little preoccupied with my thoughts, and if you don’t know how doctors’ and nurses’ brains work, especially in hectic environments such as the ED. I have to tell you we don’t have a memory of the names

.

It’s not that we don’t care, but if you are tasked to see four patients per hour who never or rarely come back to you, you just don’t remember them. Unless it is a tragic, heart-wrenching story, your spectacular diagnosis and successful treatment, or they are being an asshole and getting on your nerves, you just don’t remember. It is a simple coping mechanism that allows us to work and protect us from information overload

But I digress. So I went to see Dawn, introduced myself and, per English custom, called her by her first name, asking, ‘Dawn, can you tell me what are your health concerns?’

‘Oh, just call me Jo.’ she answered, creating the first dissonance. Then she told me her history, and I was just sitting there taking notes and having an inner dialogue. I was sure that I had picked up a patient with a stroke. But Jo kept telling me about her lung issues, and she was so lovely.

I know most of our patients come to the ED to get better( some don’t, but that’s another history), but you rarely encounter someone who wants to get better,  works with you to get better, doesn’t take their health frustration on you and despite their own problems they are like little sunshine brightening your day.

So I stayed, listened and arranged treatment for her all the time, thinking I must have misread the files because I was sure as hell I picked up the lady with a stroke of the system to see. When I finished and returned to the computer, it showed that … I was right.

I picked up a lady with a stroke; the woman I just saw was  Johanna Dawn( again, a fake name). And that’s how I get two patients for the price of one, but no regrets, as I had a really great time treating Jo.

Now I don’t know whether it was menopause fog, working two jobs or being too tired from picking extra shifts to cover the gaps, but I had another adventure to add to my collection.

Hope you enjoy it, and if you want to know more about us, click on the picture on the side and read the interview Stephanie had with us 😊