Dear Diary
Prose in diary form – composite fictional account. based on observations of patients in an oncology clinic
Flight
Humorous account of a daughter/carer leaving this role after much provocation
Living with Alcoholism
The author’s experience as child/carer alongside her mother’s addiction
This is your Grandad
The death of a grandparent highlights tensions between bio-medical knowledges and personal loss.
How Am I?
Prose inspired by meeting a distraught, terminally-ill mother who had just given birth
A New Beginning
Birth and death, joy and grief – bound up in exceptional circumstances
Abnormal
Concern for a young woman patient living with chronic pain and skin disfigurement – compounded by a detached parent
The Future
An emergency hospitalization where the patient is unaware of gravity of her condition
Valerie
Narrative inspired by a profoundly disabled patient – insights around being a passive recipient of multiple interventions
Finding the Pain
Insights from patient drawings bring the impact of clinical consultations to the fore
Precious
Fictionalized account of a tender relationship, Sita the life-long companion and carer of her frail husband
The Twilight Years
Poignant narrative about a widow’s first day as a resident in a care home
Things were rubbish until Josie came to love me
The pivotal role of dogs as companions for those living with disability
Crisis-Point
A home-visit to elderly man provides an unexpected chink of connection through spirituality
Mark
A wheel-chair user’s lived experience is ignored by her GP while a man-to-man chat ensues with her companion
Depression
A personal account of depression – family and peer response and stigma around revealing mental health issues
An Excerpt From The Diary Of A Patient
Personal account of patient as undisclosed medic hearing her devastating diagnosis unwittingly revealed in clinical shorthand
False Hope
The complexities of diagnosis and prognosis following a sudden bereavement
Some Kind of Miracle
Narrative from the perspective of a child about her terminally-ill mother coming home from hospital for Xmas, then remaining in remission for several years
My First Patient
Soldier confronted by desperate parents giving his water bottle to their child
The Truth
After visiting a children’s cancer-ward in Malaysia – the author speculates about ‘the gateway between life and death’
My Experience of the Dissection Room
A searingly honest account of a student’s attempts to make the transition from individuals to educational cadavers
Life in the Glasshouse
A terminally ill patient bodily connected to various machinery processes being on the threshold between life and death
Face Value
Prose about a young medic feeling he had connected with a patient yet finding her case-notes revealed a very different story
Lady With Pink Hair
Young mother tragically contracting severe neurological condition during clinical treatment and deteriorating rapidly
Beyond Appearances
A student’s observation of a surgeon establishing clinical boundaries
How Can I Ever Forgive Myself?
Prose about a patient’s unbearable grief and guilt and a doctor’s support
Waking
Poignant narrative about a wife waking up next to frail and incapacitated husband
The Patient
A bleak experience visiting a hospitalized friend – the complexities of mental health care
David
Challenging patient in residential care and student’s sense of failure in everyday interactions
New Glasses
Tough recognition of a grandparent’s emotional abuse, and perspectives around death and dying
Chasing the Bismarck
A narrative inspired by a sailor-patient’s adventures: then creative writing in medicine under scrutiny
The Die Hard Smoker
An elderly smoker survives against the odds, defiant in his addiction to tobacco
Why do I feel so guilty about this?
Medical student on a ward with a dying man – feeling unable to comfort him
Christmas Decorations
Narrative based on an encounter with an elderly lady in hospital ward not wanting to return home to her isolated existence
That ‘s not what my doctor in Caithness said…
A doctor and student visit a fiercely independent elderly lady surviving in chaotic living conditions