In the Midst of Life (57 page)

Read In the Midst of Life Online

Authors: Jennifer Worth

BOOK: In the Midst of Life
13.88Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Transient ischaemic attack (TIA):
a small stroke with little or no long-term effects on the person. But a doctor should be seen urgently if one occurs because without treatment a major stroke could follow.

Trephining / trephine:
when a burr hole is made through the skull, using a drill, as part of a surgical procedure.

Trocar and cannula:
a cannula is a thin ‘needle’ structure often made of plastic which can be inserted into the body. The trocar is the introducer, a thin piece of stable metal, which assists its placement. The trocar is then removed.

Uraemia:
high levels of urea on the blood.

Urethra:
the tube that transports urine from the bladder during excretion.

Urinalysis:
a simple test of the urine to look for any problems.

Urine drainage bag:
used to collect urine drainage via a catheter.

Vascular dementia:
dementia caused by lack of circulation of blood to various parts of the brain causing the death of those affected parts and therefore affecting mental functions.

Ventricle:
the larger chambers of the heart.

Ventricular fibrillation:
fibrillation of the ventricles, the two largest chambers of the heart.

Voluntary euthanasia:
when someone’s life is actively ended with their agreement, and with the help of someone else using specific drugs.

Volvulus:
a blockage of the bowel caused by it twisting in on
itself.

Warfarin:
a blood clot-dissolving drug which tends to be used prophylactically to prevent further blood clots forming.
White cell counts:
white cells exist in the blood and fight infection. If a person is not producing enough white blood cells they will be
immunocompromised.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 

My appreciation and gratitude to all the people who have helped me in writing this book.

My husband, Philip, whose love and loyalty, wisdom and humour have kept me sane throughout

Dr David Hackett, Dr Richard Lamerton, Dr Michael Boyes

Dr Robin Moffat, President of the Medico-Legal Society Susan McGann, Paul Vaughan and Susan Watt of the Royal College of Nursing

Louise Massen and Madeline Bass

Patricia Schooling, for her several readings and invaluable suggestions All those who have supported me in prayer, especially Sister Christine and the Community of St John the Divine, Birmingham; Sister Elizabeth and the Convent of Our Lady, Kettering; the Sisters of the Love of God, Oxford

The Chaplains of the Methodist Homes for the Aged, and St Francis Hospice for the Dying

Colin Rivett, Eve Griffin, Jeremy Buckman, Counsellors

Anna Powiecki, Eugenie Furniss and Claudia Webb at William Morris, Endeavour Entertainment, John Saunders, Kirsty Dunseath, Sophie Buchan and the team at Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Carole Lewis, Sue Theobald, Christoper Howe

David Hart, poet, priest and dreamer

Patricia Birch, Joanna Bruce, MBE; Sue, Jayne and Jane, my sister and nieces who are nurses and care assistants

Lydia Hart, Eleanor Hart

Shelagh and her family in Israel, and Steve and Sandy, Wendy and Philip.

— and the many people who have told me their stories but do not wish to
be named.

Excerpt from
Nurse on Call
by Edith Cotterill, published by Ebury, Reproduced with permission of The Random House Group Ltd.

Excerpt from
How We Die
by Sherwin B Nuland, published by Chatto & Windus. Reproduced with permission of Random House Group Ltd.

Excerpt from ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ by Dylan Thomas from
Poems,
published by JM Dent, a division of the Orion Publishing Group. Reproduced with permission from David Higham Associates.

Excerpt from
Four Quartets
by T.S. Eliot reproduced with permission of Faber.

Excerpt from
Malone Dies by
Samuel Beckett reproduced with permission of Faber.

Poems by David Hart reproduced with permission of the author and Five Seasons Press.

All efforts have been made to obtain permission for the use of the excerpt from
Truman of St Helens
by Shirley Rosen. Anyone with rights to this book is invited to contact the
author.

 

Jennifer Worth trained as a nurse at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, and was later ward sister at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London, then the Marie Curie Hospital, also in London. Music had always been her passion, and in 1973 she left nursing in order to study music intensively, teaching piano and singing for about twenty-five years. Jennifer died in May 2011 after a short illness, leaving her husband Philip, two daughters and three grandchildren. Her books have all been bestsellers.

By Jennifer Worth
 

Eczema and Food Allergy

Call the Midwife

Shadows of the Workhouse

Farewell to the East End

In the Midst of Life

Index
 

abuse,
207

acidosis,
217
,
230
,
232

acute intestinal obstruction,
10

11
,
15
,
20
,
42

adrenaline,
340

advance directives (advance decisions),
117
,
122

5
,
354

advanced life support,
340

age discrimination,
252
,
258
,
353

‘agonal gasp’,
241

AIDS,
60

1

airways,
339

Aldershot Military Hospital,
239

Aldwinkle, Matron,
24

9
,
136

7
,
179

allbumen levels,
382

Allow a Natural Death (AND) procedure,
348

9

almoners,
62

Alzheimer’s disease,
194

6
,
258
,
366

see also
dementia

ambulance services,
251
,
253

7
,
338
,
349
,
350
,
357

67

amiodarone,
340

amyl nitrite,
216

17

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
279

anaesthesia, and ventricular fibrillation,
337

analgesics, provision of,
63

5

Anderson, Mr,
128

44

angina pectoris,
216

anti-arrhythmic drugs,
340

aortic aneurysm,
240

aperients,
231
,
290

Aristotle,
326

Army Medical Services Emergency Team (AMSET),
239

40

artificial hydration,
382

3

ascites,
230

aspirin,
309

assisted dying,
313

15
,
323

8

see also
euthanasia; suicide

atheism,
332

atheroma,
216
,
272

atrial response,
248
,
250

atropine,
340

Auschwitz,
116

Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs),
251
,
255

6
,
258
,
338
,
343

Avon, Somerset and Wiltshire Cancer Services,
349

back-pressure,
229—30

Baden-Baden,
318

21

Bass, Madeline,
257
,
368

76

Beckett, Samuel,
201

bedsores,
21
,
105
,
196
,
230

2

Belfast,
337

Belsen,
116

benign growths,
120

bereavement,
158

61
,
163

4
,
194

Bible texts

Ecclesiastes,
8

St John,
214

birth,
33
,
148

Blake, William,
154

blindness,
195

blood clots,
170
,
272

Boer War,
5

Bonn,
345

brain,
46

7

and degenerative disorders,
278

frontal lobe,
195

hypothalamus,
107

and oxygen starvation,
87

8

and resuscitation,
230
,
237
,
246
,
250
,
254
,
344

5

speech centres,
278

stem reflex,
345

Briggs Report,
203

British Humanist Association,
116

17
,
122

British Medical Association (BMA),
187

8
,
211
,
257
,
373

British Patients’ Benevolent Fund,
132

3

Brompton Cocktail,
82

3
,
89
,
105
,
134

bronchitis,
196

Bruce, Joanna,
270

Buddhists,
56
,
332

Burnham, Dr Rodney,
199

Butler, Josephine,
164

Cairngorms,
144

cancer,
81
,
133

4
,
300
,
302
,
306
,
346

abdominal,
298

breast,
81

4
,
318

and hospice movement,
62

7

lung,
160

ovarian,
111

prostate,
90

1
,
162

and resuscitation,
370

1

sarcoma,
64
,
102
,
108

Other books

Hollywood Ending by Kathy Charles
Sovereign by Celia Aaron
Backwoods Bloodbath by Jon Sharpe
A Woman's Worth by Jahquel J
Prince of Twilight by Maggie Shayne
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
Mozzarella Most Murderous by Fairbanks, Nancy