Red Roses

It was the end of my first house job and life was wonderful. I was working on a mixed medical ward with many dermatology patients (it was the day when your boss could be a generalist with an interest) and I’d just had an amazing week end away in the middle of the Yorkshire dales with my other half- (fellow houseman- met as medical students) when I thought he might propose.  I got back on the ward on the Monday morning to find the biggest bunch of red roses I’d ever seen waiting for me on the nursing station.  I thought I’d find a ring in the middle of one of the stems but no - it was from one the elderly ladies who’d been discharged home the previous week.  She’d been admitted with uncontrolled psoriasis and the treatment included quite aggressive fluid restriction. The note read- “To Dr Burgess - thank you for arguing with the consultant that I needed an extra 100 ml for a cup of tea to get me going every morning. It made such a difference to me.” It’s always the little things, the personal things, that people appreciate most.

Postscript: I’ve spent most of my adult life ‘arguing’ with authority one way or another, usually about ways to improve patient care - and Huw proposed the following week in the much more romantic setting of the hospital canteen.

Helen Lester