Chris, 69, from Bexleyheath, is living with throat cancer. This summer, he spent three weeks on the hospice inpatient unit, The Woodland Ward, before returning home. He then attended the hospice as an outpatient, working with our physiotherapist and making full use of the gym. He and his wife of 47 years, Rosy, kindly shared how the hospice has helped him make the most of his life.
“I was referred here from Guy’s Cancer Centre. I was deteriorating badly, and the palliative care nurse, my wife, and I, agreed that the hospice was the best place for me. The future wasn’t looking good. I came in thinking I wasn’t going to come out alive and my kids and wife thought the same.
I have problems swallowing because of my illness. I have stage four throat cancer and it’s my third run-in with cancer. I’ve been through radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and operations, and this time I was given six months to a year to live. The chemo I had was brutal and didn’t work, and they left my mouth ulcerated.”
It was Chris’ stay at the hospice that inspired him to seize the life he had left.
“I thought I was dying. I’d gone from being a healthy person, walking 15 miles a week, tending my allotment, feeling fit and strong, to dropping from 10.5 stone to 8.5 stone. I felt like I had nothing to live for, beyond, of course, my wife and family. I was stuck in bed with no energy to get up.
When we decided on the hospice, my wife said, ‘You do realise when I make this call, that’s it.’ Yet by the end of my stay, I felt so good I almost felt fraudulent being there. There were really sick people dying, and I was feeling better than I had in years.
The first week was surreal. I cannot fault the care and attention I received, there was such genuine compassion. I spoke with the consultant about my medications, he reviewed and changed them, and I began to pick up. I was here three weeks in total and transformed from the person who first arrived, I was unrecognisable. I’d had yellow eyes, wasn’t eating or drinking, and my children, who are in their 30s and 40s,
couldn’t believe the change when they saw me.
You come through the doors of the hospice, and it’s such a comforting place, right from the receptionist. You can’t manufacture that, it’s serene. I came thinking it was a place just to die, but for me, it became a place of respite. I also couldn’t believe that when I got here there were llamas visiting the ward – that cheered me right up!
I slept well in idyllic surroundings: a comfortable bed, a shave and shower every day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and surrounded by beautiful people. They didn’t just care for me, but for my wife too, they even gave her meals. Everyone was excellent; words fail me.
The garden is therapeutic in itself. I’d wake up every morning and look out over it while enjoying privacy from others. It’s a really well-thought- out space. The room I stayed in had lots of space.
