Day 1 in St Christophers

Today was the first day we visited the hospice. At first i was nervous as i didn't know quite what to expect and how i was going to feel talking to people who are facing death head on.

When i first walked into the building i noticed that it was calm and quite peaceful. Walking through the cafeteria you could hear small talk and cups clinking. We sat down outside by the pond and i felt at ease. I then had the feeling that my experience would be less intense as i thought.

The first person i spoke to was Daffnie, she struggled with speech which initially was a challenge but the more we spoke the more she and i became comfortable with each other and  able to understand what we were saying. I felt able to ask her to repeat certain things as I'm sure she understood people may not be able to understand her. I'm glad i had this experience on my first day with the patients as i feel more confident to talk to others who may also face difficulties talking.

Here I have written up some key things i learnt from our conversation.

• She was born in Jamaica and came over to england when she was younger.
• She had her nine children with late husband, all born in the UK. Six boys and three girls, all of whom live in the UK now however first daughter is a teacher and lives in Jamaica.
• She loved cooking. Especially rice and peas, chicken and curry. She said how she doesn't approve of the food in the hospice and would cook her own if she could.
• She worked as maternity nurse for around 20 years and loved her job. S
• She would get pregnant have her baby and leave a four month gap before going back to work again with most of her children.
• She visits St. Christopher's around twice a week and lives at home with carers the rest of the time. 
• Her children still come to vista her and support her now.

Something that really stood out for me from today was a statement Daffnie said. She said "what can you do, you live life and then you die" i found this quite hard to respond to as i didn't want to ignore the comment but also didn't want to say anything that may offend her. So i just responded the way i felt was right and said "well you have had 9 children and they will continue on growing and having children that in its self is amazing." It just made me think about life and how we are all eventually going to die. It also made me think about what the patients in the hospice think about heaven or an afterlife, do they believe there is something else after death.