A few months ago, I wrote rather disparagingly about my first visit to the day hospice. I'm now rather ashamed of that blog post, as it wasn't a fair assessment of what is actually a wonderful service to cancer patients in this area. I have since become a big fan of the day hospice, particularly after my visit there this week.
I was a bit confused at first about what the day hospice actually provides, but it has now become clear to me. They host two or three weekly groups who meet there from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm, during which there are lots of cups of tea and biscuits, crafts, quizzes, card-playing, lunch, and the opportunity for everyone to access complementary therapies, a counsellor, a nurse, a palliative care doctor, a physio etc I'm now a member of the Tuesday group. I first joined it a couple of months ago, but felt at the time that I wasn't quite ready for it. I was clearly the least ill person there. One of the activities that day was making a Christmas cake. Well, about half a dozen of us gathered round a table to weight out and mix the ingredients. Being a cook, this is something I could have done on my own in 10 minutes, but because some of our members were disabled, we had to proceed more slowly than that. Even so, I'm embarrassed to say that I more or less took over and directed the whole operation! To be fair, nobody seemed to mind. The cake is now sitting in a tin being fed with alcohol on a regular basis. The very next day, galvanized into action, I made a Christmas cake at home using the same recipe, so we shall see which is the better. I fear I rather overbaked mine, as it came out of the oven a bit dark.
There was a nice mix of patients and volunteers of all ages at the Tuesday group. We had sherry before lunch (how civilized!) and a three course lunch which personally I couldn't cope with, but most people tucked in happily. During the course of the day I had the opportunity to talk with a nurse and to have some complimentary therapies. It was agreed with the nurse that I probably wasn't quite ready at that stage to be a permanent member of the group, and so I was offered complementary therapies as an out-patient. So this I took advantage of for a week or two, until I had my DVT, whereupon the therapist declined to give me further treatment (reflexology being my treatment of choice), as I could be harbouring another DVT in my leg. She did, however, do some sort of aromatherapy things instead, such as make me up an 'aroma stick' that I can waft under my nose in the evenings to help me sleep. As an outpatient, I also had access to the physiotherapist who fitted my arm with a compression bandage.
This week, I felt it was time to drop into the Tuesday group again, and this proved to be a good idea. I was warmly welcomed, and had the chance to chat with other members of the group, some of whom I'd met before and some of whom were new. I saw the physio again to be fitted with a tighter bandage, had an hour with a counsellor, which I had requested, and also, on the nurse's suggestion, an hour with a doctor who was extremely helpful. Where else could one have such personal and non-time-limited attention? I suppose it's because they are used to dealing with very sick people, the staff who work at the hospice are models of kindness, patience and empathy. I feel very honoured to be able to access their help.
Next week I shall go again. There will be a Christmas meal, and I'm sure a lot of other Christmassy things going on - and I'm looking forward to it.
