Where do I begin… I’m sat here while flo’s on night shift trying my sixth attempt at writing this, I have always wanted to work in health and social care for as long as I can remember and I have had a great career so far. I have seen some things that are indescribable and also been so elated to ultimately ‘Save a Life’ but most recently, well in fact the past sixth months, have been really hard and it’s got to the point that I have started to shut myself away from work and even flo. The days are starting to blur into one and I don’t want to get out of bed, I lie awake at 3am going over everything and I just don’t know what to do. One of my patients ‘Timmy’ who was let’s say, a bit of a ‘Gangster’ in his day has frontoemporal dementia, he’s physically still fit for his age (late 70’s). When we initially met, I knew he was going to be a challenge. If I can recall his first words were ‘Ey Up w***er’ I like to think of myself as a man’s man and so my approach was more to give ...

It’s been another plate-spinning fortnight, but guess what? Some of those plates have now been spun into their rightful place and things are looking good. My first piece of news is that I got the job!! I am now a very proud Band 6 nurse! Steve called me (eventually) to give me the news. The rumours were right, there were two posts and I got one of them! Steve told me that the other successful candidate was pretty much the opposite of me in that she was quiet, steady and sensible. If I hadn’t been so ecstatic, I might have felt a bit insulted but as it was, all I felt was complete elation. I rang Carla as soon as I got off the phone to Steve and she couldn’t do anything but scream! I honestly couldn’t have done this without the encouragement, support and belief of both Steve and Carla. My second piece of news is that the wedding plans are almost complete; everything has been ordered or arranged. Ironically, the only thing to buy now is the Dragon Mother’s outfit. As you would...