Jill Green,
14.02.2022
I hope Friends will understand that I am not sharing this experience with you for egotistical reasons, but rather because it might help someone else.
Many Friends already know that I recently had an acute problem with breathing, for which I was admitted to the John Radcliffe Respiratory Unit, and which was not COVID related.
This was something of a shock to me and my partner, though I do now realise that my lung function had been deteriorating gradually over months as my ability to cycle decent distances had become compromised.
It certainly was life threatening. Towards the end of a first week of intensive testing of all kinds, a diagnosis remained uncertain, but I was requiring continuous high oxygen, and was thus unable to undergo a bronchoscopy which would have allowed clarity on that matter.
The second night there I was sleeping moderately well in my comfortable side room when I must have turned over, dislodging the oxygen mask, so sending my O2 levels down very rapidly.
I found myself lying extremely comfortably in a dark ‘tunnel’, entirely surrounded by velvety soft, warm, slowly moving and pulsing, pipes, tubes and tendrils – completely at peace in the silence, having absolutely no fear. It was genuinely lovely in there!
For me, this journey was an unforgettable encounter with spirit, and is always there to dip back into when I get high or low (large doses of steroids make this fairly inevitable at times, and it’s hard to bear for me and for others also).
But then Blessing spotted my monitor going crazy and rushed down to my room, to plonk the mask back on my face, and the oximeter back on my finger. SATS at 58 she told me, as I emerged rather reluctantly from that dark whilst entirely unthreatening space.
Painting by Jill Green
Born in Kerala, Blessing had been named by her mother. Middle class parents (and there are very many in that part of southern India) frequently encourage their children to become nurses, as it is paid a liveable salary at home and offers opportunities to travel to other parts of the world to contribute to health elsewhere. There are no less than 13 nurses from Kerala bringing their very expert skills to bear on the COVID and non-COVID patients in the respiratory unit. Oxford is indeed very fortunate to be blessed in this way.
When Friends spot me going off on one, just mentioning Kerala is the key to bring me back to earth. Please feel free to do so.
| Previous Article | Next Article |
Back to March 2022 Newsletter Main Page
Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 515 • March 2022
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW
Copyright 2022, Oxford Quakers