Mrs N: If You Were A Horse, A Carer's Story. (Read By Scott Murray)
This poem is read by Professor Scott Murray, Edinburgh University. It is by Mrs N, about caring for her husband who has had a stroke.
Well, he’s the same again,
Started, you know,
The swelling up.
And the doctor
Didn’t put off,
Any time,
This time.
She said,
It was much better,
Just to get him in.
So he went in,
At the beginning of December
And he actually had been having,
Some rather strange turns.
Very dizzy turns.
It just seemed to be
Something that
Came over him.
And it’s one
Of the tablets,
That he has
For his asthma,
Which they say
Is a very
Dangerous drug.
He’s been on it
For many years,
And it’s affecting
His heart,
And they are trying
To stop it
But they can’t
Stop it
Because
He can’t breathe
Without it.
The hospital doctor said,
The last time we were in,
That it had
To be stopped,
And we did try
To stop it
And I had to phone
Our own doctor
Because he was struggling
And she came in
And she said to him,
“Which would you rather have,
You know,
The heart out of rhythm,
Or not able to breathe?”
He said,
“Well,
If I’m going to die,
I’d rather die
With my heart stopping
Than gasping
For breath.”
Well anyway,
They took him in
And he was hooked up to things
And couldn’t get
Moving around
At all,
But they decided
They were going
To let him home
For Christmas.
And he had
Christmas Day
And he took ill
The next day
And he has not really
Picked up
Very well
Since then
I got the doctor in
And I was quite disappointed
Actually
At the lack of support
And even the nurse
Agreed with me
When she came in
For his blood.
I said,
“I feel
I’ve just been left
With it
I just don’t know
What we’re going to do
With him really.
Do you have a gun
In your bag?
He probably needs
A gun!
And his circulation
Of course
Isn’t good
And that
Doesn’t help.
In fact
If you were a horse
They would shoot you.
