A Doorbell Ring Ended With a Stabbing | 24 Hours In AE UK Season 4 Episode 4

[00:00:02]went from the bonnet found face down on the floor.

[00:00:06]>> It's a stabbing cord.

[00:00:07]>> 25 ft from a ladder onto his back.

[00:00:09]>> He's really unwell. I think anesthetics need to see him before he goes to theater.

[00:00:13]>> Daffany. Die.

[00:00:15]>> How's everybody then?

[00:00:18]>> Chilling.

[00:00:21]>> King's a help.

[00:00:22]>> Kings College Hospital, London.

[00:00:25]>> Stab.

[00:00:26]>> I know it's annoying.

[00:00:27]>> My head. One of the busiest A&E departments in the world.

[00:00:31]>> I want top to toes, head, chest, abdomen.

[00:00:34]>> A place where love, >> life, and loss, >> don't bloody die.

[00:00:42]>> I love you too much for you to die.

[00:00:44]>> Unfold every single day.

[00:00:47]All the patients you're about to see were treated in just one 24-hour period.

[00:00:52]>> Andie is always like a traffic jam. Can we get a trolley? You've got to realize that there's awful things that can happen to you.

[00:01:00]>> I'm so sorry.

[00:01:02]>> Life is unpredictable. So, it's important that your nearest and dearest know that you love them. You have to tell them that you love them.

[00:01:12]>> You must get better and come back to me.

[00:01:15]I don't want to lose you.

[00:01:17]>> Because there may come a time when you're not around to tell them.

[00:01:45]Pleasure as always. See you later, Rachel.

[00:01:48]>> What's wrong, Joe?

[00:01:51]How do I spell my surname?

[00:01:53]>> Du.

[00:01:55]>> Yep. Hyphen, capital P R A T >> circumflex over the A. So you don't pronounce T. So it's not DRA. It is indeed dupra.

[00:02:07]>> Is it um >> French?

[00:02:10]>> Oh, French.

[00:02:11]>> Are you French?

[00:02:11]>> Why did I think Dutch?

[00:02:13]>> Sounds French.

[00:02:14]>> I am really French, mate.

[00:02:27]Oh, who's your second team there? Dez is running it.

[00:02:29]>> No, that's not wrong.

[00:02:31]>> Oh, I thought you had someone falling down the stairs.

[00:02:32]>> Yeah, they're coming in there, >> right? Oh, he's my man. He's speaking again.

[00:02:38]>> Hello. Great.

[00:02:39]>> We have two.

[00:02:40]>> Today, A&E is being run by Graeme and Emma. They first worked together nearly 10 years ago.

[00:02:48]Hopefully this guy isn't too bad. I can make a management plan. Stabbed himself in the left side of the chest. And this guy's just falling down the stairs. Got a bit of numbness.

[00:02:55]>> There's a heart somewhere in there.

[00:02:56]Yeah.

[00:02:57]>> I was going to put this ultrasound on it and see if it was still flippity floppy.

[00:03:00]>> I'll um I'll come back in a sec.

[00:03:02]>> Graeme and I go back a long way. He's a great colleague. He's a great person to work with.

[00:03:08]On that day, I was on for trauma and Graeme was on for the emergency department.

[00:03:15]Sometimes it's very easy to divide between the trauma role and the ED role, especially when there isn't that much work because there's enough you've got enough people in the team to do it. It's when it gets busy when you've got maybe three or four people who've been pulled out of the same car crash. It's about who's the sickest patient and all the attention gets put onto them until they're sorted.

[00:03:35]>> We confirm we've got no pulse. Then carry on with your CPR hard. People think that uh the stress is about the patient that comes in with with a cardiac arrest cuz they're obviously as sick as they possibly can be. But that's actually one of the more simple things that we do because then everyone knows what needs to be done and you go ahead and do it.

[00:03:53]>> Keep going.

[00:03:55]>> Have you got a pulse?

[00:03:57]>> Yes.

[00:03:59]I find trauma tricky because you get completely well people that undergo some pretty horrific forces and um you can go a little way to predicting what those injuries might be, but then you get caught out there as well and uh anything can happen basically and you'll get someone that looks remarkably stable and something's brewing and um they can become really unroll.

[00:04:30]Hello recess.

[00:04:34]>> Yep.

[00:04:36]>> Stab 8 minutes. Lovely.

[00:04:43]>> 8 minutes.

[00:04:57]An elderly man is being brought to recess.

[00:05:01]75-year-old pensioner Graham lives alone on a large London housing estate and has a history of schizophrenia.

[00:05:08]He's been stabbed in the neck with a pair of scissors during an attempted burglary at his home.

[00:05:15]>> Right, guys? Let's raise his head. It will help with Venus bleeding. Keep going. Keep going.

[00:05:28]>> Right. He's got a wound that's 1 cm long that's just in front of stern cloud mastoid.

[00:05:35]>> And would you check him for other injuries, please?

[00:05:38]>> He does.

[00:05:41]>> What was the circumstances?

[00:05:42]>> He someone rang the doorbell and when he went to the door, the person stabbed him.

[00:05:47]>> Stranger.

[00:05:48]tragic.

[00:05:50]>> Wow. Okay.

[00:05:53]>> I remember when he came in because it was such a shocking story and you feel the human response to that, but actually the medical response to that was also very time critical because obviously being stabbed in the neck, there's so many important structures in your neck.

[00:06:10]We were checking that the knife hadn't gone down and punctured his lungs. And then we were thinking about bleeding.

[00:06:15]bleeding that could squeeze his windpipe, bleeding inside his neck, and then whether any of the blood vessels have been damaged and could cause him to have a stroke. So, it was quite complex.

[00:06:28]>> Could you please get a light and look inside those nostrils and check that that blood is coming from within and not coming from without?

[00:06:37]>> Look in your nose, fine. There's >> no blood inside.

[00:06:44]>> No. No.

[00:06:46]Graeme needs an urgent CT scan to find out if there's been any internal damage to his neck.

[00:06:54]>> Right, guys, we've been called to CT.

[00:06:58]>> There we go.

[00:07:01]>> Thank you.

[00:07:07]>> While obviously when he arrived, we were aware that he was on his own, we were told very early on that he had schizophrenia.

[00:07:14]But my real priority at that time was to check that this wasn't something that was going to be life-threatening, but at the same time just going that extra bit with supporting him because he did seem very alone and very vulnerable.

[00:07:30]>> Did the hospitals give you food if you stay here for a night like tea and lunch and breakfast?

[00:07:38]>> Yeah, they do.

[00:07:46]the doctor see another patient.

[00:07:56]>> Okay. Oh, bless you. Don't worry.

[00:07:59]>> Graeme has been scanned to check for any internal injuries.

[00:08:04]Because of the complex structures of the neck, Ema will wait for an in-depth report from CT before giving Graeme the results.

[00:08:12]>> Just give me a minute.

[00:08:13]>> He's just been sick as we've come in the door. Bless him.

[00:08:24]>> Hello, King Zane.

[00:08:27]>> Yeah.

[00:08:30]>> Thanks.

[00:08:32]Adult trauma call 10 minutes. That's adult trauma in 10 minutes.

[00:08:42]>> An elderly woman is on the way to recess.

[00:08:46]Pat is 89 and also lives on her own.

[00:08:50]She's been found at the bottom of her stairs.

[00:08:55]When you're dealing with an older person who's been injured, obviously you've got lots more complexity to deal with.

[00:09:03]>> Your margin for errors are smaller. They don't necessarily have the same reserves of a younger person with a young heart, young lungs, strong bones, and therefore you have to be really meticulous in your assessment.

[00:09:17]>> Right. Tell us the story.

[00:09:19]pack. She's 89. Found by chance by visitor for the foot of the stairs. Her only medical history as far as we're aware is high cholesterol, high blood pressure. She's got a white stick as well, so very partially inside, but not >> cheers.

[00:09:36]>> Right, let's get her log brought.

[00:09:41]>> Okay. So, >> does that hurt there?

[00:09:47]No.

[00:09:48]>> Okay. Does this hurt?

[00:09:51]>> That hurt.

[00:09:52]>> Unable to find any obvious physical injuries, Ema's attention turns to Pat's mental state.

[00:09:59]>> Get her some socks.

[00:10:00]>> If a patient is confused after they've had a fall, one of the things that you don't know is whether they were confused to start with, whether they might have had an element of dementia in the background. And uh now that you've put them in a completely disorientating environment and strapped them down, that could make them more confused, but equally so could a blood clot on their brain.

[00:10:22]So you've got to be trying to find out what their baseline is. And if you can't find it, you've got to investigate.

[00:10:30]>> Pat's friend and neighbor, Angie, got a call as soon as she was found and traveled in the ambulance with her.

[00:10:37]>> Angie, sorry.

[00:10:39]>> Angie.

[00:10:40]>> Yes. Yes. Angie.

[00:10:42]>> Yes, that's right. Yes. Yes. How did you get in here then?

[00:10:46]>> How did I've been here?

[00:10:48]>> Ever since you've been in.

[00:10:49]>> Have you?

[00:10:50]>> I came with you in the ambulance.

[00:10:52]>> Did you?

[00:10:53]>> I did. Didn't you hear the sirens?

[00:10:55]>> No.

[00:10:56]>> Oh, red lights, sirens.

[00:10:58]>> No, I never wrong side of the road.

[00:11:01]Shooting the lights.

[00:11:03]>> Oh, the first for me. Pat was quite a hairy ride actually. I've never been in an ambulance with the sirens and flashing lights and a bus came out in front of us. We had to stop quite quickly.

[00:11:19]Um, she would have thought that would be quite exciting if she was really with it enough, you know.

[00:11:27]>> Right. So, we'll hopefully be next for CT.

[00:11:32]>> Can you remember going down the stairs?

[00:11:34]>> No.

[00:11:35]>> No.

[00:11:35]>> No. No. I didn't. didn't feel dizzy or anything.

[00:11:41]>> I must admit I thought at first that you know she had bit of damage because her voice was a little bit slurred.

[00:11:59]>> A CT scan will determine whether Pat has sustained any internal injuries.

[00:12:04]>> Ready, steady, roll back.

[00:12:09]We've known one another and she's been a neighbor for nearly 30 years.

[00:12:15]She likes to get on with things.

[00:12:18]Pat had already retired um when when I moved here.

[00:12:24]She was a children's nanny for many years and worked abroad.

[00:12:30]She has very definite ideas, you know, and if it something's not right, you know, she'll say, "Oh, no, no, no. Oh, no, no, no."

[00:12:42]She's quite incredible, really.

[00:12:46]>> Okay. Well done. Pictures are all finished.

[00:12:52]>> But you're young compared to me. You're 30, aren't you?

[00:12:55]>> That's old, man.

[00:12:56]>> I'm 36. That's not See, my ship has sailed, man. It sailed.

[00:13:00]>> Oh, stop it.

[00:13:06]>> Stabbing victim Graeme was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1968.

[00:13:12]He's been living alone for the last 17 years.

[00:13:15]>> Let's give you something to lean back against. Lovely. There you go. You lean back.

[00:13:19]>> I like being independent.

[00:13:21]I like going to Trafalga Square and to the National Gallery.

[00:13:29]I've also been to uh the Dalage Gallery. That's a nice little gallery.

[00:13:39]I don't want to be like my brother. I don't want to go to an old people's home.

[00:13:45]That wouldn't suit me at all. I'm more modern than that.

[00:13:50]I've got my independence, but it's at a terrible price at the moment.

[00:13:58]>> I do need to check the strength in your arms and legs.

[00:14:02]>> So, I'm going to ask you to squeeze my fingers really hard. Try to break them.

[00:14:07]Go on.

[00:14:08]>> And this one. Good man.

[00:14:10]>> I'm the only family, >> only my brother.

[00:14:13]>> He's schizophrenic, too.

[00:14:16]>> I grew up in Islington.

[00:14:18]It was a big family, five children and my grandmother lived with us.

[00:14:27]My grandmother really brought me up most of the time.

[00:14:30]>> Do you have normal feeling in this arm?

[00:14:34]>> I had a very very close relationship with my nan.

[00:14:37]>> She was a beautiful woman and she taught me to read.

[00:14:43]>> My nan was definitely a role model for me.

[00:14:51]You okay?

[00:14:51]>> Yeah. I just want >> Yes, sir. Are you okay? Are you traumatizing?

[00:14:55]>> Yeah, I am traumatizing, but we'll get there.

[00:14:58]>> The results of Pat's CT scan are in, but they don't explain why she collapsed.

[00:15:05]>> Your scan was fine. So, you haven't uh you're lucky.

[00:15:11]>> Well, this is a new experience for you, Pat. I just I I don't wish to have it repeated.

[00:15:20]Thank you.

[00:15:20]>> No, I'm sure. No, if you start walking down the stairs, P instead were trying to run.

[00:15:28]>> I trained during the war to be a nursery nurse.

[00:15:33]Children are marvelous. They're absolutely incredible.

[00:15:38]>> I've got your tea ready. When >> did you never want children yourself?

[00:15:42]Well, not being married certainly not. I mean, I never married because I felt that the people who asked me, they weren't for me. I just said no. They weren't right.

[00:15:59]Better to better to do that than make a mistake as as one hears about these days.

[00:16:09]five minutes and they're not and they want another one, another husband. I think, well, you haven't even tried.

[00:16:18]>> All right, that better.

[00:16:21]>> I think I've had a very, very interesting life only because I am single.

[00:16:29]>> Listen, Pat. Hello. I've asked the medical specialist to come down and see you to work out why you've collapsed and why you've ended up on the floor. You may have had a blackout, you see, and that would need to have some tests.

[00:16:45]>> Why? I don't know.

[00:16:47]>> I know. Well, sometimes they can just come out of the blue.

[00:16:52]>> All right.

[00:16:54]>> I'll get you some blankets.

[00:17:01]Okie dokie.

[00:17:03]>> One of the things that you come to realize when you've been doing this a couple of years is how many people are alone out there. How many people don't have the comfort of friends and family?

[00:17:17]I'm just trying to see if we can see the wound.

[00:17:21]>> Emma now has the full results of Graeme's scan.

[00:17:30]Come on. Can I jump back in, please?

[00:17:36]>> Now, listen. You're a lucky man, Graeme.

[00:17:39]>> That I know it's a terrible thing that's happened to you, >> but the knife the scissors look like they've gone to the back.

[00:17:46]>> Yeah.

[00:17:47]>> Which isn't quite as dangerous as going to the front, >> so it's not gone near your windpipe or anything like that.

[00:17:57]Is it coming off?

[00:17:58]>> Yeah, it's coming off.

[00:18:01]Can't >> see how ugly you are now.

[00:18:04]You can see how ugly I am. There's a nice thing to me and I thought I was an handsome fella.

[00:18:14]>> Who's the guy who did it there? Do you know?

[00:18:16]>> No, I don't know who he was.

[00:18:18]>> I live on my own.

[00:18:22]>> I live in a council flat.

[00:18:25]The flat is a nice flat. I got a patio in the front and a balcony at the back.

[00:18:32]The only trouble is uh it invites uh non-welcome visitors.

[00:18:45]>> Done.

[00:18:48]>> Now the reason I'm here is uh because of the wounds there. I'm just coming to close the wounds. Just >> touch him. Yes.

[00:18:54]>> Oh god. Oh god.

[00:19:01]>> Okay. It was a pleasant enough day. I'd been listening to my jukebox.

[00:19:07]I'd got quite a lot of uh CDs and quite a lot of concerts on DVD.

[00:19:14]Cliff Richard and uh people like that, you know.

[00:19:20]>> Okay. So that's one stitch in each uh cut. So that's all done.

[00:19:25]>> Thank you.

[00:19:26]>> My pleasure.

[00:19:29]>> As soon as I opened my front door, he pounced on me and I put up a fight. I hit him a few times. That's probably what I upset him. But I wasn't going to be bashed about, you know, and and not retaliate.

[00:19:47]Uh although now I wish I hadn't retaliated cuz he might not have stabbed me.

[00:19:57]>> He's still in your 20s.

[00:19:59]>> He not 30.

[00:20:01]>> No way. What are you?

[00:20:02]>> 31.

[00:20:03]>> 31.

[00:20:05]>> What's that? Your wrinkles.

[00:20:07]>> Your wrinkles.

[00:20:10]>> 30s.

[00:20:12]>> It's true. It's true.

[00:20:13]>> Is that right?

[00:20:14]>> What are the 40s? They they just the 40s.

[00:20:17]>> Flirty, >> are they? The flirty 40s.

[00:20:19]>> 30 flirty 40s.

[00:20:20]>> Okay. Dirty 30s. Flirty.

[00:20:23]Yeah.

[00:20:23]>> Dirty.

[00:20:25]>> Awesome. And the 50s. That's just old, isn't it?

[00:20:29]>> I turned 43 this year.

[00:20:30]>> What? No way.

[00:20:33]>> Yeah.

[00:20:34]>> I'm already starting to think about retirement.

[00:20:37]>> You know what this teaches you, doesn't it? It's a lesson.

[00:20:44]you not to touch the cooker cuz otherwise you end up sitting in A&E at nighttime for ages.

[00:20:53]>> What were you trying to do when you touched it?

[00:20:56]>> See if it was hot or cold.

[00:20:58]>> Oh, really? I think you can you know now, don't you?

[00:21:12]Mom of five, Cheryl and her husband Andy have brought their son Dylan to A&E unable to breathe.

[00:21:19]She has left her other children at home with their big sister.

[00:21:27]>> Three girls and another boy.

[00:21:29]>> Someone the baby is >> I just think I wanted lots of children.

[00:21:36]It can be hectic. It's nice. It's um It's better than being lonely and quiet.

[00:21:45]>> There you go.

[00:21:47]>> Oh, wow. That's fine. Sam one.

[00:21:52]>> They're my life. They are my life. I wouldn't change anything. I wouldn't be without any of them. They mean everything to me.

[00:22:03]I think those nebulizers did the trick.

[00:22:06]Your breathing sounds a lot better, mister. And if you see him struggling in the way he was earlier today, you should bring him back in to see us. We'll >> just be around the corner. Okay.

[00:22:19]>> Goodbye, Dylan.

[00:22:20]>> Fouryear-old Dylan's been diagnosed with CROO, a virus that affects the airway.

[00:22:27]>> Doctors would like him to stay in for the next few hours for monitoring.

[00:22:32]Mom.

[00:22:35]Daddy.

[00:22:37]>> Hello. What's your name, darling?

[00:22:41]>> Deelle's my eldest daughter. She's 15.

[00:22:45]Initially, I thought she was phoning up to ask how Dylan was.

[00:22:50]>> You're joking.

[00:22:53]>> She's like, "Mom." I was like, "Yeah."

[00:22:55]>> Son can't breathe. At home, Cheryl's 9-year-old son, Sana, is now also struggling to breathe.

[00:23:04]>> It wasn't even that a long conversation.

[00:23:05]I was literally quickly called, hang up, and just tried to get his shoes on and everything cuz I was panicking myself, but trying not to show it.

[00:23:13]>> What? Really bad.

[00:23:16]Son's got it. He's He can't breathe.

[00:23:20]>> I was really scared, but I obviously wasn't I was trying not to show it. I didn't want him to be scared. One of us is going to have to come back and get him.

[00:23:29]All right. Bye. Bye.

[00:23:33]Can't breathe.

[00:23:36]I just remember like running down the corridor on the truss. I don't think I was thinking about anything on my drive actually apart from I need to get to sun out.

[00:23:51]>> Playing football. Didn't feel any pain at all at the time, but just afterwards just saw that the tip had sort of folded down. Spoke to some doctor friends who said, uh, basically you need to probably get that splinted out properly. You know, there's there's no pain at all, but I've got to admit I'm not that happy with it.

[00:24:11]>> And then your finger is normally straight, I think.

[00:24:14]>> So, people been like, >> you bend your finger here.

[00:24:26]My main concern is my wife who tells me that she thinks it's disgusting and doesn't want to look on me anymore.

[00:24:42]With her youngest son already in A&E with breathing problems, mom of five Cheryl is bringing in her eldest son who is now also struggling to breathe.

[00:25:00]>> The nurse would talk him straight into recess. I think that was the when I sort of knew he's really not well because they wouldn't be taking him into recess for no reason. He was in a bad way.

[00:25:18]>> He was really struggling with his breathing and that's why I kind of was worried and then was a bit like what do I do? Do I bring him into pets and get him seen in pets or do I just take him across to recess?

[00:25:30]You can only go in what you can see and what you can hear.

[00:25:34]>> Can you give me an A?

[00:25:39]>> We're just going to pop a little mask on your face. Okay. We'll get you sorted, won't we?

[00:25:46]>> Okay.

[00:25:49]>> Hello, young man.

[00:25:52]>> My name is Alan. I'm one of the doctors here.

[00:25:55]>> All right. I just have a quick listen to you.

[00:26:11]doctors are trying to bring Senn's breathing under control as quickly as possible using a powerful combination of medicines.

[00:26:19]>> You've got all these doctors and they're all doing different things and they're getting different tubes and putting probes on him.

[00:26:28]So, I was afraid that he was going to stop breathing >> because you're very stable. I know you've got pain, but you've not done your no serious internal damage at the moment.

[00:26:50]>> We want to watch you overnight to make sure you stay well. Um, but you'll go up to our ward shortly.

[00:27:00]>> I'm taking medication for schizophrenia.

[00:27:04]I couldn't live with it at first.

[00:27:08]I used to swear at the voices and all that. Go away, you know.

[00:27:13]It's a terrible affliction to have until I get it under control. It's it's really terrible.

[00:27:22]I think I was about 27 when that happened.

[00:27:27]I don't want to be like my brother with his schizophrenia. It's made him less independent.

[00:27:35]If I don't take my medication, I get the voices.

[00:27:40]But it's got side effects. I kick my legs and get the fidgets.

[00:27:46]The ordinary man in the street tends to write you off, you know.

[00:27:52]It's not your fault that you you've got it, you know, but they seem to blame blame you for for having it, you know.

[00:28:05]>> Graham has been attacked in his home three times in the past 5 years.

[00:28:13]Since the stabbing, I don't feel safe at all. I'm trying to get a move.

[00:28:19]I'm hoping to get a new place, one that's in a quiet area.

[00:28:27]We can treat what's brought them in that day. We can try and support them in some of the issues that are facing them at that time, but we can't change their lives.

[00:28:46]>> Not too straighten the finger, but It's good if you hold it.

[00:28:50]>> Mhm.

[00:28:55]>> This is better than the uh cocktail stick splint that I made last night.

[00:28:59]>> Yeah.

[00:29:02]>> And my sister last night cuz we just had our first baby and she was saying uh your little boy will never remember you with normal hands again.

[00:29:11]>> Got to sort it out.

[00:29:14]>> Brilliant. Well, thank you for your help.

[00:29:16]>> Yeah. Thanks a lot. Cheers. Okay. Bye.

[00:29:35]>> 72year-old Michael is a retired postman.

[00:29:38]He's been brought into A&E after having a fall at home.

[00:29:44]We're looking at his previous mission where he's got disseminated cancer.

[00:29:47]>> From his notes, Graeme discovers that two months ago, Michael was diagnosed with lung cancer, which has now begun to spread through his body.

[00:29:58]>> How you feeling there, Michael?

[00:30:00]>> All right. Yeah.

[00:30:01]>> So, you had a fall yesterday, didn't you?

[00:30:03]>> Yeah.

[00:30:04]>> Yeah. Okay. And could you get up?

[00:30:07]>> No.

[00:30:08]>> No. So, did you spend the night on the ground on the floor? Oh, wow. Okay. So is it how did you raise the alarm >> when I fat door open when I could hear somebody got called out?

[00:30:23]>> All right. Okay. So your flat door is unlocked and when you heard someone go past you yelled out. So someone found you today.

[00:30:28]>> Oh wow. So they called the ambulance for you they >> Yeah.

[00:30:31]>> Okay. Gee. I mean you're lucky, huh?

[00:30:34]>> Oh, listen up. Just before you go on, your your mouth is so dry. Do you want a sip water?

[00:30:38]>> Yes, please.

[00:30:39]>> There's a bottle there. Sorry. The bottle in there.

[00:30:42]>> Yeah, >> you can read it.

[00:30:44]>> This one?

[00:30:45]>> Yeah.

[00:30:46]>> You've got a whole bunch of medicines in there.

[00:30:49]>> Yeah.

[00:30:50]>> Oh, and you've got that bottle.

[00:30:51]>> Yeah, that's one.

[00:30:53]>> Oh, that's a morphine. Is it?

[00:30:55]>> Yeah.

[00:30:56]>> Better not take a swig of that, sir.

[00:31:02]>> Staff want to let Michael's family know that he's in hospital.

[00:31:06]>> His next of kin is a second cousin.

[00:31:09]>> Hi. Is that Joyce?

[00:31:11]Hi, Joyce. My name's Lucy. I'm staff nurse at King's College Hospital. How you doing?

[00:31:16]H >> he just came in a little while ago. Came in in the ambulance. Um he's being seen by the doctor now, but um it looks like we're going to be keeping him a good while.

[00:31:26]>> Are you coming to visit at all or?

[00:31:31]>> Fab. All right, Joyce. No problem. Have a good day. Bye now. Bye.

[00:31:37]>> She's nice.

[00:31:39]I spoke to Joyce. She was at home.

[00:31:42]>> Yeah.

[00:31:42]>> Um she said she was pleased cuz she'd been a bit worried about you.

[00:31:46]>> Yeah.

[00:31:50]>> I wasn't his closest family, but unfortunately he'd lost touch with his closest family.

[00:31:57]I really start remembering him when I was sort of 10 plus.

[00:32:02]He was massive. He was 6'7.

[00:32:06]And when you first meet him as a child, that is impressive.

[00:32:10]>> So I'll just start with your hand there.

[00:32:12]>> He was a very private man, a very quiet, gentle person who loved his extended family.

[00:32:20]>> He would have be sitting there having a cup of tea and a biscuit, nodding, smiling, but not necessarily joining in.

[00:32:29]>> Just looking at a vein in it there.

[00:32:31]I think if he was born now, he probably will be diagnosed with ashberers.

[00:32:38]And his mom was very controlling and wanted to keep Michael and he had very little chance to escape.

[00:32:50]>> So, who's home with you?

[00:32:52]>> Nobody.

[00:32:54]>> I don't think he ever had a girlfriend.

[00:32:57]And he would have made a great husband and a father with a bossy wife telling him what to do.

[00:33:04]>> Can I get you anything else?

[00:33:06]>> No, it's all right.

[00:33:07]>> Okay. I think the doctors are just discussing what the next step is. All right.

[00:33:16]>> So, you may have got another and infected. If you want to arrive at a place with a patient where you can help them forward, whichever direction forward might be, you've got to have all the cards on the table. So, I want to know what he knows and I want to know what his expectations are. So, you've got to have a bit of a dialogue.

[00:33:34]>> So, Michael, um, what understanding do you have of of your medical condition?

[00:33:41]>> Well, I've got cancer.

[00:33:43]>> Yeah.

[00:33:43]>> It's not going to go away.

[00:33:45]>> Have you noticed any new symptoms with your breathing at all?

[00:33:48]Yeah, it seems to be getting worse.

[00:33:50]>> It has over what kind of time frame?

[00:33:54]>> Is it something that's had happened suddenly over the last couple of days or is it more kind of a gradual deterioration?

[00:33:59]>> Suddenly we get a bit worse.

[00:34:02]>> It's been getting a bit worse just just in the last few days.

[00:34:05]>> Yeah.

[00:34:07]>> It sounds like what you've been describing to me is, you know, you have kind of gone downhill a little bit because >> you're less steady on your feet. Um you're a bit more shorter to puff than you >> than you were. So >> living alone, you know, adds that extra >> extra level of kind of difficulty, doesn't it? You know, >> look, today we'll treat what we find as we go and uh >> try to get you feeling a bit better.

[00:34:33]>> I think we got a chest X-ray planned for you.

[00:34:37]>> I don't know whether working in this environment makes you think a lot more about your own mortality. I find myself often thinking about life and where it's going and and what I got to squeeze out of it. But when you do see people at the end of their lives, I guess you've just got that message nailed home time and time again.

[00:35:12]Mom Cheryl now has two sons who've arrived separately in A&E with severe breathing difficulties.

[00:35:19]>> I had both of them in my head at the same time. It's like what one do you stay with?

[00:35:26]>> But yeah, it was like really hard.

[00:35:30]You're just worrying about the pair of them at the same time.

[00:35:34]>> What in recess? Do >> you mean he's in recess? As I was coming in, the nurse was coming past me and that was it. She got him to control Teresa.

[00:35:43]>> Okay. Go back there.

[00:35:46]>> Mom, can I come with you?

[00:35:48]>> No. Why?

[00:35:50]>> Funny is really, really not well, sweetheart.

[00:35:53]>> It's the house.

[00:35:54]>> Okay. You seem a lot better though, don't you?

[00:35:59]>> Yeah.

[00:36:00]>> But mom, I still got >> Yeah, I know.

[00:36:09]Where's mommy going to get Santa?

[00:36:12]>> Where is he? Around the corner.

[00:36:14]>> What corner?

[00:36:19]>> 9-year-old Santa's breathing is still not under control. Despite having no history of the condition, doctors think he's suffering a severe asthma attack.

[00:36:29]Asthma is a lung condition and basically the linings of the tubes in the lung become inflamed and irritated and cause spasm in the muscles.

[00:36:41]Tragically, we've lost two asthmatics in the last 3 years. So, teenagers.

[00:36:51]>> You all right, Mom?

[00:36:53]>> It's okay. He's in the right place getting what he needs.

[00:36:58]Yeah.

[00:37:00]>> I know. It's been a rough night for everyone, hasn't it?

[00:37:03]>> Yeah.

[00:37:06]Do you want to take a walk? We'll be here.

[00:37:12]>> Yeah. Sugar.

[00:37:20]>> Hello.

[00:37:22]Um, you K, you're not going to believe what's happened to me. So Dylan's getting better. It's Dylan. Yeah, I get a phone call from Cibel. Sun can't breathe. Kyler is in recess.

[00:37:37]Um he's on oxygen at the moment. Now they're going to um stick a line in so that they can give him medicine through the vein and everything. They've already given him four nebulizers and he's he's not calming down.

[00:37:58]Is it a long way?

[00:38:00]>> Uh, at the moment about 2 hours. Yeah.

[00:38:03]>> 2 hours.

[00:38:04]>> Yeah.

[00:38:05]>> This is a joke. I'm here now. Over an hour.

[00:38:10]>> How long did she say it be over? Waiting 2 hours. Is it?

[00:38:13]>> Mhm.

[00:38:14]>> You'll be here for about 3 or 4. Yeah.

[00:38:16]>> Oh, no. It can't be that. It can't be that bad. It can't be that many.

[00:38:21]>> It's all free. You can't complain.

[00:38:23]>> Exactly. There's more sicker P patients in here than us.

[00:38:28]>> Well, there's nothing wrong with me.

[00:38:33]>> I don't know about that, Mike.

[00:38:36]Oh, stop petting me. when I laugh.

[00:38:52]After nearly 2 hours in recess, 9-year-old Santa has started breathing more normally.

[00:38:58]He's well enough to join his younger brother Dylan in pediatrics.

[00:39:04]We don't have bunk beds, but we can have beds next to each other.

[00:39:10]>> You right, Bubba.

[00:39:11]>> All I want for him is to have a happy life, to have happy family, lots of love.

[00:39:21]>> You got matching ones.

[00:39:26]He really enjoys playing football. I think that football has given him confidence.

[00:39:33]um the ability to believe in himself.

[00:39:37]>> He's coming out of his shell a lot more.

[00:39:40]>> I do worry asthma might have an impact though.

[00:39:44]The fear of son having another asthma attack will always be there regardless of whether he's in primary school, secondary school, or whether he's grown up with his own children. You're >> welcome.

[00:39:57]>> Yeah. I just take every day as it comes.

[00:40:07]72year-old Michael has had a chest X-ray to see to what extent his lung cancer has worsened.

[00:40:15]He had a big problem in his right chest and he had a lot of fluid on that side of his chest and it just where there should have been nice big kind of black airated lung there was a whole lot of white nastiness in the right side of his chest and uh you know it's uh it's not pretty.

[00:40:33]>> A specialist paliotative care nurse is arriving to help manage Michael's treatment and comfort.

[00:40:40]We hoped that he would get better um and overcome the pneumonia, but I think when I saw him and met him, it became quite obvious to me how sick he was.

[00:40:57]I've looked after a lot of people who were dying.

[00:41:00]I've seen a lot of people die.

[00:41:05]I think people often have a perception like it is in the movies um of somebody just falling to sleep and it's all beautiful.

[00:41:15]It's not always like that.

[00:41:18]>> I've been talking with the doctors and obviously you've got a pneumonia on top of an already >> poor chest really.

[00:41:27]>> And what they're trying to do is give you antibiotics to try and address the pneumonia. Right.

[00:41:33]>> But obviously you're feeling quite poorly even in spite of them.

[00:41:37]>> I know.

[00:41:39]>> So I think we don't know is the answer, but we're hoping to give you a good run of antibiotics.

[00:41:44]>> Yeah.

[00:41:45]>> But we think we have to take each day as it comes.

[00:41:48]>> Yes.

[00:41:49]>> Yes.

[00:41:50]>> Can I just ask? It might be a difficult thing to think about, >> but obviously you've been having thoughts ruminating in your head.

[00:41:59]>> I think if things weren't going the right way, And you weren't getting much better.

[00:42:04]>> No.

[00:42:06]>> We don't really think it would be appropriate to try anything heroic.

[00:42:10]>> No.

[00:42:10]>> To bring you back.

[00:42:12]>> No.

[00:42:13]Anything goes wrong, leave it.

[00:42:15]>> Okay.

[00:42:16]>> Let me go.

[00:42:17]>> All right.

[00:42:19]>> Okay.

[00:42:21]All right.

[00:42:25]>> I suppose realize that you can only do so much. And if you've made a difference to help somebody who die well, then it's been a good day.

[00:42:50]>> Oh, there's a camera.

[00:42:53]Hate the camera.

[00:42:57]But I hate having my asthma pumps and that.

[00:43:07]>> I use the brown one at um every morning.

[00:43:11]The blue ones when I've run out of breath and that.

[00:43:34]I'm thankful I'm here every day. The sun comes out and I look out and I think you're a very lucky person.

[00:43:46]I do.

[00:44:01]He was always a little worry in the background.

[00:44:05]How's Michael?

[00:44:07]Have I found him recently? Miss it.

[00:44:10]Yeah. But he will still always be talked about. Every time there's family gathering, he will be talked about.

[00:44:23]I'll remember Michael that he was so brave.

[00:44:30]He died comfortably.

[00:44:35]So, I'm glad that that happened and that he died well.

[00:44:43]So yeah, I'll remember that.