Daily Record

If this does not have a good result, it has been a privilege to work with you all and a privilege to work at the Beatson

Frontline medic Pauline tells of her treatment ordeal

- BY VIVIENNE AITKEN Health Editor

A COURAGEOUS nurse sent her colleagues goodbye texts before she was placed on a ventilator with coronaviru­s.

The Daily Record told in March how Pauline McIlroy, a breast cancer nurse at the Beatson specialist cancer centre in Glasgow, collapsed with coronaviru­s at the clinic she runs.

In hospital, as her breathing deteriorat­ed, she was told she needed to be ventilated. But despite her poor health, she refused to allow the procedure to go ahead until she was able to speak to husband Ian, 60, and 23- year- old daughter Rhona.

She admitted: “I thought this might be the last phone call I may ever make to them.”

She was unable to get a hold of them at first, so she called her twin sister Jacqueline to tell her the news and ask her to track them down.

But as she waited, she sent WhatsApp messages to her breast team colleagues.

Pauline said: “Before I was ventilated, I sent messages to them saying if this doesn’t have a good result, it has been a privilege to work with you and a privilege to work at the Beatson.

“They all sent messages back saying, ‘Don’t think like that’ and ‘If anyone can do this, you can’. They have been fantastic at keeping in touch and there has also been an outpouring of support from my patients which has been very humbling.”

When Pauline spoke to Ian and Rhona, she didn’t say “goodbye” because she didn’t want to worry them.

She said: “It was early days of the virus in this country.

They knew it was serious because we were seeing stuff on the news about what was happening in Italy where people were being seriously ill and dying. But I didn’t say I was scared. I was just saying, ‘Don’t worry, it will be fine; it is just what I’m needing just now because I am finding it difficult to keep breathing’.”

The reality, however, was different. She said: “I was really struggling to take a breath. My oxygen saturation levels were in my boots. I knew it was serious but I trusted the staff that this was the right thing. They knew better than me. They told me my body needed to rest to be able to heal.

“Speaking to Jacqueline was hard. She said I would be OK but I told her, ‘ You need to prepare for the fact I might not be’.”

She added: “The actual ventilatio­n was quite hard. The anaestheti­st puts your head into a central position and tilts your neck right back to put the tube down your throat. He told me, ‘We need to do this very quickly’.

“After that I didn’t know anything until I was wakened 16 days later. The enormity of it hit me but in my head I knew it had to be done. I was trying to reassure myself this was OK.”

She is full of praise for the support of her work colleagues and for the care she received.

She said: “I can’t praise all the staff at the QEUH highly enough.”

When Pauline was brought round she had lost 12kg, was unable to talk or even swallow properly for about a week and her cognitive skills were amiss.

She said: “I was sending text messages which I thought made sense but were just gobbledego­ok. My brother wrote back asking when I learned to speak Russian.”

She needed to use a zimmer to go to the toilet at home for months after leaving hospital.

She still relies on Ian and Rhona to do almost everything for her.

And she is frustrated by those who do not want to abide by the rules.

She said: “I get that people are getting tired of he rules and not being able to go out, especially younger folk.

“But these folk who go on about not wearing masks are just nutters.”

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 ??  ?? PRAISE Pauline hailed staff who treated her, and, inset, the Beatson and our story
PRAISE Pauline hailed staff who treated her, and, inset, the Beatson and our story

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