Family, Trauma, & Healing - 24 Hours in A&E - Medical Documentary

the world might feel a bit more chaotic  and a bit more divided [Music] it's easy to forget sometimes that there are constants  your home still your home your family's still your family and all the structures of our society  are still there to look after you if you need it here we go adult male code red trauma 10 minutes  there's been an explosion on a building site heart rate 200. Open Your Eyes Open Your Eyes imagine  having to work here hello Annie can I help St George's London it's all gonna

kick off now one of  Britain's busiest a e departments yeah we're ready to roll carry on CPI it's me it's all happening  isn't it let's fix that or if you won't survive what is it oh a place where life would you say  I was fit doctor honestly I think I'm quite fit love you are my everything I love you and it's  okay and loss oh mum awesome story unfold every single day for every bad thing that you see  there is something equally wonderful out there filmed across one 24-hour period these are the

  stories of a nation and it's Health Service you thought I was gonna die you're definitely  not going to die you've got too many good doctors and nurses here when people experience  really significant illness or injuries we see people pull together we see relationships get  stronger and we see people reflect on what really is the most important things in their life  whatever happens it's going to be okay [Music] growing up I'd always felt  very protected by my mum there were a lot of circumstan

ces that  life threw at us but we always knew that Mum would would make the right decision and  everything would be fine because mum was there she protected us from the outside world but she has had a very very difficult life [Music] hello Georges [Music] [Applause] yeah lovely how long Don't Spray um an 82 year old woman is being rushed  to some George's after she fell and sustained an open fracture that's all we  know is it's an open tid FIB yeah okay consultant Melissa is preparing the trauma

team  for the patient's arrival so an open fracture sometimes called an auditor as well is basically  there's a wound and sometimes it means there's bones sticking out but if it's both bones that  hold up your lower leg that are broken then it's going to be more complicated to fix it's gonna  mean it's harder to get you to walk on it again the patient's daughter is  traveling with her in the ambulance a husband had a fall she was out with  a dog in the middle of a big field is quite bad he said

there's blood and when I arrived on the scene  my stomach absolutely flipped hello guys so this is Susan Susan's 82 years old  so at around quarter to 11 this morning Susan had a mechanical four while she was out walking  her dog she fell in a puddle tried to get up and noticed sort of pain in her left ankle very  obvious open tip FIB approximately 50 mil blood loss on scene she's got slightly delayed Capri  for four seconds but she can move it she can feel it when we touch it let's get her int

o a  gown and can we just get profile gown blankets Bear Hugger as well she's clearly cold and get  a temperature let's do that as a priority time I'm rewinding the orthopedic doctors I'll just  going to examine you okay if there is anything that is hurting just tell me okay no Tenors over  the chest well can you take a deep breath in good good chest expansion equal bilateral no signs of  surgical emphysema can you lift off your right leg good good good do we have scissors yeah [Music] that's no

t nice [Music] you're not allergic to anything no you're  fine with Penicillin okay lovely we didn't have a little look your ankle and more  painkillers are on the way all right sorry can you not do anything  else until we get some pen clocks Susan I've got some painkillers for you just use it whenever you're in pain okay yeah I couldn't imagine how an old lady  of 82 I just couldn't imagine how she would come back from that they're not  going to be able to repair that they're probably going to

end up having  to having to amputate her foot foreign is get that ankle just in a better position  have you seen it it's obviously a very nasty break yeah it was pretty nasty I'm sorry  82 year old Susan has sustained an open fracture after falling while walking her dog  I think she's going to need something a bit more than the pen prox why don't we just drop  some Kettle in there no it works for me just impact them in yeah thanks we get 220. have  you got any questions at the moment fine okay d

octors must now attempt to reset Susan's  fractured ankle it's going to give you some medication to make you sleepy now okay we've  got all the kit we need for plaster from the airway perspective we're pre-oxygenating  her now which is yeah we're using ketamine [Music] location we want to get that leg in a better  position straight away well done they're just pulling your ankle out you're doing  really well done slow down season [Music] it's only a temporary move but the sooner  it's in a normal

position the lower the risk of complications so even a little cut  in our skin can be dangerous and certainly if your bone gets bacterial infection and that  can be very very serious even life-threatening Susan how are you doing you  okay still pretty sleepy Susan's daughter Megan has  arrived in recess yes I am Hi how are you feeling very true they put they  put you a lot of drugs so they could straighten your ankle bones out my mum was born in 1937.  we grew up in Cape Town went to a Convent

School she was taught all her subjects  by the same two or three nuns growing up that she didn't have much South  Africa you know it's not it's not a welfare state but she went to Technical College  to do a secretarial course the idea was you you learned shorthand typing  and then you've got a secretarial job until somebody married you mum was very beautiful  but by her account she was quite awkward so I think she was very taken aback  when my dad showed an interest in her particularly as he was

such a sort of fast  talking smooth talking happening kind of guy fairly soon after their marriage  my dad was sliding into alcoholism so I think things were Rocky even before I was  born you're gonna go and have a scan so they can look at the bones and see how bad the break is to  see if you need one plaster or two yeah [Music] when I was about six my dad he moved out and  left my mum alone with us three three kids she had a phone call and just said he sold  the house and we've all got to move

out that's been pretty awful for my mum yeah  everything's fine yeah just relax we stayed in my mum's neighbor's Back Garden in this Caravan and  that was probably the best year of her adult life one time when my aunt visited and she  brought us a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket that was like a really really phenomenal  amazing once in a lifetime treat for us and at that time she'd met my stepfather I think we were all for it I think  was an exciting development and it was going to be good and in

itially it really was [Music] opportunity to your takeaway when we get  back let's try that new Chinese place sometimes it's easier just can't say no to the  Bible free yeah I know it is just such a good deal we can do the hot one's really nice look  at that yeah the chili ones yeah the hot one yeah it's all good vegetable hot  pepper almost a bit forward to now this day is suddenly turned around [Music] okay [Music] why don't we text each other you know  I'm texting my friends oh that's a disma

l 14 year old Tilly has been brought to a e  by her mum Shelley after injuring her ankle it doesn't make me feel ill it's  not working I mean it doesn't go that way don't do it then if it  doesn't go don't try and force it just let them do all the poking about him  I don't want people poking my things chili Tilly coming hi Chilli hi sorry hi come in come in thank you it  takes a little bit longer at the moment no worries right silly my name's I'm  one of the children's doctors pleased to meet yo

u who have you got with you  today mum right okay so what's the story what's happened um I was doing gymnastics yesterday and I  went over to the Vault and like landed with the on my ankle it's like swollen and hurt what happened  to your ankle oh you did it go underneath it it went like that like bent around but you're walking  on it right yeah but I can't walk like quite normally okay A bit twisted yeah generally very  healthy good and who do you live with at home um Tilly is my firstborn she

came out all tiny  and long and noisy Lisa and my partner had Tilly biologically um but as I always say I  held her first therefore She's Mine [Music] um no I met Lisa at work in 2001 she came to work  at the hospital I was working in they do say don't they that people meet their future Partners  at work it's true and any medical problems allergic to anything on one of our first  dates we were walking down the road and our spider walked across in front of me and I am  terrified of spiders and Li

sa picked it up and started talking to it and I thought this one's a  keeper so let's have a good look at your Good Foot swirling around here do you I can remember being a teenager  and thinking I never would have want to have kids when I when I came  out to my mum because that's what we were supposed to do in the sort of 90s you  had to come out she cried and I think that was because she didn't think that she'd have  grandchildren and I think that was quite a sorrow for her probably um and mayb

e I thought  that as well kind of hurt is it when you stretch like that I think I knew that Lisa wanted to  have children and it made me seriously consider whether or not I did and it isn't something  that just sort of randomly happens to you good no tenderness in there no nothing down here  nice oh yeah a little bit like here when we first found out she was pregnant we were just Overjoyed  absolutely Overjoyed did you stand up for me just take it take a few steps and you're  when you're burstin

g you want to tell everyone that you're having a baby and they don't  necessarily react in the way that you're expecting and they start wondering in your head how  did that happen good let's get that x-rayed when Lisa was pregnant I used to spend a lot  of time playing music to bump and we bought a stethoscope so I could listen but for me when  you're sitting there you're on the side of it you just sort of feel a little bit left out  unintentionally to all intents and purposes you're about as us

eful as a man good good right so  let's get you to x-ray do you know where it is no and I knew that I wanted to have a baby as well [Music] [Music] why are they all in there like  we try this is why we can't have nice things because people ruin  them these go in the top drawer I don't know oh this is first this is  stressing me out wrong yeah I sort it the judges [Music] all right thank you bye turbo is called ETA 10 minutes an 86 year old man is being rushed to some  George's after having a sus

pected stroke hello can I preserve the adult trauma team to any racist  [Music] leading the case is stroke doctor shuya stroke needs specialist to team because it's  a condition that needed to be recognized very quickly it can be life-threatening the man's  daughter is on her way to the hospital to get a call in the afternoon from my mum I knew it was  serious and she said to rush [Applause] [Music] my father had to fall and he couldn't move his right arm and she said to me I think  he's had a s

troke but I don't know [Music] on the way to the hospital I was praying  to God I was thinking please let him be okay thank you [Music] I'm making anything oh nice to meet you so this  is the replay yesterday he's had another fall today and his speech seems to be quite slow but he  does have a new bumps on the back of his head okay [Music] yeah okay [Music] you lifted this arm  up yeah keep it up [Music] the right arm and your right leg reach yeah  do you know that we're going to scan now it is

quite important to do  the brain scum without delay it will tell us if it is our stroke whether  the patient is a candidate for surgery or not could imagine my life without my  father I loved my father very much and the thought I've never seen him again is a pain you have to learn to cope with thank you foreign do you have any allergies at all sir 86 year old felipo is being given an urgent  CT scan doctors suspect he may have suffered a life-threatening stroke [Music] my father's early  life he

lived in Sicily it was hard working there he just used to live just on the Farmland  selling whatever fruits they had [Music] but not enough crops to feed the whole family  so he came over here to start a better life and to help his family back at home in Sicily  so I think we just need a CMT plain CT okay he loved his poker with his friends  around the table bottle of whiskey or loved him he used to walk into  the room and always crack a smile crack a joke he was like the star of  every show e

verywhere he went [Music] first but my mum that she was beautiful and he  knew he wanted to marry her and she was the one They Came From Italy with just a suitcase between  them to start their journey together in life he didn't know anybody he had to make  friends but he managed they managed together he purchased his first ice cream van and my mother  also a year later purchased her ice cream van and my mother's one was called Mrs  whippy and my father was called Mr Softee I had all the friends

[Music] we're a very close family which made what happened pretty hard to deal  with very still sir don't move your head [Music] if it is bleeding in the brain it  will show a big white blob of Blood on the scan it is very easy to see  foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] chest and pelvic x-ray Susan is  being sent for an x-ray to assess the extent of her fracture after  she fell while walking her dog [Music] take a deep breath in hold  and breathe out well done I do remember as a sort of

seven-year-old  pushing on for eight really really loving life mum had met my stepfather and I think we liked  him a lot initially I suggested to be as it yeah he had very much two personas so when he was  socializing or when there were other people there um he was very very jovial and he laughed a lot  and so on but then he had a really really nasty sort of way about him he'd be very negative  all the time and also very controlling of her most evenings he would start drinking and  that was when

things started to be really bad how to move your hands up onto your chest  for me okay well done it was always just a slight person of of possibility  of um that there might be violence and one night he he was drunk and he threw  my mother out into the rain and he said get out and take your filthy brats with you okay  sorry about that we're all finished x-rays and that was the one of the few  times I ever saw her cry [Music] okay okay back in how you feeling oh yeah yeah I used to feel sort of

sorry for her that  she had to like live with that and you know sort of share a room with him and share a bed with  him and you know that was that was her life and he was her life partner I think she was just  doing the best she could at the time I think looking back now she says she wishes that she'd  left but she didn't have a lot of options [Music] hello hi you've got a nasty ankle  Break um and it looked horrible it's pretty horrible but the orthopedic team  have come and they've put it back

into alignment which is which is good we've taken some x-rays  but they are going to need to operate on you at that moment I could have had any wish it  would have been for us to be able to leave and go back to how things were [Music] [Music] do you remember that thing where they're feeding  people dogs milk and they thought it was lovely why a cow as well donkey that's on key to get donkey milk I'm sure you  can and you can get any milk can't you it'd make more sense to have like eight milk or

like monkey  milk because they're closer to humans than a cow [Music] it's a more interesting news please carry them for you your shoes is thank you  I think I should just hop yeah you just hope [Music] Tilly has been given an x-ray  after injuring her ankle beautiful yeah but it doesn't hurt [Music]  cause more when it's up don't sell this side and you can lean it on ladies  uncomfortable okay so feisty independent on [Music] So Posh no [Music] so today was born in May 2005. but I knew that I

wanted to give birth as well  it was important to me I hadn't really realized perhaps how important it would be and  yeah I really really loved being pregnant I'll bring your shoes back again  keep coming Edie was born in December I gave birth here um so in this house Edie likes  to say I was born into the Christmas tree and she was so every year we have to have the Christmas  tree up and ready by the 16th because that's the day she was born underneath it so x-rays  fine so that is your two two

bones in your leg all right this is the one that comes all the  way down you see that bump there that's you bump out your ankle now you all tender up out  there right yeah so as you can see that is not a crack that's actually called your growth  plate that's where your bones grow from and I don't think there's any any problem with that  some people do struggle to well you've got two mums that when the kids were little they'd sort  of come home and say oh such and said how can you have two mums y

ou can't have two mums I'd be  but you do and she go oh yeah generally not kids that have a problem understanding relationships  fine any questions should we put one of those on no we've got we went away from that a long  time ago yeah fell out a favor fill that favor a long time ago okay we have very Frank open  conversations about what makes our family up why our families like that in terms of getting  a bail in terms of getting about so you're able to put you're able to walk but what I would

do  is minimize how much you're actually how much you're doing in a day for the first few days  at least and just wear comfortable trainers I asked myself that question quite a lot what  does it mean to me to be a good mum you know not somebody else because I can't be somebody else's  version of a good mum I only mine thank you very much take care cheers bye all kids really want is  to feel loved cared for understood um considered and any gender can do that cheers doctors have now received the 

full report from felipo's CT scan revealing a significant  bleed on the brain [Music] daughters Maria and Connie and daughter-in-law  Lisa are waiting in the relatives room [Music] is on the left side and it is right yeah  it's quite tall he has had Australia yeah so they'll be definitely restraining yes yeah [Music] he's a bit sick okay no they have to look out walking for what if you fall down again in the  night and really hurt yourself [Music] um [Music] [Music] yes my father was very happy

when I got married we had our first dance together it was an  Italian traditional song and my father cried and he literally could not stop crying  with joy okay a little bit oh thank you oh I remember telling my father I was pregnant  and he didn't believe me at first and then I said no Dad I really really am and he was over the moon  the first granddaughter which he spoiled very much my father was happy when he when he  found out that I was pregnant again the excitement that you're waiting for 

the baby you've got everything ready I had already bought an outfit knowing that his  name was going to be Antonio [Music] I wanted it to be a surprise he doesn't realize that he can't  he's had Australia he doesn't it will take away at dead or nine months couldn't  feel him move any more in the evening in the evening I woke up in  the morning he still wasn't moving my son had no more fluid around him  and compressed his own umbilical cord in the end he suffocated and died but I had to give bir

th knowing that I  was given birth to a dead child [Music] I felt as if I'd been shot and left this big hole because you carry life for nine months he  filled them growing you feel them kicking it looks like he's just falling on one side um [Music] my father very hard [Music] he was absolutely beside himself my father just comforted me  as much as possible he stayed with me [Music] and there was times that he couldn't speak about  it because the memories just made him more upset other than your

ankle did you have any pain  anywhere else no and your everything else feels all right okay perfect she was feeling  very nauseous a couple of waves of nausea the three-year-old Susan has sustained  a major fracture to her ankle doctors are preparing her for emergency  surgery hello I am the orthopedic or the bone doctor there is a break in the bone and it  needs fixation and such an operation the first risk is the risk of infection and because you  have a wound already so the risk of infections

is a little bit higher okay the other risk is  the risk of that the bones do not heal okay any questions for me I know I'll  go double check with the theaters make sure everything is ready and we'll  call her anytime soon okay okay [Music] I would have done almost anything to get away from  my whole sort of Home situation with my stepfather I just thought I want to I want to get away  so I left South Africa and I was then able to get United Kingdom citizenship but  you have to stay here tonight

yeah do a surgery like that and  then let you go straight home it didn't look like awesome um I think that year of me going it just made  her sort of think about her own freedom so she broke free from my stepfather and left him were you supposed to be doing anything  tonight is anybody going to be waiting for you to come and play Scrabble that  was the last night and tomorrow nothing many many years later she'd made the move out here it was really really good having my mum in  the UK I was you

know a mother and you know with with two children and to you know get to  know her again as my mother and as grandmother to to my daughters was um yeah that was that  was really good you're probably gonna have to come and stay with us for a bit Molly's  gonna have to tidy out her room [Music] be on your own otherwise I  could come and stay with you my mum means a lot to me we're really close  [Music] we talk about everything I know she's always going to be there to support me I know  that I need

to always be there to support her and it makes me happy that she lives such  a sort of a happy and independent life ready up in theaters all right  we're going to get you upstairs get that leg sorted as soon as we can  all right okay bye oh you feel cold yeah okay so I'll find you in the when you're  in the ward okay okay okay okay sorry have fun [Music] yeah he's definitely had a stroke he can't  move his right side at all his leg or his arm so he does he doesn't want to say he  wants to go ho

me but he doesn't realize that had a stroke can you lift  your arms lift your arms up after suffering a serious stroke earlier today  doctors are assessing whether he may need surgery I'll take you out you'll try my father was worried when I  got pregnant the third time because he was worried for me knowing  that I'd lost my son his grandson but Claudia was born a year later bang on  Antonio's anniversary same time same place I have Claudia it helped his grieving process knowing  that he felt th

at God had taken one child and then replaced with another [Music]  and that she was healthy he was happy I think phillipa can I have a listen of your  heart and the chest yes yes good thank you sounds all right so I just spoke to the surgeon you don't think so she's  going to be a candidate he's not factors like how old the patient is and that will  tell us how likely they're going to recover from surgery if someone is already quite frail then  they may not survive the general anesthetic and it'

s always very hard to accept the fact  you know that you can't help the patient is that because of his heart piano so with the Warframe that you're going to  reverse and that will reduce the bleeding on the brain yeah so you just get the  blood back to normal thickness very quickly so hopefully and that will drain it  from from I mean that he'll be able to walk you know really depending on how we recover  but his age is very much against him my dad lived his life to the full we'd go to  weddings

and he'd be the first one up dancing not even the bride and groom you've got up here  ah shut up you used to say so I get up I dance I love a dance I love a life you know he was very  much such full of life [Music] the last medication to take you up to the world I'm not that but you have a  more comfortable idea [Music] why we're not that bad love him yes [Music] yeah Filippo will now be  transferred to an acute stroke unit where doctors can continue to monitor him [Music] my biggest fear in yo

u know a major event like  that in somebody of her age was that it would sort of precipitate like a sort of a downward  slide and and a loss of her independence [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] life I made some very bad choices I  think things are so much Freer now I would say it's very important to have  family around especially when you're older when the children were smaller I helped  a lot but I think now it's swung quite severely in the other way because  she has helped me a lot through it [

Music] I just thought it's going to be a long  road to recovery it's gonna be hard it's gonna be difficult and we're going to need  to make lots of changes to accommodate him remember at the hospital my father said to  me please take me home I don't want to stay I said Dad I can't do that and he said  no please take me home I feel bad because he wanted to come home [Music] the nurses said they were preparing my  father and getting ready for the night and then we could hear the alarm Bell springi

ng and we saw the nurses running and they ran  right past us went into my father's room so he ran to the room I was with him when he passed I was with him when he took his last breath and I'm glad I was there to tell him how  much we all loved him tell him that all his grandchildren are here I mentioned them  all and I wanted him to pass knowing that people were here [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music]