Currently Reading: Bed Number Ten

"Sue Baier was the victim of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease often mistaken for polio and thought to be linked to swine flu shots - and one that while paralyzing every muscle in Sue's body, left her mentally alert and all too able to feel pain. This is her story - an inspiring account of one woman's struggle to overcome horrendous incapacity." (back leaf of book)

"The problem was becoming clearer to me. Intensive care was not a place for long-term patients. The staff was trained for the normal, specialized, life-support care of the critically ill. They were neither equipped nor prepared to handle a long-term, totally helpless patient. A wipe for a bath was acceptable for a day or two with a patient too sick to know or care. But regular baths, shampooing and tooth brushing were not part of the routine of this department. Fortunately, to some of them the everyday procedures represented a challenge readily accepted - when time permitted." (pg 70)