Maggie McGinley has been in hospital in Galway since April 2012. She is in a wheelchair and has a rare bone condition which has led to three separate amputations. She can’t leave as she is waiting for essential work to be carried out on her home to make it safe.
WHERE DO I start? It should be easy to write about what it’s like to be in hospital since I’ve been in here over 1,000 days.
I first came in on April 21 2012 under the advice of my GP. It was a Friday, I remember my brother dropping my mam and me down.
Twenty eight hours later I got a bed and that has been it, except for two trips to St James in 2014 and 2015 for five days each.
I can get out for hours at a time during the week and for special occasions, it depends on how I feel but it’s not for long and never overnight.
No matter what day of year it is, it always starts and finishes in hospital.
I would love to wake up without hearing drip machines or doctors outside my door. I’d love to go to sleep when I want and play music without worrying if I’m annoying anyone, just little things.
It would be nice to eat in a separate room from where I sleep. It would be nice to have friends over. I miss my life outside of here and no matter how I try it’s never the same.
I feel like I’m not living life to its full capacity and I need to occupy myself or it gets to me. I’m saving at the minute to do a Tefl course.
I’m lucky with the staff. They are nice and make my stay bearable. They’ve gotten to know my ways and they try their best to accommodate my stay.
I decorate the room, probably not to everyone’s taste but it makes it feel more homely. But it’s not home.
This year has been the toughest as I’m facing my fourth of everything; four summers and now four birthdays.
I was 31 when I was admitted, in November I’ll be 35 and I’ve spent all that time feeling like I’m wasting my life.
I have now spent three Christmases in hospital. I try to bring Christmas to me. I hang up lights, get a micro tree, and hang a wreath at door. It isn’t even close as I have no way of being where I should be, which is with my family, but it helps.
I kinda wish santa would bring me my ultimate present of home. It’s like scrooge robbed Christmas for us as a family, even my mam doesn’t decorate like she used to as I’m not home.
The last time I slept a full night in my bed at home was April 20 2012. It feels like forever ago.
I miss candles, oh my god the smell of lemon lavender! It reminds me of my room.
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