Put the week behind you with this ‘completely brilliant and lovely’ doctor’s story
21.
She got worse after that
No-one knew if she’d get better
Randomly, the Queen appeared to open a new part of Raigmore. She met mum in ICU pic.twitter.com/wAXq7BCnJV
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
22.
The Queen stayed a few minutes. Her lady-in-waiting stayed longer, to get the whole story
My aunt took me to the harbour to see Brittania pic.twitter.com/AoDlTNZAEL
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
23.
After Brittania, we went to the toy shop so I could get my sister something from me, to help her get well.
I chose this pic.twitter.com/9WKVRO9e2r
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
24.
(How it was a surprise to *anyone* in my family when I eventually came out remains a mystery to me …
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
25.
Slowly, my sister got better.
Extubated.
Transferred to the paediatric ward (I was more welcome there! Toyroom!)
Eventually, home!
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
26.
Amongst it all, I remember the doctors and nurses
Paediatricians. Anaesthetists.
They were calm, friendly and amazing.
And they saved her
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
27.
Before she went home, the next Transformers issue came out: the girl survived too!
(Tho’ she did get transformed into a cyborg. Comics, eh) pic.twitter.com/oW3bBodAT4
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
28.
At the end, I knew two things:
I wanted to be a doctor, a paediatrician. I wanted to help people like they helped her.
And comics were ACE
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
29.
I don’t think I wavered after that, not really.
I wanted to be an astronaut too … but if I was, I wanted to be Bones McCoy. pic.twitter.com/XJWt7oTjZz
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
30.
Transformers led to Secret Wars, and Secret Wars II and then, then, the X-Men. Difficult to over-estimate how much those stories meant pic.twitter.com/9rNQjp64XD
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
31.
I learnt medical lessons I’ve never forgotten:
Never ignore a parent’s instinct
Mum has never forgiven the GP who told her it was a cold
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
32.
I worked in acute paeds for 11 years, over a year in PICU.
I saw kids with epiglottitis again but always, always, the image is my sister…
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
33.
…the absolute textbook epitome of a disease now vanishing into memory, inching towards death on the back seat of our car
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
34.
(Epiglottitis is mainly caused by Haemophilus influenzae B; we now vaccinate against. HiB nearly killed my sister twice. Vaccines save kids)
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
35.
But, most of all, that moment in ED, when the world both paused and everything happened at once, as my sister arrested, is seared in my mind
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
36.
As a paediatrician it was, eventually, my privilege to be there for other kids the way those doctors were there for my sister 32 years ago
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
37.
So, the second week of August marks all of that for me: medicine, comics, how lives change in a moment and how strangers can save everything
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
38.
So, despite all the politics, the difficulties we face in @nhs, that’s why I’m still very proud to be a doctor. Cos they changed my world
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
39.
My baby sister all grown up @lalalinz pic.twitter.com/liclqXH6lV
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 9, 2017
40.
Comics and medicine go well together!
My Comic-Reader’s Guide to Being a New Doctorhttps://t.co/XPjPEeRkus#TipsForNewDocs pic.twitter.com/yxoagtQnkQ
— Mike (@thefourthcraw) August 11, 2017