Trevor Jacobs left QA rehab ward as he spent 11 months in the intensive care unit and 5 months in rehab totaling 494 days in hospital after getting Guirre Barre syndrome
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00:00 Bye-bye.
00:02 Bye-bye.
00:04 Take care.
00:06 Bye.
00:08 Bye.
00:10 [Applause]
00:31 My name's Trevor James.
00:33 My wife Mary.
00:34 And we're from Haddon.
00:36 And, um, as I say, this disease, Guillain-Barré, was...
00:40 I got up on the... was it the 9th of July, 2022?
00:46 Got up in the morning, but I couldn't stand up.
00:50 So I called downstairs, my son got an ambulance,
00:53 and went in the hospital with lots of tests,
00:55 and then they diagnosed Guillain-Barré.
00:58 Obviously, my legs stopped working,
01:00 then it went up to my waist,
01:02 and then they said they'd have to ventilate me
01:04 because tomorrow you won't be breathing,
01:06 because your lungs have stopped.
01:08 So then it went to my lungs,
01:10 and then they obviously ventilated me,
01:12 and I was unconscious for two months.
01:14 So, um, then woke up, and I couldn't move.
01:17 All your nerves die in the whole of your body.
01:21 So then they have to reform and re-come back again, so...
01:25 So that's what takes so long, to get the movement, so...
01:29 But I couldn't move for seven or eight months.
01:31 They're making it so it's stripping all the wires off of the...
01:34 - Of the electric cable. - Yeah.
01:36 And it instantly don't... can't...
01:38 - Guillain-Barré... - Was it the first time that you heard about...
01:41 Yeah, no, I've never heard of it.
01:43 There's been quite a few people,
01:45 about half a dozen people in the hospital
01:48 that have had it and got it out.
01:50 But they didn't have it as severe as Trev had it.
01:53 No. I don't do anything that asks.
01:56 So I was, you know...
01:59 I think the consultant said, "If this disease is ten, you're 12."
02:03 - Yeah. - So, but it was just one of those things, I think.
02:06 But they've been brilliant. The hospital were fantastic.
02:08 All the staff, the physios, just unbelievable.
02:12 You don't realise how good the NHS is until you're in it.
02:17 - You made it in the end. - And we went from intensive care for 11 months,
02:21 and I've just been in rehab for another five, six, five months, yeah.
02:27 Well, going to six this month, yeah.
02:30 So, and they said, "Well, you know, it's at the end of days."
02:34 We had a family meeting seven weeks ago.
02:36 They said, "We're going to try and get you out for then."
02:39 So I left some home help and that and keep on the physio.
02:43 I'm getting there, but I'll be able to walk slowly.
02:46 I'm walking in the hydro pool in the hospital.
02:50 - You're getting on. - But not on land yet.
02:52 I've just got a bit stronger in my legs.
02:54 So, as I say, it's been quite a journey as you...
02:58 - It's 496. - Oh, yeah.
03:01 I said, "Couldn't he stay in and make it to 500?"
03:04 - But he did now, in fact. - 494 days, yeah, in hospital, yeah.
03:08 But he's still got a long road, but we're getting there.
03:11 At least if you'd have seen him when he was to where he is now, a year ago, he...
03:15 Yeah, that's right, yeah.
03:18 But I'm getting there. It's just a little bit shorty.
03:21 So how does it feel to be coming home and to welcome?
03:25 I know that's all great, but it's apprehensive
03:28 because I feel like I've been institutionalised.
03:31 When you're in a hospital, you're surrounded by nurses, doctors, nice people.
03:36 - Someone there to help. - Not nice people, but they are lovely people.
03:39 - And you get... - Then you can have someone to meet and there's no one.
03:43 And it's very... I'll come home with my...
03:47 - The OT. - The OT and the physio.
03:50 And they looked round and they left me here in the kitchen there
03:54 while they looked around.
03:56 And I'm going, "God, quiet, sis," because when I was in intensive care
04:00 - there was bells ringing... - Machines going off.
04:02 All machines going off, people screaming and this,
04:05 and obviously in pain or whatever it was they were doing.
04:08 And there was so much noise, you know.
04:11 So I got used to that.
04:13 Then we went to the other side, it was the same way.
04:15 Not as bad, but in the rehab wards.
04:19 But, like you said, it's just completely different.
04:23 It's going to be weird tonight, sleeping in there so quiet.
04:27 It's going to be strange.
04:29 And I'm not sleeping in there with him, so I'm going,
04:31 "I'm spared the night nurse."
04:33 (APPLAUSE)
04:36 - Thank you. - Bye.
04:42 - Did someone open the door? - No, no, no.
04:45 I love you.
04:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]