My
name is Imi and I’m a second year student at Norland College in Bath. I want to
share my experience of being a higher education student with a feeding tube and
the journey I have been on.
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| Having to celebrate my birthday in hospital |
Going
to Norland College was always a dream of mine. I was on a beach with my closest
friends in Malawi when I discovered I had been offered a place. What I didn’t
know at the time would be that my amazing trip in Africa would turn out to be
my biggest regret.
Back
in October 2016 I was on my first placement at a nursery and I suddenly became
really poorly. After numerous GP appointments and hospital admissions and
having to pull out of my first placement, I found out that I had picked up a tropical
disease called Bilharzia or Schistosomiasis; a small snail that holds a
parasite and gets in to the host via water, for example through showers or
swimming. We had been told it was safe to swim, shower and wash our clothes in
the water but to drink bottled, so that’s exactly what we did.
By
that December I was admitted to Southampton Hospital for almost three weeks.
This is the first time I had ever heard of a feeding tube. I hadn’t been able
to eat for three weeks and had nearly lost three stone in weight since, so my
consultant decided I should have a nasogastric (NG) tube fitted to give me the
nutrition I had been deprived of for so long. All in all I had this for two of
the weeks I was in the hospital. Once I had celebrated my birthday in hospital
and helped decorate the ward for Christmas, they decided I was well enough to
go home with special drinks which would supplement food.
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| With my Norland friends |
Returning
back to Norland for our lectures was strange as I hadn’t seen my fellow
students for so long and hearing their stories from placements made it harder,
knowing I had missed out on such an important part of my training.
Our
placement team were very supportive and ensured I would be able to make up this
time elsewhere throughout my time at college. Their support during this period
was 24/7; calling me in hospital and checking in most days, no matter the time.
I
was optimistic and thought it was bound to be uphill from there, and that I
would be on the road to recovery. Putting it bluntly: I wasn’t! The rest of my
first year would be a mixture of happiness and hard times with more trips to
hospital and outpatient appointments to try to understand why I couldn’t keep
anything down. This caused me to be really tired and susceptible to picking any
bug going around, but I tried so hard to just keep going. This would’ve been
impossible if I didn’t have my close friends alongside me, Helen and Rachael,
and my amazing tutor too, all of whom have been there for me at every step.
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| With the Norland Choir, meeting Miriam Margolyes at the Osteoporosis Society Christmas concert |
Once
we broke up for the summer I used this time to give myself a break and time to recuperate
before my first nanny adventure abroad to Sicily. The main challenge was to
somehow pack all of my special drinks which I needed with me – 240 of them! This
was not cheap, and as the airline unfortunately didn’t class it as medication,
I had to pay £200 to include it. Thankfully it didn’t all have to fly back with
me!
Skipping
forward to September 2017, my consultant informed me that it wasn’t sustainable
for me to keep going as I couldn’t keep any fluid or food down. They therefore decided
to fit me with a nasojejunal (NJ) tube.
My
initial thought was that I wouldn’t be able to undertake my upcoming placements
and the children will be scared of me because I have a tube on my face. My
other thought was ‘how will the other Norland students react to this?’
When
I began to tell people, I was surrounded by love and countless hugs, which is
exactly what I needed. Once it had been fitted in Southampton, the next day I
returned back to Bath so I could go to Norland Choir practice. This is my way
of feeling normal in the world: singing with my friends and having a great
laugh whilst learning new music in preparation for numerous concerts that we
would be attending over the coming months.
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| Running the Great South Run |
Our
many classes at Norland are often classroom based, but Food and Nutrition isn’t.
Many fellow students were shocked that I didn’t find this a hard class to go
to. In fact, this was the one class I looked forward to each week. Having the Norland
College lecturers right behind me throughout everything has helped me to remain
on track with my academia.
I’ve
allowed nothing to stop me. Back in October 2017 I took part in the Great South
Run in Portsmouth to raise money for Southampton Hospital. Completely
underestimating myself mainly as I had done such little training, and finished
it in 2 hours 18 minutes.
If
you are hoping to come to Norland and have a medical problem or something you
think may set you back from a career as a Norland Nanny, I can honestly say
that I thought my medical condition would create a barrier to achieve this
degree with a difference. But it has only made me more and more determined as
the year has progressed!
I’ve
written this blog on a very cold day from Southampton Hospital whilst planning
my next assignment. Norland never is too far from my mind and I’m proud to be
part of it.
Imi Giles joined Norland in September 2016 and has written this blog for Feeding Tube Awareness Week. Visit our website for information about our degree with a difference.
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