I’m sitting in the new Spencer Fleischer Memorial Sanctuary as I’m typing the last blog of 2024. There is a wonderful sense of peace and beauty here, and I think if I have to describe this year, it might be those two words: peace and beauty. My generation loves to put things in neat little boxes, tidy diagnoses and orderly lables, but we all know it seldom works like that. However, if I had to try, the overwhelming feeling for me about 2024 was that it was beautiful and even though it was incredibly hard, one gets a sense of peace when things are right.
If you read last week’s blog you will know that in January we started off with a literal bang (thunder bolts at our launch) with Zazen, but there were many other milestones reached too. We welcomed Lizette to our lodge, and it has been quite incredible to see how she has improved. We had no idea how it would feel for her to be moved away from her family and loved ones, but she has blossomed with the extra social interaction, spending time outside daily and exploring different ways, with the help of AI, to create and communicate.
We accommodated a young man, who after a terrible incident in the States, recovered physically but was left with debilitating aphasia (when the brain is damaged and the speech and language centre is affected). Gert was easy to love and friendly, but we could not understand a word he said. It was really hard for him because he was completely healthy physically, but spoke utter gibberish. Gert went to physio, OT, speech therapy and had a personal trainer. Through the months, he became part of our family and we were incredibly proud of him when he returned home after spending many months with us.
Our very special queen, Daphne, who was with us for 27 months, slipped away gently this winter, and we miss her every day. We had other deaths, from young moms in their thirties to our oldest patient, who passed away days before her 103rd birthday. We had the pleasure of looking after my own mom after a full hip replacement, and cared for many others who had joints upgraded and replaced. This year we saw a lot more surgical recoveries after cancerous tumours were removed, and had the honour of walking the road through chemo and other treatments with patients. Celebrating those remissions were wonderful, and accepting that sometimes treatments fail and caring for the same patient you already know and love throughout their end of life stages feels right too. We looked after patients who had heart attacks, strokes, neuro surgeries and sadly, quite a few traumas, the worst of which was a lovely set of twins who were brutally attacked with a hammer and left for dead. We were also inundated with overseas patients who either specifically sought out South Africa to receive treatment, or who were injured around or in sub-Saharan Africa.
This year we had more post-plastic surgery recoveries than ever before. We saw just about everything nipped and tucked, the most popular of all being the full mommy-make-over which includes a breast augmentation or lift, tummy tuck, liposuction, Brazilian bum lift and often, depending on the patient’s pre-surgery health, an inner thigh tuck and bingo-wing remover. Even though these surgeries are elective, the healing and pain is very real, and these patients often require more assistance and attention than others.
Apart from loving and caring for patients, we were extremely busy with building projects. We built a beautiful new fire pit, added new doors and many ramps, added additional parking, an extra gate onto Lilima Crescent, and we even added a whole additional room to the Plantation cottage. We also totally revamped the dining room at Sunninghill Guest Lodge. Of course, there were wonderful gardening projects, and I especially had a lot of fun when one of our palliative patients wanted her clivias from home to be near her, and we were only too happy to let them come and live in our gardens.
We have had many new experiences working and getting to know professionals in other fields, working closely with a group of passionate, committed people with an urgent sense of making this world a better place. I attended the breast cancer think tank with some incredible speakers, and we attended many of training sessions across the board, from CPR, to pressure sore training, to mobilizing bedbound patients to mention just a few.
We also had the wonderful Zazen fun run on world international hospice and palliative care day on 12 October, where we raised enough funds to support five uninusured patients through their end-of-life stage. Working with our community was such a success that this will now be an annual event.
We’ve had to dismiss some staff. Some left of their own accord, but we also welcomed new and wonderful staff members to our team. The introduction of staff meals meant us all sitting together twice a day which adds to our sense of family and overall feeling of belonging. Compulsory sessions for all staff with a social worker every month ensures we deal with the loss and hurt we witness daily. My biggest joy, without a doubt, is the staff and how they serve with humour and humility.
Next year will undoubtedly be filled with new challenges and opportunities and I cannot wait to start 2025 with my special tribe.