But it’s never been highlighted to me more than since getting ill – even nearly costing my life on several occasions. There was a desperate scrabble to get someone in the intensive care unit to administer fluids. Three months I was there, and the only nurse able to flush it was a bank nurse – once. This issue needs addressing, as there are many other seriously ill patients like me. You never switch off from being a nurse, even when ill, and it scares me what I have seen and experienced.