For seven long months, Mackay Base Hospital cleaner Lenore Dobbie was on the other side of healthcare.
Last week she finally returned to the workplace where she has spent the last 12 years and was greeted by banners, flowers, morning tea and some very emotional hugs from her Operational Services colleagues.
Lenore tragically suffered a massive brain bleed on 12 February this year, collapsing at home just hours after returning from a holiday on the Sunshine Coast. She deteriorated rapidly.
She was rushed to Mackay Base Hospital, where she received emergency treatment before being flown to Townsville by the Royal Flying Doctor Service in an induced coma.
A month later, Lenore woke up, unable to speak or move.
She spent the next six months at Townsville Hospital undergoing an intensive and exhausting rehabilitation program which included two hours of physiotherapy, two hours of occupational therapy and an hour of speech therapy every day.
Beside her through it all was her devoted husband Gary and her family.
“Gary has been my rock,” Lenore said. “He’s always been a real doer. He really pushed me to get up, get going and to get to therapy on time every day.
“There were good days and some very bad days. I was very angry that I had always looked after myself, never smoked or drank, so I couldn’t reconcile why this happened to me.
“But you just have to learn to move forward and try to bounce back,” she said.
Gary also found ways to keep her focused-on recovery, booking tickets to the Australian Open and the men’s grand final in January next year as motivation.
Lenore returned home to Mackay on 3 September and, after catching up with retired colleagues and friends over lunch, made an emotional return to Mackay Base Hospital just a week later.
For Lenore, who has lived in Mackay for 30 years and been a cleaner and wardie at the hospital for the last decade, it was much more than returning to a workplace.
“It was very special to come back today,” she said. “I thought of my work friends a lot.
“Over the years your workmates become much more than colleagues. They also become like family.”
Among those waiting to welcome her back were close friends Carol Corser, Pat Seymour and Bev Kunst.
Carol and Lenore formed an instant connection when Lenore started at the hospital, with Carol helping train her. Their friendship has continued ever since.
When Carol, Bev and Pat travelled to Townsville on 27 February to visit Lenore, she was conscious but still unable to speak or move.
So seven months later, seeing her friend Lenore sitting in a wheelchair and catching up with colleagues, was an extraordinary moment.
Carol said Lenore’s determination and resilience throughout her recovery had been both “incredible” and “remarkable”.
The friends also couldn’t resist a little humour about Lenore’s dramatic transformation.
Known for her beautiful, thick hair, Lenore had 54 staples in her head from the surgery required to relieve pressure on her brain.
“She’s gone from Farrah Fawcett to Sinead O’Connor,” Carol joked.
But behind the laughter and warm welcome has been an enormous amount of courage and hard work on Lenore’s behalf.
She credits Gary, her two daughters, one a paramedic now studying medicine, for helping her get through the toughest days.
“I’m very blessed to have such wonderful family support and great friends,” Lenore said.
“I couldn’t have pushed myself and done what I have in my recovery without them.”
For now, she is focused on her ongoing rehabilitation with her first session at CHATS and the immediate goal of getting back on her feet and walking.
The “long haul” recovery has also given Lenore a new perspective on the healthcare workers, from the clinical teams who treated her to the operational staff who supported her through the long days of recovery.
Having spent years helping care for patients behind the scenes, Lenore now understands what it feels like to be on the other side. She knows first-hand that every small gesture can make a difference during what can be some of the hardest days of a person’s life.
“Healthcare staff are really very special people,” she said.
And after seven months away, now surrounded by the people who had missed her, Lenore is now back where she belongs, among friends, family and colleagues who had never stopped cheering her on.