Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Anyone else remember being experimented on whilst at CH, by the school doctor?

Amantadene tablet every day..... don't remember any side-effects.......?!?

J

i dunno but i want one of those throat numbing things right now!

Didn't everyone have a medical when they got to CH?

Yeah, they certainly did in my time.
"Please cough now...."

Er...I'm not going to explain any more detail!

J

Medical? Height, weight - you look alive. Well Done. Next!

From my observances of the Sicker, there wasn't much that a paracetamol, a tubey grip and copious quantities of Orange Squash couldn't solve! However, they did forget to tell my parents that I was going into hospital for an operation once.. so when the issue of a signed consent form came up there was a bit of a flap...

As for Matron issuing games passes - that could be amusing too. "Matron - may I have a pass for swimming" (Matron gets out her little book with much huffing and puffing and drama; she scrutinises it) "You had a pass four weeks ago"... "yeeesss" one replied whilst incoherently muttering "Funny that being a girl and all.... "

All that said , it's nice to see now that epedemics don't seem to be quite as rife as I expereinced in my first few years there. On my squits, there was gastroenteritis and on my third form a 'flu' epedmic. I can remember a team of us being drafted down to the Sicker to help the nurses and the infirmary staff to get the food out to the three floors of poorly people and cleared up afterwards. Do people just get sent home nowadays?

Deb GP wrote:From my observances of the Sicker, there wasn't much that a paracetamol, a tubey grip and copious quantities of Orange Squash couldn't solve!

You forgot Bradasol ! I spent so much time in the Sicker whilst at CH ( I was quite a sickly child). Sadly, my parents lived too far away for me to go home if I was ill so I'd just spend weeks being told to drink,drink, drink. They had some really crap books in there and a deck of cards (with some missing) naturally. There were a really nice old couple who did the food but they left on about my UF I think. Some people used to cheat to get - they'd put their thermometer on the radiator when the nurse wasn't looking. I hated the sicker....

I remember on my 3rd form I think that Maine B was being used as an overflow cos of the flu epidemic....

They sent us all home when over half the staff were in bed...

All I remember are some of the classic moments I had whilst getting flu jabs, every year the same thing, sit down roll up sleeve see nurse get needle ready, nurse grabs arm and asks one of the select questions 'do you like rollercoasters?' you reply 'yes actually they're great fun' then five seconds later you get stabbed in the arm!!

Thinking about it - there was some kind of medical experiment on my year group on my second form (88-89). I can't remember what it was though. My parents opted me out of it and everyone else got a book token.... Can anyone shed any light? What wasn't I subjected to?

Great Plum wrote:I remember on my 3rd form I think that Maine B was being used as an overflow cos of the flu epidemic....

They sent us all home when over half the staff were in bed...

Lucky ones

Somewhere I have a photo of Col A at lunch parade during the great Asian Flu Pandemic. AFAIR there were 3 on parade. Another house imported a flag bearer as their sole representative.

Sent home? You must be joking. They eventually gave up segregating the well from the sick. I was in bed somewhere to the east of the quad so I don't know what happened with lessons.

I am actually surprised how little illness we did generally suffered - possibly a reasonable diet (only after they changed the catering supervisor) borne out by the results of the Bristol Uni study. Surprisingly I only remember one fracture - a car crash when a boy was outside with his parents. Apart from that, and before my day, one rugby fatality which seems to have been unavoidable. All in all a good record. When I look at subsequent (non-sporting) injuries ..............

def remember flu pills and think there was even an A or B pill to see which one was more effective! Doc Hoskins was renowned for his aspirin prescriptions to cure almost any ailment! i just remember the smell of the infirmary... blurrrrhh

I remember losing about three days of holiday during the 60's.

I got measles at the right at the end of one term and dreaded the enforced stay in the sicker.

It was WONDERFUL. Far better food than normal, Dr. Tommy Scott popping in a couple of times a day, telling jokes. Such a relaxed atmosphere so unlike the normal school/sicker regime.

Yes, I remember this clearly. Doctor Hoskins used us as a large research experiment. The results were published, although you will not be able to get to them with a subscription to the relevant magazine, but for the interested:


"Prophylactic use of amantadine in a boarding school outbreak of influenza A."
J R Coll Gen Pract. 1988 Aug;38(313):346-8.

It looks like he'd performed a similar 'experiment' in 1979 that was written up and published in The Lancet.

These papers are mentioned a few times around the place, and I think it's safe to say that the experiment was worthwhile, and we've all contributed to the advancement of medicine in our small way.

I remember we were given red gelatin capsules every lunchtime, but we soon found that the two halves of the capsule could be separated and the white powder removed. After this it was a simple matter of filling them with ink and throwing them at people. This was actually rather ineffective, as the capsules usually bounced off rather than splashing, and you always got ink all over yourself trying to fill the things, but obviously that didn't stop us. Happy days.

I remember getting flu two or three times at CH, and it was worse than I've ever had it since. There must have been a virulent strain there. I think the infirmary was the least modernised part of the school then, and every time I see a hospital scene from a film set suring WWI or thereabouts, it reminds me of being ill.

We used to open up the capsules and mash the contents into some poor sod's dinner while they were off getting water or somesuch. the stuff inside the caps was absolutely vile - really bitter. Made Old Ma Keely's food taste good by comparison.

For those of you who were active in the Peele A homebrew cartel, there is some theoretical evidence that amandatine has neuroprotective effects - so looks like Quack Hoskins had our best interests at heart with his clinical trials!