Fri Nov 15, 2013

Editor: I would like through your medium to express the deliberately belated, heartfelt gratitude of my family, friends and especially myself, to the several teams at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, who worked so tirelessly to restore my health and vigour. They include doctors, the nursing staffs of the operating theatre, recovery room, intensive care unit and the ward, workers of the ancillary services, the orderlies who ferried me here and there with gentleness, and those ladies who kept my room tidy and hygienic.{{more}}

My surgical team of Doctors Dougan and Mandal and Rudy Mayers, and the several other doctors at various levels of seniority, tended me unflaggingly during my illness. Dr Sam Hazell also contributed to this undertaking. Special thanks to them all.

At a Commonwealth Caribbean medical research Council meeting in Tortola in 1987, I coined the phrase that “A good nurse was worth her weight in clinical gold.” For the wonderful care that was given me by the nursing staff, they deserved more than gold and even platinum. Special thanks to the administrative nursing staff under the leadership of Ms Ynolde Smart who organised the roster of nurses who took care of me every minute of the day. They provided me the highest quality of nursing care that could be expected of their noble profession.

A few persons scolded me for not going abroad for my treatment, but I assured them that I had every confidence in the various teams that looked after me. Moreover, during my illness I had reconfirmation of Victor Hugo’s assurance that “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.” And so, as my illness became critical, I had no doubt that those frequent visits of my wife, children, grandchildren, and dear friends were crucial and vital for my survival and recovery.

It will be remiss of me not to recognise publicly the sincerity of my friends and well-wishers, who not only prayed for me, but telephoned frequently, sent flowers and cards and visited when allowed to do so.

Dear Editor, I am, indeed, indebted to you for providing this opportunity for me to say from the depth of my sincerity, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” to everyone of the above persons.

Yours truly

A. Cecil Cyrus