Amazing emails last week, from Sue and Judy, who helped me get started on my endoscopy career.
Around 1970 I was running a small GI endoscopy service at St Thomas’s Hospital in London (although still officially in training). There were few resources and no one knew how it would all blossom into a huge industry. My first endoscopy assistant was Judy, whose main role was as the lab technician in the basic science “Gut hut”, run by my mentor Dr Brian Creamer. She is seen spraying the throat of an early victim in the (poor) screen shot from an early video. 
The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gu3Dx9pz-A
Soon afterwards we were able to hire our first real endoscopy nurse, Sue Avery (later Wright), seen on the left with her Nightingale hat in this photo from the Nursing mirror of 1973
Waiting patiently in the background was another Sue (Wallace), our radiographer. It was she who emailed me last week out of the blue. She had been advised to have an endoscopy herself and mentioned her early connexions to the doctor concerned, who steered her to me. Great to hear from her. And, equally special, she put me in touch with Judy.
I have lost track with Sue Wright, and indeed John Beales (on the right in the picture), the consultant radiologist who helped me with my first ERCPs.
Can anyone shed light on them?
Fun to look back
I am sure you treasure those early memories as I do of my nurses training. No wall oxygen or suction. No liquid narcotics. Using a spoon over a Bunsen burner to dissolve morphine in boiling water. The stories I could tell……
Hi Peter. I hope all is well with you two – it was really nice to see you not so long ago.
I was wondering if you could send me copies of ‘When Jungle Jim comes to visit’ and ‘When Fred goes to school’. My great nephew loves the first one and would love a couple more.
Di xx
great photos of those very early days
How things have changed with technology, and of course O.H. and S.
I hope the Sue Wright and John ( if still with us!) will be in touch,
Geoffrey Gibson