More than two years in hospital — that's a long time to spend alone, bored, lost in thought and frustrated, not to mention surviving on hospital food.
Darwin man Steven Pratt has had more than 80 operations since he arrived at the Royal Adelaide Hospital with a recurring and aggressive infection of a bone-eating bacterium, leading to the removal of an entire hip and most of his left thigh bone.
He is, in fact, the current longest-staying patient in the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, having moved across from the old hospital in September 2017.
"All you could see was a black tunnel, nowhere to go and depressing, I had a lot of anxiety," Mr Pratt said.
But having reached a mental and emotional rock bottom with a grim outlook, Mr Pratt has been able to turn around both his physical and mental prognosis.
Powerful antibiotics have helped — so has the hospital's diversional artistic therapy program, uncovering a zest for drawing and painting the Territory-tradie never realised he had.
"Came up and got me pencils and paper and a bit of paint, [Rebecca Cambrell] sat with me and showed me how to do some doodling and some drawing, hasn't stopped," Mr Pratt said.
"It's really taken my mind off the darkness and I feel fantastic."
Artist Rebecca Cambrell started with the hospital's Centre for Creative Health in the past few months, and has been amazed with Mr Pratt's progress.
"Steven had had enough, a gutful, didn't want to live … and one of my most amazing precious moments in life was when I got to tell my boss, that Steven said 'I want to travel around Australia painting'," she said.
"He is now in touch with his emotional, creative side in the way most humans inherently [should be]."
Ms Cambrell said she hoped to make a difference with patients, beyond the limits of medication and surgery.
"I go into rooms where people have been in for some time, and they're either highly agitated, anxious and stressed, or depressed, melancholy, flatlining.
"It's not about the actual art product, it's about emotional articulation, and unlocking feeling through creativity."
And while Mr Pratt's life has dramatically improved through art, how about that hospital food?
"Everything has been edible that I've come across," Mr Pratt said.
"It's better than what half the people at home eat themselves these days with their takeaway food and everything."
The Centre for Creative Health is funded through the Hospital Research Foundation, and similar arts-in-health programs operate at Flinders Medical Centre and the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide.
Mr Pratt is now doing well — the infection has gone and he hopes to be out of hospital, on his road trip around Australia painting and fishing, in the next few months.
