So you think you have it tough

It was more of an endurance test than a State exam for two young students who were hospitalised this week in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital.

Austin Brady, a Leaving Cert student at O'Connell CBS in Dublin was admitted to hospital on Wednesday night suffering from a severe throat abscess. Today he will do the second maths paper and begin his Irish exam in hospital. As he went into the school's exam hall on the first day of the exams, he was weak from hunger, unable to speak and suffering from a Quincy abscess. But by yesterday morning, having been diagnosed and treated, he was able to sit his maths exam in the hospital's conference room.

"I had to breath through my nose," he says. "It's not that bad now, once they'd drained the fluid out. Once you get into the exams it's grand, you get used to the surroundings, it's normal after a while," says the philosophical 18-year old. The worst part of the abscess, he says, "was having to breath through my nose. And I couldn't eat. During the exams, I could just feel it throbbing." Now, he says, "it's okay, it's a little bit sore where the needle was but the antibiotics have helped."

Angela Connolly, the hospital's patient representative, looks on in sympathy. "It's very painful, I understand," she says about the abscess.

Next we move down to visit Barry Nolan, a Junior Cert student at Ardscoil Ris in Griffith Avenue, Dublin, who was admitted yesterday with suspected appendicitis. He was later put on a drip for gastroenteritis. His mother, Ann, spent the day waiting outside the emergency room while he completed his maths exam. "I had to wait outside in case he got sick," she says. "I'm relieved he's getting better." Barry tried to do his history paper yesterday afternoon but he had to stop after about an hour. "I did most of the short questions," he says. However, he finished his maths. "It's his strongest subject," says his mother.

His father, Kevin, was delighted last night when Barry arrived home. He was discharged after successfully eating his tea and his temperature had just dropped back to normal. Some days are like that.