Wood returned to the Crimean Theatre (January 1856). His promotion to lieutenant, which his uncle had paid for, took effect on 1 February 1856. However, within a month he was in hospital at Scutari with pneumonia and typhoid. His parents were told he was dying, so his mother arrived on 20 March 1856 only to find one of Florence Nightingale’s nurses striking him. He was so emaciated that his hip bones were poking through his skin. Against medical advice he was brought home to England to recover.