Random moment from my drive home last night--I was stopped behind an ambulance at the last light before the hospital. The back windows aren't completely dark, and since the sun had already vanished for the day I was able to see inside the lighted square. The gurney was just below my line of sight, and I was absentmindedly watching the two medically inclined dudes in the back and wondering who they were transporting and how their day was going...until this little chubby fist reached up and tugged on the man's sleeve. Instant attention grabber, that. I almost got whiplash. For some reason, I never expect to see a little kid in one of those things, but there she was, and she was adorable. Just one of those things.
Another not-so-random story from my second day on psych unit. So, there's this lady. We're gonna call her...well, Nutsy or Teeth are the first nicknames that spring to mind, but there must be something better. She's scary. Massive lady, stature and girth, absolutely bonkers, coming into our unit with at least ten prior instances of attacking staff at other institutions. During one of those attacks, she nearly severed a male nurse's finger...with her teeth. It had to be reattached. I am not making this up.
We've had her for about 24 hours. This morning I come in and find out that she got her hands on the charge nurse (after refusing her medications), ripped out a chunk of her hair, and came within an inch of clawing her right eye. The nurse has these massive scratches all down the side of her face, and she along with another staff member had to be taken down to the ER last night after they managed to hold this lady-animal down and sedate her. I am not prone to swearing or cursing...but the term "batshit crazy" blares in my head every time I see this lady shuffling down the hall towards me. She scares me to death.
Psych in general is a difficult rotation for me. I admitted a man yesterday who started having what might have been a panic attack in front of me, complete with hyperventilating and clenching his fits on his kneees, but I had a moment where I literally didn't know if he was having an emotional breakdown, or if he was about to launch himself at me and strangle me. I just can't tell, and having to constantly wander about that and assess every person within 20 feet of me is stressful.
3 comments:
That does sound stressful. I hope you survive this rotation without too much grief. I'll be praying for you.
I'm not gonna lie, i don't know how you do it. But i'm glad you do.
Do you think these people can understand love? Sometimes I don't think so. Keep up the good work.
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