Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Oh, the holiday cheer!! What people don't know is that this is also the time of year all the weirdos come out and find their way into a hospital. The last two nights at work three of my patients were ordered to be on restraints. Three of them!! I have had maybe three patients the entire time I have worked there on restraints, let alone three people, two nights in a row! One special patient even came with his very own sheriff on guard at his side 24 hours a day. Sometimes he even had two sheriff's on guard outside his door. I looked through his file to see if I could tell what he had done, but what I read I didn't think required two sheriff's on patrol at all times, but who am I to judge. On the police report it stated he had doused himself and his family with lighter fluid and threatened to set them all on fire. It took 5 officers with tasers to get him to the ground and under control, as he is a very large and scary looking man.

It never fails that I get assigned all the weirdos, but the funny thing was, he was my patient two weeks prior to this incident and he was actually quite nice. His family was always in the room with him, and aside from him desperately needing a shower, he seemed like a decent enough person. So, my first night with him was on Saturday night, and he managed to throw up all over himself and the bed twice and have a bowel movement in the bed too. I deal with this all the time, but he was hooked up to the bed with handcuffs around his feet and hands, so it was quite and ordeal to get him cleaned up. Also, because he was restrained, that meant I had to feed him and give him something to drink whenever he asked as well. Even though he was quite nice two weeks prior, when he was eating he kept telling me he hated the food and to take it out of his mouth. I knew the guards were outside his door, so something was telling me that he is locked up for a reason, so I better not stick my fingers in his mouth because I might just get them bit off. The night ended well, and I still have all ten of my fingers.

On Sunday the guarded man was my patient again, so I walked down to his room and this time he had his right hand uncuffed. That made me happy because then he could feed himself and use the urinal himself and I would not have to spend as much time in his room. Then all the trouble started. Apparently the officers were outside his room changing shifts and talking and he took this opportunity to reach over and use the phone. The officers walked into the room to see him on the phone, which he was not allowed to use, and they ordered our hospital to be on lockdown. They had to call for all kinds of back up and all the doors to the hospital were locked and you could only get in through the ER. It was a little on the scary side. Anyway, to wrap this up, apparently this guy was part of some kind of gang and they were worried his buddies were going to come and try to get him. Since his location had been compromised the officers had to get him out of the hospital. When he left, I was told by my manager that he was going on trial for murder. It's kind of freaky to think about. Especially since I worked with him only two weeks prior and all seemed fine.

My other weirdo was a drug addict and alcoholic who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He was not old at all, only in his late 30's, but could not form a complete sentence if his life depended upon it. He was in four point soft restraints and a chest restraint, so basically, he could not move. Somehow, the night before, he managed to slip out of all of his restraints, which were probably not tied properly, and when the nurse went into his room he was waiting for her in the dark and lunged after her and chased her into a room where she was able to lock herself in. Security had to tackle the guy down and get him back in his bed. He was actually fine the whole night for me and I never felt scared around him. He just asking me to bring him "holiday cheer" because he was lacking it. He actually made me laugh a little.

My last restrained person was a 92 year old woman with dementia. She was basically harmless, but she hit, kick and bit at you every time you got near her. Poor thing doesn't know any better so you can't be too upset about it.

That's my exciting weekend at work. I am so happy I have today off. John and I are having a "date night" since we have not been out for quite a while just the two of us. I am going to make us dinner and then we are going to go see a movie and come back and play a game of Scrabble. Yes, I know, we sound 60, but it's what we enjoy doing and I can hardly wait!