Two weeks worth!

I've fallen behind. I want to hit the high points of my last two weeks at the psych ward so I can remember later.

On our unit most of the patients are 'older' and in their early fifties or a little younger, so it really made one patient stick out who was only 26. We saw him on our first week and he seemed really sad and pretty lonely, but generally okay--compared to some other patients. He looked relaxed, his gait was even, ate well and conversed with others during meal time. Well, when we went back on the last week (only two weeks after we saw him initially) he had changed so much. We came on the unit at about 6:45am and he greeted us with a warm 'hello' while he was walking around the floor. We took that as a good sign. He never stopped pacing around the halls. All day. And he had "The Walk" of the other patients who have been on meds for a really long time. It's kind of like a Frankenstein walk; very stiff and slow, and the arms are lifted off the body a little like he was wearing a puffy winter coat. It was so sad. Every time he passed us, I felt just as sad as the first time I saw him all over again. One of the patients even said, "Hey, don't you get tired of walking up and down the halls or somethin?" They young man looked up slowly and said, "Not really." and he kept on walking.


To celebrate the time we had spent there, on the last day we played charades with the patients and ended with fruit salad. Boy, they loved that fruit salad(!) cause they never get fresh fruit...or if they do get fruit it's always yucky. It was so cool to see that patients play the game. The things they were acting out were easy, like surfing, brushing your teeth, dancing, painting, etc. but to see them succeed and feel good and happy about it was so cool. Just to forget about everything and have fun. My favorite character on Lost is Hurley--mainly because he has alot of 'freeing' moments. He often puts problems, gloom, and doom aside and just relaxes and enjoys what is good in the moment. This is one of those moments



I feel like the patients had one of those moments on our last day. The funny thing is, later on the show "Lost," it turns out that Hurley gets put in a mental institution.

My patients were interesting. One woman was in with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and she always thought that people were trying to steal from her or that she was being treated unfairly. Her mood was bizarre because she would be happy and optimistic on moment and fifteen seconds later she would be severely unhappy and depressed.
A guy I had who was 26 was being discharged that same day. He had rage problems and had been having thoughts of hurting people. He also "self medicated" himself with marijuana and alcohol. I'm not sure if he had really improved any, but they needed to get him out to make room for new patients.

One thing that disgusts me about the VA is that they are so concerned with getting people in, that they just shove people out--whether they're ready or not. Also, the nurses sit behind the nurses station at their computers and have NO therapeutic interaction with the patients whatsoever. They basically give meds and chart. What they chart I have no idea, because they don't communicate with or listen to the patients. *stepping off my soap box* : ) It just takes one person who really cares about people to make a difference and set a new standard.

I guess that's about all for the VA. I'll try to update about Cardiac ICU soon!