The Hospital...
Most of the days are relaxed and seemingly calm because the patients are on medication that keep them stabilized while in the hospital. That being said, there are some eventful days, too...
In regards to the patient population, the veterans struggle with so many more psychiatric battles than the average person. Between PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, there are a spectrum of diseases that put this population at a severe risk for mental illness. I feel honored to be able to take care of such a special group of people.
One patient I will always remember is the patient I was with today. This man came in from a medical floor, where they were treating his stage 4 pressure ulcers (many of them). If you don't know what this means, let's just say that while the nurse was cleaning and dressing the wounds, she said "I think that is the bone."......ya.
This man was also plagued with dementia and schizophrenia and was disoriented and had disorganized thinking. He had to have ankle boots on to protect his ankles from potential pressure ulcers because of his bed-bound status. He also had big, padded mittens on his hands that reminded me of the Mickey Mouse gloves you can buy as a souvenir at Disney. He was constantly "talking" to his delusions and attempting to bite his fingers through his gloves. He would swear at me and the staff when we tried to bathe him or re-position him to prevent further skin damage. He did not have any teeth so all the food we fed him was of "nectar consistency." He was skin and bones and to add to it, the staff had said he was "too aggressive to feed" so he had not eaten until we got there and had time to encourage him to eat..
Needless to say, this image broke my heart. The fear and helplessness that shown so vividly through his eyes was a big reminder for me that the people I meet everyday are not just patients, they are humans. A human who is separate from their disease. A human with a history and a battle that I will never understand.
As devastating as it is to watch these people suffer, I am again reminded of how blessed I am to have my health and the life I do.
Instead of making another (boring) post about the hospital, I wanted to add a little blurb on an experience I had today in the hospital. I was able to leave the psych unit and go down to the operating room to watch a procedure that seems so barbaric. It is called ECT or Electroconvulsive Therapy which is for patients who have not responded to medication. The psychiatrist, nurse and anesthesiologist were the only people in the room, so no surgeon was involved. The patient was put under general (fast acting) anesthesia and a muscle relaxant and a shock was delivered directly to their brain from a large silver "tool" that was pressed against their scalp. This induced a small, controlled seizure and the procedure was done, taking about 15 minutes in total. It is supposed to change the chemical nature of the brain, allowing for a relief of symptoms. I met with five patients who swore by the treatment and said they felt significantly better and that their depression, schizophrenia, and other psychiatric symptoms had improved.
As barbaric and inhumane as it sounds, it seems to be working...the medical field is astounding!
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