Second stay in the psych ward…

I do apologize for leaving my readers hanging for such a stretch, but I just got out of the hospital yesterday for the second time in one week.  I was in the psych ward again.  I should have gone with my gut and stayed the first time, but I didn’t.  Oh, well.  That’s how we learn, and it was quite the lesson.  Due to the fact that I had been discharged so quickly the first time, one of the nurses gave me an extremely hard time about coming back.  That is, needless to say, what a person seeking psychiatric help does NOT need, and I shut down mentally in the face of the horrible treatment I was receiving from the nurse.  My doctor had walked me back over to the ER himself to because he was concerned, and here was this nurse giving me a hard time about it.  I told them I was fine and that I would leave, then.  I wrote down what had happened, since I could no longer speak, and the provider who writes the hospital orders came in.  I was so upset that I just slid the piece of paper across the table to her so that she could read it and sobbed so hard that I could hardly breathe and could not speak.  The provider asked if she could take a copy of the paper so that she could use it to help train their nurses on how to treat (and not to treat) patients.  I told her she could certainly do so.  After some time had passed and the provider had assured me that she would expedite the process and I wouldn’t have to deal with that particular nurse again, I asked another nurse about that person’s character.  I decided that, instead of filing a formal grievance, I would simply let the nurse know that we were okay because everybody makes mistakes.  The nurse that I’d had such trouble with came within a few minutes and asked if she could talk to me.  We had both calmed down some and we were able to talk honestly to each other and work it out like adults.  I felt good about that.  The behavior was not appropriate, which she apologized for, and I accepted the apology.  Like I said, everybody makes mistakes.  The nurses will still receive the training and no formal grievance needed to be filed.  I was okay with that.

Once in the psych ward for the second time in the same week, I made the difficult phone calls to my family.  Only the phone calls that were absolutely necessary were made, because I didn’t want to deal with any more that I already had on my plate.  I called and left my bishop the message that he could give my appointment slot for tithing settlement to someone else because I was in the psych ward and wasn’t going to make it.  On Sunday, I was blessed by two friends from the Church showing up unexpectedly to visit me!  That really made my day on Sunday.  I ended up getting out of the hospital yesterday and going to my appointment with my doctor.  I had the “sewing maching leg” going and my doctor was concerned.  Rightly so.  I was really stressed yesterday, but I felt that I could make a go at handling life on the outside again.  We’ll see how it goes…

Thank you, my faithful readers, for your patience with my absenteeism.  I appreciate your understanding!!!