First, Mary Jo, thanks for posting a comment! I was delighted to see it!
Also I wanted to let you guys know I got my pictures uploaded and I have a zillion of Grace. I gave the camera to Ben and look what happened :) We have one on our computer as our wallpaper (another thing that I did not do myself and which suggests there may be secret admirers hereabouts) and Zaccy keeps pointing and saying "Baby!". Just wait...in not too many years...it will be "Babe!"
Katie, I will forward the pictures to you sometime this weekend. The computer is new and I"m still moving my camera software and all that over and figuring it out.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
spies among us
This is the second post of the day; be sure to read the lengthier one below. I just remembered something really cute and wanted to record it for posterity.
When we returned from Wisconsin on Sunday evening I was busy exploring my new computer (which is heavenly, by the way). The kids were busy doing something. Something. I sort of knew where they were and hadn't seen any blood or limbs or anything so just focused on my task.
and then. I caught a glimpse of black out of the corner of my eye. I looked. Nothing there. Was it a dog? Was it my imagination?
I turned back to my computer.
and then. again. another glimpse. This time headed down the stairs. I better check this out.
I went to the stairs. Nothing there. Very quiet. This is bad. I went downstairs. The family room was dark and empty..........save for 5 black figures crawling along the edge of the wall. SPIES!
They had dressed up all in black and were doing something stealthy! Their oufits were to die for. I hope I get my turtlenecks back....I need my Johnny Cash look. They can keep the tights and caps.
I got a picture...I'll post it later.
When we returned from Wisconsin on Sunday evening I was busy exploring my new computer (which is heavenly, by the way). The kids were busy doing something. Something. I sort of knew where they were and hadn't seen any blood or limbs or anything so just focused on my task.
and then. I caught a glimpse of black out of the corner of my eye. I looked. Nothing there. Was it a dog? Was it my imagination?
I turned back to my computer.
and then. again. another glimpse. This time headed down the stairs. I better check this out.
I went to the stairs. Nothing there. Very quiet. This is bad. I went downstairs. The family room was dark and empty..........save for 5 black figures crawling along the edge of the wall. SPIES!
They had dressed up all in black and were doing something stealthy! Their oufits were to die for. I hope I get my turtlenecks back....I need my Johnny Cash look. They can keep the tights and caps.
I got a picture...I'll post it later.
Meow...and the formation of young men
Yes, the kitty strikes again. Wils had to come with me to the VA last night to return a pager I accidentally took home with me. Several coworkers came to say hello to him and when he saw them he held up four fingers and announced "I'm four". After that he switched into kitty mode and would only meow. So, this cat is 4. One of the RNs asked him his name and he said "Meow". So she said, your name is meow? He said Meow. She said OK.
We've been going through a thing lately with Elijah. He is trying to be a big shot and thinks the way to do that is to be obnoxious. It's all too obvious that he is trying REALLY hard. Some of the behaviors are not BAD, per se, just more boisterous (boysterus?) than usual. We had a den meeting for his boy scout den at our house on Monday night. He and his fellow 8 year old males were rowdy and I was able to debrief with the other parents and was relieved to hear they are ALL acting like that, particularly since Christmas.
So here's an example. Keep in mind, this is Mr. Prim and Proper, the rule nazi, Mr. Won't Wear Underwear because someone might know. He was playing with this new Bionicles toy that he got from Gramma for his birthday (just too spoiled!) and it kind of shoots something out. When his friends left, he was still going on all 4 cyclinders and couldn't wait to tell me his news. "Guess what???" he said, "I was pointing this at Evan, and I shot it, and it accidentally got him in the NUTS!"
I almost fainted. I have NEVER heard him even REFER to that body part, much less as "nuts." When I told Gramma the story she wondered if he even knew what nuts were. I said yes, he does now, because apparently what happened was that Lij did shoot Evan, yes indeed in the nuts, and Evan doubled over and said "Hey! You shot me in the NUTS!"
These are 2nd graders.
What will the next 10 years bring???
I got another taste of that last night again. Without laying a lot of groundwork (it's not nearly as bad as you are going to imagine, but I need to protect their privacy), suffice it to say that I had reason to talk to Ben and Elijah both about what is and is not appropriate for little boys to look at. I explained that it's OK for boys to like to look at girls, but not girls without much clothes on (Lij's eyebrows went up lisciviously and he broke into a miniature leer). I said it's just fine to enjoy looking at girls in their clothes. His face fell. "Nah" he said "Why would i want to do THAT?"
...............................................................
Ana passed her test for her very first belt in Tae Kwon Do. She is now a white belt. She enjoys it very much and is good at it. We had a bit of a tiff last night and she wrote me an awesome letter of apology. It was so good I thought someone else wrote it! In brief, what had happened was as we were leaving tae kwon do a car pulled up and it was her friend Isaac from Montessori. They haven't seen each other in 4 years! We recognized them immediately and they stopped their car to talk. However, Ana wouldn't talk--she hid behind me. I was livid. I didn't talk to her all the way home, and then left with the little boys to go to St Cloud to return that dang pager. When I got back she handed me the note. Actually, it was a contract that I was supposed to sign and return along with any comments. In those words--from her 9 year old head. Phrases included were "I was tired and hungry and I felt sweaty and just wasn't in the mood to see an old friend. I know that's not regular behavior and I try not to be shy and I will work on it." I loved the way she said 'just wasn't in the mood to see an old friend". Then there was this line at the top that said "To my mother, Tracy, whom I will forgive ONLY if she reads and signs this"
So mature, yet so girlish :)
.........................................................
This past weekend in Wisconsin we got to see some other old friends and meet a new one. My cousin Katie, whom I used to babysit for, has a 1 year old baby, Grace. Katie, her husband Corey, Grace, and Katie's parents Craig and Mary Jo came over for Elijah's birthday--mostly so we could watch Grace and Zac together. Well worth the planning--they were a hoot. Grace has bright red hair and a great belly laugh. She is very friendly and would let us hold her. I could see I was watching Zac discover the joy of girls. I remember when Elijah did! Zac called her "baby" and wanted to pat her back. They talked to each other--I have it on video. When people were leaving the party, Zac was calling "See ya later!"
.....................................
Last but not least, I stopped at Barnes and Noble last night with Ben, Wil, and Zac as I needed to pick something up for school. The minute we walked in the door, Ben zoned in on a little black hardcover book about Abe Lincoln (famous quips and speeches). He started asking for it. My first thought was no way--this is not a kid book. I tried to steer him towards the kid's section, thinking the one he chose was beyond his abilities. I asked him if he could read it. "Yes," he said, opening the book, "Four score and seven years ago,........................"
...............................................................................
We've been going through a thing lately with Elijah. He is trying to be a big shot and thinks the way to do that is to be obnoxious. It's all too obvious that he is trying REALLY hard. Some of the behaviors are not BAD, per se, just more boisterous (boysterus?) than usual. We had a den meeting for his boy scout den at our house on Monday night. He and his fellow 8 year old males were rowdy and I was able to debrief with the other parents and was relieved to hear they are ALL acting like that, particularly since Christmas.
So here's an example. Keep in mind, this is Mr. Prim and Proper, the rule nazi, Mr. Won't Wear Underwear because someone might know. He was playing with this new Bionicles toy that he got from Gramma for his birthday (just too spoiled!) and it kind of shoots something out. When his friends left, he was still going on all 4 cyclinders and couldn't wait to tell me his news. "Guess what???" he said, "I was pointing this at Evan, and I shot it, and it accidentally got him in the NUTS!"
I almost fainted. I have NEVER heard him even REFER to that body part, much less as "nuts." When I told Gramma the story she wondered if he even knew what nuts were. I said yes, he does now, because apparently what happened was that Lij did shoot Evan, yes indeed in the nuts, and Evan doubled over and said "Hey! You shot me in the NUTS!"
These are 2nd graders.
What will the next 10 years bring???
I got another taste of that last night again. Without laying a lot of groundwork (it's not nearly as bad as you are going to imagine, but I need to protect their privacy), suffice it to say that I had reason to talk to Ben and Elijah both about what is and is not appropriate for little boys to look at. I explained that it's OK for boys to like to look at girls, but not girls without much clothes on (Lij's eyebrows went up lisciviously and he broke into a miniature leer). I said it's just fine to enjoy looking at girls in their clothes. His face fell. "Nah" he said "Why would i want to do THAT?"
...............................................................
Ana passed her test for her very first belt in Tae Kwon Do. She is now a white belt. She enjoys it very much and is good at it. We had a bit of a tiff last night and she wrote me an awesome letter of apology. It was so good I thought someone else wrote it! In brief, what had happened was as we were leaving tae kwon do a car pulled up and it was her friend Isaac from Montessori. They haven't seen each other in 4 years! We recognized them immediately and they stopped their car to talk. However, Ana wouldn't talk--she hid behind me. I was livid. I didn't talk to her all the way home, and then left with the little boys to go to St Cloud to return that dang pager. When I got back she handed me the note. Actually, it was a contract that I was supposed to sign and return along with any comments. In those words--from her 9 year old head. Phrases included were "I was tired and hungry and I felt sweaty and just wasn't in the mood to see an old friend. I know that's not regular behavior and I try not to be shy and I will work on it." I loved the way she said 'just wasn't in the mood to see an old friend". Then there was this line at the top that said "To my mother, Tracy, whom I will forgive ONLY if she reads and signs this"
So mature, yet so girlish :)
.........................................................
This past weekend in Wisconsin we got to see some other old friends and meet a new one. My cousin Katie, whom I used to babysit for, has a 1 year old baby, Grace. Katie, her husband Corey, Grace, and Katie's parents Craig and Mary Jo came over for Elijah's birthday--mostly so we could watch Grace and Zac together. Well worth the planning--they were a hoot. Grace has bright red hair and a great belly laugh. She is very friendly and would let us hold her. I could see I was watching Zac discover the joy of girls. I remember when Elijah did! Zac called her "baby" and wanted to pat her back. They talked to each other--I have it on video. When people were leaving the party, Zac was calling "See ya later!"
.....................................
Last but not least, I stopped at Barnes and Noble last night with Ben, Wil, and Zac as I needed to pick something up for school. The minute we walked in the door, Ben zoned in on a little black hardcover book about Abe Lincoln (famous quips and speeches). He started asking for it. My first thought was no way--this is not a kid book. I tried to steer him towards the kid's section, thinking the one he chose was beyond his abilities. I asked him if he could read it. "Yes," he said, opening the book, "Four score and seven years ago,........................"
...............................................................................
Friday, February 13, 2009
Elijah is 8
Today is Elijah's 8th birthday! Wow--time flies. Seems like just yesterday he was this very persistent little foot in my ribcage. Now he's a persistent pain elsewhere.
Last night was the big party and it went great. We had it at Quarry Cinema in Cold Spring. His guests were Dylan, Dreydin, Allie, Annamarie, Noah, Ariana, and Ben. It's really fun now having kids close in age because all of Elijah's friends know his siblings and they all play together and get along well.
We were given a tour of the projector area prior to the movie--very cool! I always assumed it would all be digital, but it isn't--it's 3 foot wide reels of film. The kids were fascinated and the birthday boy got to press the button to start the movie. The movie was the Pink Panther 2--extremely stupid and boy did they laugh their little butts off.
I noticed a gender difference. Both of the girls made a big deal out of including a card in his gift. None of the boys bothered. Annamarie made him a very nice handmade card with a very nice note about hoping he has a very nice birthday...love, Annamarie. Allie bought a card but also signed it "love, Allie". Oh, my. Make note that Allie was his first grade girl and Annamarie is his 2nd grade girl. At this rate those birthday parties are going to be awfully big by high school. I also think Ben is going to steal a lot of them--he and Annamarie hit it right off. I got a chance to talk to her mom when she arrived early to pick her up and found out that Annamarie, like Ben, is a year ahead in school. They are a very interesting family; the father is from Montenegro, which is in the mediterranean; the mom is Serbian. I told the mom I've been to Europe and have family there; she asked where; I said Italy; she said with her heavy accent "Yes, yes, the hair, of course".
Wils had a great time at Lynn's. He and Zac went there and then Brian picked Zac up at 7 after the movie started and they went home to bed and Wil stayed with Lynn. They baked--Wil brought his little baking set that she gave him. After, hearing the details of the party, William told me that when it's time for his birthday, he wants to have the same party as Elijah, except when it is his birthday, he wants to go to the party instead of to Lynn's. Gotcha, Wils! We'll try to accommodate that, for sure!
Our new computer arrived yesterday. Yay! I've barely had time to set it up, and won't have any time until Sunday at the earliest. It's going to be very nice. We also got one of those flip videophones and will be able to upload video clips to this site. That will be fun.
Last night after the party Ariana went to work on a new book using Blurb.com and she let me see the first page. The book is called "just4" and the introduction explains it is about life with 4 brothers who are her best friends. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. And then, as she typed, she raised as finger and said "But I want one more"
They are looking forward to this weekend. We are going to Wisconsin to Gramma and Papa's for Elijah's family party. They will be meeting a new friend, baby Grace Schmidt. I used to babysit Grace's mom, Katie; we had a great time! {"What'dja say, Charlie?"}
Last night was the big party and it went great. We had it at Quarry Cinema in Cold Spring. His guests were Dylan, Dreydin, Allie, Annamarie, Noah, Ariana, and Ben. It's really fun now having kids close in age because all of Elijah's friends know his siblings and they all play together and get along well.
We were given a tour of the projector area prior to the movie--very cool! I always assumed it would all be digital, but it isn't--it's 3 foot wide reels of film. The kids were fascinated and the birthday boy got to press the button to start the movie. The movie was the Pink Panther 2--extremely stupid and boy did they laugh their little butts off.
I noticed a gender difference. Both of the girls made a big deal out of including a card in his gift. None of the boys bothered. Annamarie made him a very nice handmade card with a very nice note about hoping he has a very nice birthday...love, Annamarie. Allie bought a card but also signed it "love, Allie". Oh, my. Make note that Allie was his first grade girl and Annamarie is his 2nd grade girl. At this rate those birthday parties are going to be awfully big by high school. I also think Ben is going to steal a lot of them--he and Annamarie hit it right off. I got a chance to talk to her mom when she arrived early to pick her up and found out that Annamarie, like Ben, is a year ahead in school. They are a very interesting family; the father is from Montenegro, which is in the mediterranean; the mom is Serbian. I told the mom I've been to Europe and have family there; she asked where; I said Italy; she said with her heavy accent "Yes, yes, the hair, of course".
Wils had a great time at Lynn's. He and Zac went there and then Brian picked Zac up at 7 after the movie started and they went home to bed and Wil stayed with Lynn. They baked--Wil brought his little baking set that she gave him. After, hearing the details of the party, William told me that when it's time for his birthday, he wants to have the same party as Elijah, except when it is his birthday, he wants to go to the party instead of to Lynn's. Gotcha, Wils! We'll try to accommodate that, for sure!
Our new computer arrived yesterday. Yay! I've barely had time to set it up, and won't have any time until Sunday at the earliest. It's going to be very nice. We also got one of those flip videophones and will be able to upload video clips to this site. That will be fun.
Last night after the party Ariana went to work on a new book using Blurb.com and she let me see the first page. The book is called "just4" and the introduction explains it is about life with 4 brothers who are her best friends. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. And then, as she typed, she raised as finger and said "But I want one more"
They are looking forward to this weekend. We are going to Wisconsin to Gramma and Papa's for Elijah's family party. They will be meeting a new friend, baby Grace Schmidt. I used to babysit Grace's mom, Katie; we had a great time! {"What'dja say, Charlie?"}
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
More Silly Willy and his protege
Today I'm home with the two little guys. It's always fun to watch them play together.
Wil had preschool this morning (still doing fine!) and Zac and I played and played and played. Then we ran to the grocery store before picking up Wil. We were there to get milk to make homemade yogurt; I used to do that all the time but haven't for awhile and want to get back into it because the heathens would eat yogurt for all 3 meals if they could! Anyway--we were in the diary department and there is this big cow head that moos. When Ana was little she would scream her head off whenever she saw that thing. Zac? Well, he starting mooing and last I checked (as I was putting him down for his nap) he was still mooing.
On the way home I looked in the rearview mirror at Wil and he reminded me of Hans. That has happened before, and it has something to do with his cheeks being full right now. So I said, "Wil, you look like Hans." and Wil said "No, I don't. I'm still just Wil!"
..........................................
A couple days ago I was about to google something and the following term showed up in my search box (meaning it was the last search done):
birthday pardy supplice
Do you think Elijah has been on the computer?
.............................................
A couple quick stories from work. First, we currently have a patient, a younger man (early 40s) who appears normal in every way except one. He is quite convinced the US Marshalls have taken his testicles. He cannot be told otherwise. So, he is with us until he finds them again.
Sunday evening I had my first "assault". Most people working in psych will eventually experience some type of violence by a patient. I have known that and it didn't faze me at all--still doesn't--because there are so many safegaurds in place that rarely does an injury occur. It's just never made me nervous (still doesn't). So anyway I was going on to the unit through the double doors and as I walked in I was attacked from the side by a 91 year old guy. Yeah, 91! But--he is an old farmer and do you know how strong they are? Anyway he tried to strangle me and he used some old military maneuver. He had his huge hands around my neck and I was imagining the headlines: "Nurse Killed By 91 Year old WWII vet". Fortunately his balance, unlike his strength, befit his age, and we were shortly vertical on the floor with a phalanx of staff heading our way.
I was fine, if a bit shaken; he got 1/2 ml of ativan and slept the rest of the night. When he woke up he had no memory whatsoever of what had happened. I had to spend a good deal of the rest of the shift doing paperwork and meeting with police and the doc on call. Yesterday when I got to work my boss called me in and she asked what I thought could be done to improve the blind spot that he was hiding in. So, the VA takes our safety very seriously, and I'm none the worse for wear--plus I have the dubious honor of almost being offed by a nonagenarian.
To close, I want to include a quote from one of my teachers in response to a posting in class (it was, of course, a story from the psych ward. Come to think of it, I'll post that below too). Warning, it's obnoxious, but it's my blog, right? :)
Tracy: What a great story. You need to think about writing as a career. I was on the edge of my seat reading your words waiting to find out what had happened. YOu aslo mentioned purposeful, goal directed and evidence based thinking which is clearly indicative of CT. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
And here is the story:
In psych nursing it seems that the times when we use our critical thinking skills the most are not during medical emergencies but during behavioral ones. Because of this, it is harder to find examples (examples worth noting, anyway) where I have used the principles of science in making critical decisions. However, psych does offer ample opportunity to use thinking skills that are purposeful, goal directed, and evidence based. My unit is acute care so we frequently see out of control behaviors in the emergent setting. The challenge at that time is to take whatever information we have about the patient and use that information to calm the patient and prevent injury to patient and staff alike.One incident I recall with pride as a day when I realized that I could love this speciality. The patient had come in the day before extremely psychotic, believing demons were after him, summoning him, and sodomizing him. He was violently out of control and stated clear homicidal ideation (he thought we were demons also, and he needed to kill us), and for the sake of safety he did have to be restrained. He was the epitome of the stereotypical psych patient--literally stark raving mad. His eyes rolled back into his head and his mouth was foaming as he screamed about the demons on him. I should note that it is rare to see someone quite so psychotically sick. His diagnosis was schizoaffective disorder and he had been off his medications for a long time. He had been found running on a highway naked.The majority of his "ranting" was religious in nature. Those of you in psych know how common this fixation is. It occured to me that a clergy person might help calm him. We called a priest up (the patient was recorded as being Catholic) and the priest laid his hand on the man's forehead and started talking in a very soothing voice about there not being any demons. Now, here I must clarify that this is not intended to be any sort of religious anecdote.Anyway as the priest went through the Catholic rituals (Hail Marys, Our Fathers) the patient fell asleep for the first time since admission. When he awoke he was significantly improved.However, he was still psychotic and unpredictable enough to the point where restraints were still required for his safety and ours as well as the other patients on the unit. He was quick to lunge and strike out when his hands were freed. He was also refusing to take his medications, without which he would never stabilize, and an emergency order was obtained for IM injections. Giving these injections was very challenging because of his strength and violence. The hospital security had to come up each time and help to hold him still so we could give the shot. Needless to say it was very sad to see and experience this, even though he was always treated with the utmost care and respect.During one of these injection administration circuses, I was near his head trying to talk him through it, and it occured to me that the priest had been able to calm him so well. I started saying the Lord's prayer and telling him "Come on, XXX, say it with me. Come on, remember what Father said? Say it with me" and eventually he did begin to follow along. As he focused on the words he was saying he calmed enough so that he was virtually still when he recieved the shot. That was the beginning of his return to health, because after that we knew how to relax him enough to take his medication, which was very effective for him and in turn relaxed him further.By the end of his hospital stay he was a completely different person. He was clean shaven, soft spoken, completely behaviorally appropriate, fully medication compliant, and generally just a really neat guy. I will most definately never forget him!
........................
I see Wil in the living room looking through his cookbook for something for us to make. I better get going.
Wil had preschool this morning (still doing fine!) and Zac and I played and played and played. Then we ran to the grocery store before picking up Wil. We were there to get milk to make homemade yogurt; I used to do that all the time but haven't for awhile and want to get back into it because the heathens would eat yogurt for all 3 meals if they could! Anyway--we were in the diary department and there is this big cow head that moos. When Ana was little she would scream her head off whenever she saw that thing. Zac? Well, he starting mooing and last I checked (as I was putting him down for his nap) he was still mooing.
On the way home I looked in the rearview mirror at Wil and he reminded me of Hans. That has happened before, and it has something to do with his cheeks being full right now. So I said, "Wil, you look like Hans." and Wil said "No, I don't. I'm still just Wil!"
..........................................
A couple days ago I was about to google something and the following term showed up in my search box (meaning it was the last search done):
birthday pardy supplice
Do you think Elijah has been on the computer?
.............................................
A couple quick stories from work. First, we currently have a patient, a younger man (early 40s) who appears normal in every way except one. He is quite convinced the US Marshalls have taken his testicles. He cannot be told otherwise. So, he is with us until he finds them again.
Sunday evening I had my first "assault". Most people working in psych will eventually experience some type of violence by a patient. I have known that and it didn't faze me at all--still doesn't--because there are so many safegaurds in place that rarely does an injury occur. It's just never made me nervous (still doesn't). So anyway I was going on to the unit through the double doors and as I walked in I was attacked from the side by a 91 year old guy. Yeah, 91! But--he is an old farmer and do you know how strong they are? Anyway he tried to strangle me and he used some old military maneuver. He had his huge hands around my neck and I was imagining the headlines: "Nurse Killed By 91 Year old WWII vet". Fortunately his balance, unlike his strength, befit his age, and we were shortly vertical on the floor with a phalanx of staff heading our way.
I was fine, if a bit shaken; he got 1/2 ml of ativan and slept the rest of the night. When he woke up he had no memory whatsoever of what had happened. I had to spend a good deal of the rest of the shift doing paperwork and meeting with police and the doc on call. Yesterday when I got to work my boss called me in and she asked what I thought could be done to improve the blind spot that he was hiding in. So, the VA takes our safety very seriously, and I'm none the worse for wear--plus I have the dubious honor of almost being offed by a nonagenarian.
To close, I want to include a quote from one of my teachers in response to a posting in class (it was, of course, a story from the psych ward. Come to think of it, I'll post that below too). Warning, it's obnoxious, but it's my blog, right? :)
Tracy: What a great story. You need to think about writing as a career. I was on the edge of my seat reading your words waiting to find out what had happened. YOu aslo mentioned purposeful, goal directed and evidence based thinking which is clearly indicative of CT. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
And here is the story:
In psych nursing it seems that the times when we use our critical thinking skills the most are not during medical emergencies but during behavioral ones. Because of this, it is harder to find examples (examples worth noting, anyway) where I have used the principles of science in making critical decisions. However, psych does offer ample opportunity to use thinking skills that are purposeful, goal directed, and evidence based. My unit is acute care so we frequently see out of control behaviors in the emergent setting. The challenge at that time is to take whatever information we have about the patient and use that information to calm the patient and prevent injury to patient and staff alike.One incident I recall with pride as a day when I realized that I could love this speciality. The patient had come in the day before extremely psychotic, believing demons were after him, summoning him, and sodomizing him. He was violently out of control and stated clear homicidal ideation (he thought we were demons also, and he needed to kill us), and for the sake of safety he did have to be restrained. He was the epitome of the stereotypical psych patient--literally stark raving mad. His eyes rolled back into his head and his mouth was foaming as he screamed about the demons on him. I should note that it is rare to see someone quite so psychotically sick. His diagnosis was schizoaffective disorder and he had been off his medications for a long time. He had been found running on a highway naked.The majority of his "ranting" was religious in nature. Those of you in psych know how common this fixation is. It occured to me that a clergy person might help calm him. We called a priest up (the patient was recorded as being Catholic) and the priest laid his hand on the man's forehead and started talking in a very soothing voice about there not being any demons. Now, here I must clarify that this is not intended to be any sort of religious anecdote.Anyway as the priest went through the Catholic rituals (Hail Marys, Our Fathers) the patient fell asleep for the first time since admission. When he awoke he was significantly improved.However, he was still psychotic and unpredictable enough to the point where restraints were still required for his safety and ours as well as the other patients on the unit. He was quick to lunge and strike out when his hands were freed. He was also refusing to take his medications, without which he would never stabilize, and an emergency order was obtained for IM injections. Giving these injections was very challenging because of his strength and violence. The hospital security had to come up each time and help to hold him still so we could give the shot. Needless to say it was very sad to see and experience this, even though he was always treated with the utmost care and respect.During one of these injection administration circuses, I was near his head trying to talk him through it, and it occured to me that the priest had been able to calm him so well. I started saying the Lord's prayer and telling him "Come on, XXX, say it with me. Come on, remember what Father said? Say it with me" and eventually he did begin to follow along. As he focused on the words he was saying he calmed enough so that he was virtually still when he recieved the shot. That was the beginning of his return to health, because after that we knew how to relax him enough to take his medication, which was very effective for him and in turn relaxed him further.By the end of his hospital stay he was a completely different person. He was clean shaven, soft spoken, completely behaviorally appropriate, fully medication compliant, and generally just a really neat guy. I will most definately never forget him!
........................
I see Wil in the living room looking through his cookbook for something for us to make. I better get going.
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