Last night at work...

Last night was rough. Well the last eight hours anyway. There I was back on the locked unit. My friend Julie was charge nurse and her prediction was that at 3am the shit would hit the fan...she was pretty much dead on.

We had a new admit that had been sleeping most of the night. A young lady in a very high manic state. When she woke she immediately fell in step with a young man I call the Dismantler (the fire alarm, exit signs..etc) They fell in love in all of about 5 minutes and started to carry on in the hallway so that it was apparent that they needed to be separated. When you are manic it is not unknown to lose your boundaries and become hyper sexual. So we acquired a sitter for the Dismantler and thought that would if not solve the problem then at least make it easier on everyone. Not so much. The high manic lady had another problem she wanted a cigarette. My hospital is a non-smoking facility...not on the grounds, not in your car on the grounds, don't even blow smokes on the grounds, not tolerated and you will be written up, you hear?

So High Manic Panic girl starts jonesing for a cig. She states that the ER told her if she signed admission papers she would be allowed out to smoke once she finished the process and was transferred upstairs. That makes no sense because on nights the only door open is the ER, they are 4 steps away from University property which is where everyone smokes. Why would you admit a patient walk her all the way to the other side of the hospital and then let the psych staff deal with it..(oh now I get it let the psych staff deal with it) So she starts screaming and throwing things and generally just causing a commotion. We ended up having to call security. So while security is on the floor the Dismantler is confined to his room (he is feeling very protective of High Manic Panic Girl) He starts screaming about taking him instead of her that he would go to seclusion or take the shot whatever was going to happen to her. (How very noble, don't you think?) One of the psych nurses is able to talk her down for at least a little while and we are able to avoid any further disruption.

I was sooo tired after all of this...but it is a little Romeo and Juliet. "Take me, take me" he kept screaming "Leave her alone" After 20 minutes of knowing her he was ready to drop it all and be her hero. I want that kind of power, Damn!