Completing the cycle
Written by Student Nurse Jason Wilson 8/6/2010 11:35:49 AM
This is an exciting follow up to the patient I took care of two weeks ago. (Read experiences in psychiatry.) In case you need a refresher, she is a paranoid schizophrenic. She was telling me she heard Satan’s voice and whispered because she didn’t want the people in “cyberspace” to hear her. She was unkempt and couldn’t hold a conversation. She had flight of ideas and wanted to harm herself.
I saw her again this past weekend when I was assigned to the unit she was on. She looked completely fine! Better than fine actually, she was smiling and putting on weight. She looked like she had finally slept and was ready to leave. She remembered who I was and the conversation we had.
"It’s nice to see a friendly face!” she said with enthusiasm.
“You look so much better,” I replied.
“I feel better. I am meeting with my team tomorrow and we’re going to talk about me going home.”
We spoke about the visit she had with her mother, and how nice it was to have a mother like she did. Her mother was taking care of her business while she was in the hospital.
“It’s such a piece of mind to know that she was there,” she said.
I am not anxious for her as she heads home. It sounds like she has a good support system in place and she will do well.
This situation gave me hope for others. I don’t know that I had ever seen anyone as sick as she was “recover” to a place where, if I had seen her on the street or in the store, I would have had no clues that she was mentally ill.
I understand not everyone will get “better” or even be as functional as she was, but it was nice to see the complete cycle from someone in crisis to that same someone much better than they had been.
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