DAY 117 - 2nd December, Monday
Keri was all for going to bed early last night but it didn't pan out well. She was settled and in bed by 1.15pm but her head was racing too much for her to settle. By the time it hit 2am she was back out in the communal areas again and was given Lorazepam while she was still worked up at 3am. An hour or so later and she finally got off to sleep and forced herself out of bed before midday today! In fact it was before 11.30am! Go Keri!
She wanted to finish off her packing before seeing her psychotherapist which she managed to do. She had quite a good session. They discussed the risks involved with moving to Alder Unit and how to deal with things. Everyone knows Sally is going to push everyone to the absolute edge of the line. But because it's expected, people are ready for it. Some staff have already met me and they'll be meeting Clari tomorrow (she has shopping plans, wait until she finds out she's only allowed out for half an hour!). So the staff are slowly getting used to Keri's switching.
Keri's mum and her partner arrived just before 2pm. Keri had found out she couldn't move to the rehab unit until after 3pm as they needed to sort out handover. So instead they went shopping. Keri had already seen her room and seen the lack of storage facilities so decided she was going to buy a couple of bookshelves (massive DVD collection!) and also a TV cabinet thing. It's basically like a coffee table with compartments but Keri wants a bean bag chair to watch TV with. Well, that's when she gets her TV. Her foster parents can't get it to her until next week but Keri doesn't mind, she's lasted four months without her TV, Wii and blu-Ray player, another week won't hurt.
Keri's mum's partner fixed up the shelves for her. Unlike Lime Unit, visitors are actually allowed into patients' rooms! Keri's mum put together the TV thing but it was painful to watch! Keri's no good at DIY and now I see what side of the family that comes from! But overall it ended up with them having a picnic on her bedroom floor (yes, Keri actually ate!). As it was quite dark they weren't able to take Amos out for a walk so instead Keri spent a while running around with him in the mostly empty car park and throwing a plastic bottle for him to get. She's got some really good photos sent to her from her mum and her partner of her playing with Amos. She had photos of Amos but none with them actually together!
So the rehab unit is pretty good. Keri's key worker sat down and went through her care plan. Keri's currently going to be on hourly observation for a couple of weeks until the staff see if things are settled. Unfortunately there's no hatch on the door which means the staff are going to have to unlock her door and open it to peek inside during the night. Not going to help with the sleep pattern! But that's just the way things are at the moment. She normally wears her headphones anyway so it's doubtful she'll hear them. It's weird lying down without an observation light! She's also only allowed half an hour leave unescorted. They've also made a note that if they think Sally has just stormed out of the ward (they can't stop her) then they can phone the security guards on the suspension bridge directly until it gets to the point that Sally hasn't returned in half an hour, which is when they'd then call the police. Sounds fair to me. Some of the rules are a bit stricter as she's still sectioned, such as her leave. It needs to be officially written down by a consultant psychiatrist, unlike with voluntary patients who can come and go as they please and for however long they want.
Overall it's been a pretty good day. Keri's trying to stay optimistic. She already knows Clari is coming out tomorrow and isn't going to be surprised if she finds herself fighting police officers two weeks later with no memory of getting in that position. It's unlikely it'll be constant dissociation. I think she'll have periods of clarity but a lot of it is going to be people coming in and out. Clari is desperate to get David some clothes! Hopefully she behaves herself tomorrow.
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