DAY 28 (4 weeks) - 4th September
Keri was up pretty early today as she didn't sleep too well. The fact she was going to be given another mental health act assessment today was really getting to her. She wanted to be up so that it might be possible to see the doctors in the morning as she was planning to go on home leave in the afternoon. Unfortunately, her foster mum was tied up and wasn't going to be able to get down to get Keri to take her for some home leave. Keri loves her foster parents to bits and got quite upset to begin with. She's feeling more and more like a caged animal. Her foster mum has got a 2 day training course tomorrow and Friday which means any hope of Keri seeing her foster family isn't going to be until the weekend! That was the main reason she was so upset. She even put her foster mum's teddy at the back of her wardrobe behind all the DVDs and took off her bracelet and threw it behind the DVDs to join the teddy. I tried to keep her calm but she just wouldn't stop crying. I know that it wasn't just all because she wasn't able to go home for a few hours, it's everything that's built up and it all just came out in tears. Her foster mum not being able to take her home was, what's the saying? The straw that broke the camel's back.
Her mental health act assessment was late afternoon and she was seen by two doctors and an approved mental health professional (aka an AMHP) with Brian sitting in as one of the nurses. One of the doctors was Dr. Dickhead (Keri's nickname for him not mine!). He's the head consultant psychiatrist on the ward. As soon as Keri saw him she thought she'd be able to be discharged. Dr. Dickhead is well known for keeping people in hospital only as an emergency, ESPECIALLY when it comes to keeping people on a section. She thought she was on to a winner! The meeting started out by each of them introducing each other and then Dr. Dickhead started his spiel. I was listening very intently but Keri was barely concentrating. At some stage she'll find this blog post and realise what the hell he was saying!
"Right, Keri, do you know this is a mental health act assessment?" he asked. When Keri nodded he continued. "Well, you were admitted on a section 2 which was mainly for assessment and treatment if we thought you needed it. This assessment is basically to decide what's going to happen now that the 28 days is due to expire. There are four choices here. The first is for me to discharge you and continue treatment at home with your care coordinator and art therapist. The second is for me to discharge you on a Community Treatment Order which means you'll be discharged only if you follow certain conditions such as continuing your medication and going to appointments, if you don't stick to these then we can readmit you back into hospital on a section. The third option is that you stay voluntarily. The final option is that we transfer you to a section 3 which means we can treat you here for up to 6 months. We know already about your DID but this admission is mainly to determine whether we need to keep you here to treat you for a co-morbid psychotic illness. Did you understand all that?"
No, you idiot, of course she didn't. She hardly heard a word. The interview wasn't too long and Keri barely said much. I wouldn't say it even lasted 20 minutes and that was mainly Dr. Dickhead talking! Even so, once they'd finished they said they were going to discuss things for ten minutes and then one of them would come and tell her the outcome. After about 20 minutes the AMHP came in and told Keri that it had been decided that she was deemed as having a psychotic illness that needed to be treated and she was being placed on a section 3. She was still not going to be allowed any leave from the ward without being escorted by staff or a responsible adult (e.g. her outreach worker, her foster parents etc) that could keep an eye on her for any signs that she might do something dangerous like sticking a power drill to her head or running off to the suspension bridge, just a couple of many examples.
Keri was gutted about the outcome. She knows she's going to be here for a while as she isn't even allowed out alone yet. A staff member took her to the supermarket to get some chocolate (Clarissa was screaming for it) and when she got back the physiotherapist then turned up! So she was off to the gym to do her core stability exercises to sort out her joints and that kind of thing. By the time she was taken back to the ward she just wanted to cry her little heart out again. So she got in, hid under her desk and sat there for half an hour crying. She did feel a bit better because it let out a lot of frustration.
Thankfully she hasn't kicked off today. I think she knew deep down that she wouldn't be going home after what they'd said in her ward round yesterday. Sally has been unusually quiet which is normally a sign she's plotting something. Wait, normally? I mean ALWAYS!!! But for now things are calm. She's had all her medication, she's watching Alan Carr's Spexy Beast DVD which she bought today and overall trying to maintain her calm front. She doesn't want anyone to see how miserable she really is. It's unfortunately gotten to the point where Keri is now thinking, in no uncertain terms, "if I don't get this bug out of my head soon I'm just going to kill myself". I hope to god that no one accidentally leaves her unescorted for now. She's like a bubbling volcano of emotions. It's horrible to sit here and not be able to do anything about it.
I'm so glad I've got you guys being so supportive. The DID page is really helping me cope by knowing I'm helping others when I feel helpless in regards to Keri!
P.S Her care coordinator visited but I wasn't really around. All I know is Keri was getting seriously tetchy because her care coordinator kept trying to convince her that the bug in her head was a build up of stress, much like her art psychotherapist telling her the bug is 'metaphorical'...
No comments:
Post a Comment