DAY 138 - 23rd December, Monday
Oh my Jesus Christ, today has not been good! It started out okay as Keri's brother came to visit her. She'd refused to get out of bed so the staff brought him upstairs and he managed to get her up, especially with the threat of chucking water on her! She had a cup by her bedside from when the staff had come in earlier to give her her medication. He brought us some presents! I haven't opened my card or anything yet as I haven't had the chance! Keri also gave him his present which she demanded he open while he was there. It was a set of headphones which he seemed to really like, and I'm not talking little things. They were £80! So she's glad he likes them.
With a headache all day she decided to risk it to go out on leave to go on a binge spree. She wasn't feeling tense and only had the nagging headache so decided to push herself. She managed to get back to the ward safely, and with her bag of food so all went well there. However during the course of the day she started getting very tense. Emma, her key nurse, gave her some Lorazepam to see if it would take the edge off. It didn't.
By the time it got to handover, Sally had decided she wanted to sabotage Keri's leave, the leave she's been working so hard to get so she can spend the day with her foster family for Christmas. During handover, Sally decided to yet again jump the fence. No one realised she was missing until about ten which gave Sally a good half an hour head start. She got to the observatory very quickly and instead of letting Keri out Sally decided to have a go at the bridge herself. When security pulled her down, Keri came out for a few minutes (although because Sally was still domineering she doesn't remember coming out). She pleaded with the guards to let her go over the fence and the police arrived very quickly as they already knew she was in the area. The police helicopter had followed Sally for about twenty minutes as she was making her way to the bridge.
As soon as the police arrived, they saw the beginning of Keri and how upset she was. But then after the police managed to get one cuff on her wrist she went into a dissociative state where she was unresponsive to anyone, completely rigid, and staring down at the water from the fence. The police and guards tried to get a response but she was totally gone. At that point the body was a shell and no personality filled it. Then suddenly, realising she was being cuffed, Sally came out again. Like an explosion, she let loose at the officers until they managed to get her hands cuffed behind her back. Baring in mind the police van was only parked six feet away in the middle of the bridge, it took several police officers to be able to carry her to the van and get her inside the cage. She managed to kick one of them in the chest, hit one in the face and elbow one in the ribs; even while handcuffed. I have to admit that Sally has skill when it comes to being violent in almost impossible situations.
Sally was left alone in the cage with an officer watching her from the back seat, and two colleagues following behind due to how violent Sally was being. This also meant they put they're lights and sirens on. Very slyly Sally managed to slowly ease her hand out of one of the cuffs. She knew there was a razor blade concealed within the lining of her coat (which meant if she was searched no one would find it). As soon as she got the cuffs off one hand she went straight for her pocket.
"Stop the van!" shouted the officer watching her. "She's uncuffed herself!"
With a quick siren and a sudden stop, the officers went to the back of the van and opened the doors. With two free hands she managed to assault another two police officers and find herself facedown in the cage being handcuffed again. Did this stop her? She kept trying to get the cuffs off. It's left marks over Keri's hands, some from where the cuffs were, others from scraping her hand out of them.
On arrival back at the unit, Sally was still being extremely verbally and physically aggressive. Four officers stayed with Sally while a nurse tried to get her to take some medication. Sally was still handcuffed and had been forced to sit down. The nurse was trying to get the pills into Sally's mouth but she was having none of it.
"Fuck off you dirty bitch," screamed Sally. "I ain't takin' none of that fuckin' poison!"
In the end, two other nurses had to be called from other units as it took eight people to be able to sort Sally out. As she was refusing any form of pill, phone calls were being made to Lime Unit. They were checking to see if their seclusion room was free so that Sally could spend the night there and have an intramuscular injection as she was refusing any form of medication and had also assaulted several police officers due to her violent behaviour, not something that Alder Unit can deal with. After half an hour of sitting there trying to get out of the handcuffs she finally gave in. There was no way she was going to let Keri back out while in the seclusion unit. In the end, the nurse got three pills and one by one put them in Sally's mouth, had a sip of water, then repeated a couple of times; Lorazepam, Quetiapine, Mirtazapine. Sally felt totally patronised as if she was being spoon fed like a baby. When it looked like the situation was less volatile, they took the handcuffs off of Sally and eventually the police officers left, with the reassurance that every door was locked and secured (to the annoyance of one of the other patients who hadn't gone to bed yet).
After demanding to have a cigarette the two staff went outside with her to make sure she didn't jump the fence again. The other two staff went back to their wards, reassuring the staff on Alder that they'd rush back ASAP if needed and would try and keep the seclusion room free. That thankfully wasn't necessary. When Sally went back inside, she said, "I'm going upstairs. I'm letting Keri back out. She won't remember anything that happened so good luck explaining that to her you pricks." And with that, she was off to Keri's room. Obviously there was a lot more verbal abuse involved between her, the staff and the officers but I can't write down all of it, I'd be writing a novel otherwise.
When Keri came out, she saw the pile of wet clothes, felt the bruises on her wrists, saw the scraped skin where Sally had been getting out of the handcuffs and noticed a new note on her wardrobe saying, "Keri. Your leave is fucked. Enjoy Xmas." On seeing all this Keri burst into tears for a good fifteen minutes and then text her foster mother saying that Christmas was ruined, which turned into a short phone call about what had happened, except Keri couldn't tell her much as she'd been too scared to go and talk to the staff. She had no idea who was working this evening because Sally disappeared during handover. She plucked up the courage after her phone call and spent a good hour or so chatting with the staff in their office about what had happened. She got quite upset when she was told they were going to have to put Sally in seclusion because she'd assaulted several police officers. Keri felt so ashamed. They explained that Sally had been brought back from the bridge again (the second time in just three days). This lead on to a conversation about Keri's DID as she wanted someone to understand. The staff were quick to realise how terrifying it must be, having complete amnesia and then finding yourself in confusing or dangerous situations. She was then reminded about the fact she was never going to be able to get a driver's licence until Sally's anger has been sorted out.
So now Keri's sat in her room and it's 2.30am. Is that it? I'm nocturnal and even I'm feeling tired! Probably a combination of Sally's trek and the amount of medication in Keri's body. They've given her more Diazepam half an hour ago as well so she'll sleep well. If she's had a major dissociative episode then she can sleep for England the day afterwards as it exhausts her so much. The problem is she wants to be up so she can beg for her leave. She had a discussion about it with the night staff and they're writing everything down. Even if it means Liz has to take care of Keri's medication, including extra Lorazepam (which will very likely be needed) to make sure things stay stable. I'll be being picked up by Liz anyway, the rest is down to Keri. I'm reassured that she'll have all her medication to hand. I doubt Sally will come out. There's going to be ten people, including Keri. Over 50 if you include all of us too! Let's hope Christmas Eve brings some much needed rest, for all of us!
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