DAY 159 - 13th January, Monday
Well, it's Monday, which means it's physical obs day! Keri's obs were a bit odd considering she's not been eating. Matt did her obs in the end. He noted how shallow her breathing was so her resp rate was slightly elevated. Her oxygen sats were perfect. Her blood pressure was getting a bit on the low side. Her temperature was elevated, still within the normal range but on the high end. She didn't feel feverish. If anything she felt the complete opposite! Her pulse was over 100 as usual. Her peak flow was 300, it should be above 400 at least. She was also weighed. Her plan is to fast until her next weigh in, which will be in a week when all the physical obs are done again. She also had blood taken for various reasons. I think Matt was just ticking random boxes!
So this is day 2 of Keri's fast and she's feeling very drained and getting severe abdominal pains. Normally, people would eat at that stage but Keri? It makes her even more stubborn to not eat and force herself through it. Apparently the first three days are the hardest or something like that. I don't know. Keri's the expert on all the food stuff. I personally love food, especially when it's cooked by our foster mum. I don't care about calories! Is it a crime to eat food? Well, according to Keri it is!
There were a mass of phone calls today trying to sort out management. Her observation levels have had to be kept the same; hourly checks while she's in her room and one to one whenever she's out of her room. All her leave is still suspended so Simon kindly went and got Keri some nesquik and diet coke from Tesco before he left to go home. That was nice of him.
I'm afraid I have to say it's a good job Keri's observation levels weren't changed! It was early evening and complete dark outside and Keri started hearing unknown voices. I don't know what these voices were as I'd never heard them! Plus they weren't coming from our house in Keri's head. They were coming from external things and telling Keri to kill herself, that she was worthless, that she needed to die, that if she didn't do it then someone she loves will get hurt. In the end these unknown voices (presumably auditory hallucinations) got Keri building up like a pressure cooker. Normally Keri wouldn't leave the unit if she didn't have permission but after frantically pacing out in the garden with cigarettes and Andy trying to talk to her to see if he could help, she walked straight inside through a different door to Andy and walked straight out of the front of the unit. She speed walked down the pavement and was clutching at her head shouting for these voices to shut up.
As soon as the staff saw her leave they tried calling her but she couldn't hear them over the noise. Just as she was close to getting off the grounds, two of the staff from Alder ran up to her and stood in front of her to stop her going any further. Keri was staring at the ground, listening to these voices, unresponsive to anything the staff were trying to say to her. She just stood there hyperventilating, moving from one foot to the other, completely disconnected. She was in the same state she gets in if she's found wandering aimlessly across railways without even realising she was on any.
After several minutes the staff seemed to get through to Keri that they weren't going to let her go any further. Adam was waiting at the unit to see if he could help when they managed to get Keri back. They did eventually get her walking back to the unit, still clutching at her head and not quite realising where she was walking. If a car had started driving towards her then the staff would've had to pull her out of the way. She was completely gone.
Instead of sitting in one of the small lounges like she was told as the staff took her inside, she made her way to her room, still clutching at her head because of the noise. Adam followed her upstairs and Keri sat on her bed rocking back and forth and crying.
"God, I just wish there was something I could do Keri," he said. "You look so distressed at the moment and I know things are really hard going for you right now."
While Adam talked, Keri started listening partially to what he was saying.
"I... need to go," she suddenly said while Adam was mid-sentence.
"Keri, we can't let you go," he said.
"They won't stop talking!" she cried. "They won't stop until I'm dead!"
"Are they pressuring you into doing these things?" Adam asked sympathetically.
With a sad glance at him she nodded. He got her some medication and Keri went down to smoke. Two staff stood outside with her while she paced up and down. They were well aware that Sally could jump the fence in a flash, so assumed Keri could do. Keri was too revved up and probably would've been able to get over as easily as Sally normally did.
Keri absconded at about 7.30pm. An hour after her Diazepam and 15 minutes after having additional medication, Lorazepam. After she was brought back she was then given - in the space of two hours - another dose of Lorazepam, Promethazine, Quetiapine, another one of her Diazepam doses and Mirtazapine. Give it 40 minutes and she'll be back downstairs having her sleeping tablet! Why is this girl not unconscious right now?
No comments:
Post a Comment