I cant make this up folks!

So work is a little crazy lately and I have come to terms that nothing fails to amaze me.  The other day I had to sit for an autistic 14 year old kids who was admitted her hyponatremia (a fluid imbalance with sodium).  Why does he need a sitter I asked.  Oh he was chasing his mom around the house and very aggressive lately so the doctors want a sitter in the room.  I was like okay and went about my day with him.  I asked what toys he liked and got similar ones from our closet, I ordered a breakfast that he loved, we watched the Muppet Movie with a lot of songs.  The day was going good.  Then he decided he wanted to go home.

I tried all I could to keep him calm.  If he wanted to put his pants on that was no problem .  All he wore was camo and if that made him feel more at home I was okay with it.  If he wanted to have another apple juice that was no problem.  But when he wanted to leave, that was a problem.  The nurse, mom and I were all in the room when he got irate.  We tried our best to contain him in the room, but then he started swinging and we couldn't stop him from getting out the door.  He darted down the hall with the nurse and I chasing after him.  The nurses at the nurses station called security because there was no way we were going to contain this 250 lb. boy.  He had the mental status of a three year old but the body of a grown man.  We were able to distract him with the doll houses, but it wasn't long before he re-realize his mission to go home and went for the elevator.  I was trying to give him space yet block him from running off. All I was thinking was what if a visitor comes up in the elevator.  They have no idea what they are walking into.  There were about 10 people around to contain the situation from RNs to charge nurses to unit directors to doctors to security.  It took 3 6 foot security guards to contain this child.  He pulled the buttons off one guards uniform, broke the walkie-talkie.  He was out of control and then all of a sudden he just started crying.  We were able to get him back to his room and sit down and he sobbed for at least a half an hour.  He said he wanted a hug and when he called his dad at home all he could say was he got upset.  He kept telling us he got upset and just cried.  finally exhaustion got the best of him and he just crashed.  We didn't have to restrain him physically or medically.  There was an instant psych consult, the chaplin was in the room talking with the mom and my resource unit director even came down to see that I was okay and if I needed anything.  While an unfortunate event, the rapid response from everyone made me love the hospital even more.

I stayed in the room and talked with mom until I got pulled to another floor.  What I love about pediatrics is so much of nursing care is directed to the families and not just the patients.  One would think perhaps this is a bad mother for not knowing how to control her son, but then I find out she was a foster mother of 12 and has adopted this and another son through the process.  Her eldest son is even more of a handful than this one with homicidal thoughts who just got out of the hospital for chasing them with a knife.  While not probing, the mother opened up about her home situation.  Her other son had been writing manifestos about how he was going to kill her and his siblings since he was 7!  She told me how he writes detailed plans on how he can do it and not get caught and then makes her read them.  Inside Im like holy shit! but on the outside I'm calmly like that must be very hard for you as if this a something I hear all the time.  This it's time for me to more to another floor so I let mom know what the plan is and point out that the giant security guard that is now stationed in their room is probably going to be more effective than I.  She simply said, Christina, you're done more than you give yourself credit for...

Then I go upstairs and this kid needs his new toy that he won from bingo opened.  After reading the instructions I was like sorry bud, but you need a screwdriver to get the batteries in and all of a sudden he whips out a mini screwdriver from his pocket.  I was flabbergasted and like ugh why do you have this?!  He was like so I can fix stuff, very nonchalantly.  At this point in the day I was like whatever, and set up his travel size bop it!

I couldn't wait to go home 12 hours is long, but 12 eventful hours like I've had is very draining let me tell ya!  It was almost time to go and a nurse texted me asking me to bring clean sheets to a child's room.  She was one of the cutest little 4 year olds I've ever seen (aside from my own family of course) and just not feeling that well.  She had a ng tube in and mom was holding her while I changed the sheets and got everything all nice and tidy.  The second she put the child back in the bed she projectile vomited all over the clean sheets.  I just calmly was like well I guess Ill be back with a clean set, is there anything else you need?!  Mom jokingly was like apparently she likes you and wants you stick around for a while.  While adorable, I was not having it after the day I had, but I put on that happy face and re-changed her bed.  The funny thing about this whole day was I didn't hate it at all.  It tested my patience and I might have complained, but I never was like I need to call in sick or complain to anyone.  I never questioned if this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  I just took each event in stride and chalked it up as an "experience." :o)