divulgence // luke hemmings au

41

[PLEASE REFRAIN READING THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER IF YOURE TRIGGERED BY CHAPTERS DEPICTING MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES AND HEALING]

***PLEASE BE AWARE OF SENSITIVE TOPICS THAT ARE ABOUT TO BE ADDRESSED IN THE FOLLOWING DIALOGUE.

Luke began a stint on the psych floor due to a nursing shortage because of a couple of staff members going on maternity and medical leave.

On the first shift, Luke got a tour of the floor and a run down of each patient being show to take careful notes in his head.

They made it to the first door Luke stopping with the charge nurse, Cecilia, and they peaked in the room seeing a young teenage girl journaling. It instantly reminded him of Elsie.

"This patient here is nineteen years old and is on week three of her eating disorder treatment"

"Oh" Luke whispered just peering through the window on the door taking mental notes of the patient.

"Her name is Iris, she's got a PICC line in her left arm and a nasogastric tube in her right nostril and she speaks to a therapist daily"

"Noted"

"Iris has been a bit difficult some staff refuse to work with her. She can be very resistant, obnoxious and inattentive."

"How is she clinically?" Luke asked know folding his arms in front of him.

"Alright for now. We've been giving her fluids five times a day and she seems to only allow us to do two feedings per day but that's progress from when she first came in."

"What was her starting point if you don't mind me asking?"

"Hunger strikes, and pretending to eat and drink just to flush everything down the toilet. The only reason why she has a line and tube is because her parents got legal papers so they can be her medical proxies so she can get help."

"It's good that she's got a support system that goes a long way especially for people going through mental health issues"

"Yeah I know, I'm hoping that as the days progress that she opens up a bit more and softens up her attitude"

"She'll come around, I'll get through to her"

They walked toward the next patients room, stopping looking through the crack of the door, it appeared to be a man eating a sandwich.

"Here is Jerry, he's a forty eight year old male who is in addiction recovery. He's getting clean from cocaine and heroine. He's a bit of newer patient he's only been here twelve days"

"Oh so what's Jerry's treatment regime so far?"

"Therapeutic activities, group therapy and we have him on a high fluid intake and a Benzodiazepine"

"He looks pretty content as he's eating"

"He can be a bit outlandish. Sometimes he raises his voice at staff members and throws food. I think the treatment we have him on now is way better than the beginning ."

"How was his detoxing process?"

"I don't wanna sugarcoat things Luke but it had to be hell. There was a lot of screaming, sweating, puking.. luckily the head doctor was able to give him meds to ease everything."

"Well that's good to hear because people deserve to heal without pain"

"Moving on" Cecilia said, walking him over to another room. This one had a child in it and sitting next to the bed in a chair looked like the child's mother.

"Ok so this is nine year old Nathan. He's non verbal and communicates using an iPad and beside him is his mother Marie."

"Why would a non verbal child need to be on the pysch floor?"

"He's actually going through extensive mental health testing. He has a lot of aggressive and emotional outbursts and has hit and bit other kids at school. The school thinks there's a deeper problem."

"Okay I see. Have the doctors figured anything out yet?"

"No not necessarily."

Cecilia took him to the next room.

"Okay so in this room is seventy one year old Sheila. She has dementia and a laundry list of other problems as well as some undiagnosed issues."

"Shouldn't she be on the geriatric floor or the memory care unit?"

"She should but isn't because her family caught her trying to set fire to the house at night and they want her evaluated further and monitored."

"How's she been?"

"She's quiet during the day but at night that's when she gets really animated and way more confused."

"I got two more patients to introduce you to before I let you go do your rounds is that okay?"

"Yep that's perfect" Luke responded following his boss for the day wiping his palms on his pants.

"Alright so in this room we have Peter he's eighty three and is having diabetes issues but he's up here because his doctor wants to ensure that his depression and anxiety disorders are treated properly"

"And over here in this other room is Serena she's thirty one has a kidney infection but her doctor wants her up here so her borderline personality disorder can be managed and treated properly"

"Noted! And what are these other empty rooms for?"

"We always have at least two open rooms in case people get sent from the emergency room"

"That makes sense! Thank you for giving me a run down about every thing, Cecilia."

The two shook hands, "thank you for accepting this temporary job. if you have questions or need anything page me. My page code is 4321"

"I'll make sure I remember that. Where are the charts?"

"The charts are at the circular desk at the end of the hallway, don't worry about updating the digital record, just make sure you regularly up date the paper charts."

"Got it."

"Good luck, I'll see you later before shift change."

To be continued...