Psychiatric Nursing Part 2- Memorable Patients

Before posting about the therapies and my process recording (Process Recording is the flow of conversation between the therapist with some psyche explanations and many more.), I think I have to tell you first about the notable people that I met inside.

NOTE: I cannot mention the names of the patients. As a rule, I do not mention the names of my patients, other patients, my professors, my Clinical Instructors and my school and even the hospitals where I attend my duty. It is a self-imposed rule.

SPO1 (Not Senior Police Officer, SPO means Sexually Pre-Occupied):

Uhm… on our first day, SPO1 was the most enthusiastic inside the patients’ dorm. I was actually thinking of taking him as my client but the choice of patients was not in our hands but in the attendant’s hand. He was really cheerful and we didn’t know that he loves to masturbate.

During the first day, since it was all sunny, he kept on telling Leslie and Jovelle, his nurses, how happy he was. He was really cooperative though very submissive in my patient’s taunting. He would just say, “Ay oo nga po. Tama po kayo” (Oh yes. You are right.) then nervously laughs. If asked whether to fight or to fly, he would rather fly. When subjected to stress he would ask if he can urinate.

The second day was a different story. It was cloudy. When we came to fetch our clients, Jovelle didn’t seem to be that eager to meet him anymore. He was not wearing his pants. He had to be instructed to wear his pants. The first thing that we do to our clients is to reorient them, we ask them what the date and year is, and if they recall us. I observed that SPO1 seemed to have not recalled the two girls’ names. He would ask if he can read their names on their name plates which were pinned, guess where, on their left breast chest. He would look at their breastsnameplates and try to grab them. Thank goodness Leslie and Jovelle got the hint and were very careful since then. I think what they lack was force, they cannot set limits to their client, they were too namby pamby (physically and otherwise).

They suspected also that SPO1 has a Seasonal Affective Disorder. He could not concentrate on his drawing. He kept on glancing at Leslie, his eyes bulging. He kept on complaining that he can’t draw. He started calling our attentions if he could go and urinate every after thirty seconds. After a few minutes, Jovelle asked me if I can escort her patient instead. I intently observed if he was really urinating. With 10 urine breaks in five minutes, who would not think of other things. To my surprise, he still have an adequate supply of urine in his bladder. He did this on the entire Music and Art therapy. GRABE! and he is thin.

When Jovelle and Leslie were already conducting their interview with him, they noticed that he put his hand inside his pants and, well, shook it violently then tried to grab Leslie. Leslie called our Clinical Instructor’s attention and she firmly told him to not do it anymore. He said yes, “Ay opo Maam. Tama po Kayo.” Leslie and jovelle decided to exchange patients with Hanzel (partnered with Angelo) and Alexander(partnered with Kristel). SPO1 was deeply enraged. He kept on telling us that he wanted the girls to be his nurse. Later on during their conversation Hanzel found out that SPO1 thought that Leslie thinks that she is his wife. So it was Leslie’s fault all along.

SPO2-

I didn’t like him. Among the patients that we had, he’s the dumbest. He answers the questions incoherently and in a whisper.

Jovelle, after exchanging patients with Alex observed that he is also an SPO. He asked me if I can temporarily do the process recording for her. I let Aiza do the process recording of our patient (we decided to take turns asking questions) instead. I learned a lot of things that his original nurses were not able to extract from him… but I could not stand the smell. Combine the scent of urine, saliva, sweat and human feces; now imagine it (mhmmm heavenly.).

He loves to sing, according to my patient, so I ended the conversation singing the national anthem of the Philippines on top of my voice with him whispering the lyrics. My patient looked at us so I asked him what is his favorite music, he said “Bawal na Gamot” (Prohibited Drugs) because he used marijuana in the past. He sang it and then all our patients sang with him. Neil’s patient heard him and started with a tune of “Maging Sino Ka Man” of Sharon Cuneta. Everyone sang with him also, even their respective Nurses. It was fun, except for the scent.

Miss Pink

I assisted her ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy.)

If not because of her pink suit and we were not inside the Mental Hospital, I would have thought that she is normal. She is very oriented and answers my questions well. I discovered that she has been confined for tent years because she loves committing suicide. According to her, yesterday was her second doze of ECT. I asked her if it hurts she said it wasn’t.

When I have already tied her extremities on the bed’s head and foot board, I asked her if she was nervous, she said not at all.

I was really overwhelmed by the whole process. The wires are put on the patient’s temporal for ten seconds only, causing her back to rise and her whole body to stretch hard. I held her left shoulder and arms firmly to support her in her seizure. It was really easy and the movies, like “A Beautiful Mind”, which present scenes with ECT’s are really over dramatizing the process.

Mr Siga

Neil’s ptient. The sanest among the insane. He is like a normal person. He’s jokes are really funny and his works in Music and art therapy and other therapies were outstanding. He has a good sense of humor.

He seemed to be the leader in their Dorm In fact I saw him locking the door of their dorm with the keys in his hand. He doesn’t smell. He’s okay.

One time he observed SPO1 trying to grab Leslie and Jovelle. He confronted him and said, “Wag kang nangdadakma. Mamaya may madakma ka dyan. Ikaw talaga ayusin mo yan ha.” (dont grab the girls. what if you grabbed a sensitive part.). He also stopped my patient when he started taunting SPO1 in the Family tree Therapy.

F.d.L.

When we went to visit the “payward” a young, good-looking boy got my attention, he seemed to be at my age. He was staring at Neil. When he saw me looking at him, he glanced the other way. I told Neil that the boy looks familiar; he exclaimed that he does look familiar. I didn’t know that the rest of the guys (the girls are in the female ward where we’re prohibited) were also observing him and all think they’ve seen him before. We told this to girls and they say that according to the previous batch of students, there is a guy from our school who was just recently confined. It must be him because his surname, although starting with a “D” was written at the bottom of the Vital Sign records. Plus it was in black ink while all the names are in blue.

Kid

Among the patients, he is the most special to us. He seems like afflicted with cerebral palsy. He has those gesture.

He cannot draw nor write a letter. So during the Music and Art and Family Tree Therapy, he would just write zigzag lines on his paper. He would stop and exclaim his name everytime he draws a stick and an “o” which looks like the number ten. According to Lallaine, he observed that although he seemed to be more debilitated that the other patients, he is very clean. she suspects that “kid” might jave been lost and was just picked up by someone and sent him to the Mental Hospital. He doesn’t have any scars, even those from scabies.