YIKES!!!!
Shew, I am way behind in my postings. I apologize for those of you who have been waiting; it's been kind of a crazy week. No worries, I am fine now. Anyway, let's see....what happened this week. Lots, I suppose. I'll fill you in, depending on how much I remember. lol
Tuesday I was in the special procedures portion of the hospital. My understanding of it is that it is basically glorified outpatient surgery. The environment doesn't have to be completely sterilized because they really aren't fully invasive procedures. Most of the patients use conscious sedation, which means that they are sedated but if the physician told them to turn over or whatever they could. They do however have no memory of the procedure; ah, the beauty of conscious sedation. Reminds me of pretty warped mind control, you could pretty much have a patient do whatever you wanted and they would not be aware of it. Kinda freaky. Anywho, other than that....I really didn't do anything. Literally. Did not do ANYTHING. Sat....in a chair in the observation suite for the entire time I was there. I wasn't even allowed to go in the procedure room and WATCH (there were not enough lead vests for everyone to wear....that's a different story). Overall, I was not very pleased with this rotation, but it is dead and buried. I've lived it, done it, etc. Coming up this Tuesday; cardiac cath lab!!!!! We'll see how that goes. Should be exciting!!!!!!!!!!
Now, onto Thursday. Very interesting day in the world of individuals recovering from substance abuse. Unfortunately, I can't really reveal much that occurred, but I will say this; it seemed like I was in a very different environment than what I have observed in the past few weeks. It was a very downer week, to be honest. There was very low group attendances (4 patients out of 10 for one group, then only 5 for the other two morning groups), lack of participation in the two groups I did see, and overall it appeared just a general apathetic atmosphere. It's almost as if some of these people just "cheat the system," if you will; check themselves in, de-tox, clean themselves up, then leave only after a couple of days. They don't go to group; basically, just eat, sleep, smoke, repeat until they feel they are good and ready to leave. And it's sad. It really is, because I was talking to one of the staff members and I voiced that it seemed sometimes their efforts go unnoticed.
The saying really does hold true; you can't help someone who doesn't want to help themselves. Bottom line. And yes, it's sad, but it's also incredibly frustrating, because these are the type of people you will see re-admitted to the unit a few months later. However, there ARE those that I have seen in the past few times I've been here that are very serious about wanting to de-tox and change their lives. I have seen those at every group, participating and contributing and making plans for what will happen to them once they have been discharged. Then sometimes you see the flip-side, in which no matter what you say or do nothing will crack them. They are completely convinced they don't need the group therapies and will just "stop the drugs" and "have no more cravings." They're the ones when you walk out the door at the end of the day that you stop and spare a second thought for them. They're the ones when you lay your head down at night to go to sleep you say an extra prayer for them, even if you've finished praying for the night.
"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living."
Tuesday I was in the special procedures portion of the hospital. My understanding of it is that it is basically glorified outpatient surgery. The environment doesn't have to be completely sterilized because they really aren't fully invasive procedures. Most of the patients use conscious sedation, which means that they are sedated but if the physician told them to turn over or whatever they could. They do however have no memory of the procedure; ah, the beauty of conscious sedation. Reminds me of pretty warped mind control, you could pretty much have a patient do whatever you wanted and they would not be aware of it. Kinda freaky. Anywho, other than that....I really didn't do anything. Literally. Did not do ANYTHING. Sat....in a chair in the observation suite for the entire time I was there. I wasn't even allowed to go in the procedure room and WATCH (there were not enough lead vests for everyone to wear....that's a different story). Overall, I was not very pleased with this rotation, but it is dead and buried. I've lived it, done it, etc. Coming up this Tuesday; cardiac cath lab!!!!! We'll see how that goes. Should be exciting!!!!!!!!!!
Now, onto Thursday. Very interesting day in the world of individuals recovering from substance abuse. Unfortunately, I can't really reveal much that occurred, but I will say this; it seemed like I was in a very different environment than what I have observed in the past few weeks. It was a very downer week, to be honest. There was very low group attendances (4 patients out of 10 for one group, then only 5 for the other two morning groups), lack of participation in the two groups I did see, and overall it appeared just a general apathetic atmosphere. It's almost as if some of these people just "cheat the system," if you will; check themselves in, de-tox, clean themselves up, then leave only after a couple of days. They don't go to group; basically, just eat, sleep, smoke, repeat until they feel they are good and ready to leave. And it's sad. It really is, because I was talking to one of the staff members and I voiced that it seemed sometimes their efforts go unnoticed.
The saying really does hold true; you can't help someone who doesn't want to help themselves. Bottom line. And yes, it's sad, but it's also incredibly frustrating, because these are the type of people you will see re-admitted to the unit a few months later. However, there ARE those that I have seen in the past few times I've been here that are very serious about wanting to de-tox and change their lives. I have seen those at every group, participating and contributing and making plans for what will happen to them once they have been discharged. Then sometimes you see the flip-side, in which no matter what you say or do nothing will crack them. They are completely convinced they don't need the group therapies and will just "stop the drugs" and "have no more cravings." They're the ones when you walk out the door at the end of the day that you stop and spare a second thought for them. They're the ones when you lay your head down at night to go to sleep you say an extra prayer for them, even if you've finished praying for the night.
"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living."
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