Sigh

During my visit on Sunday, Toots kept insisting that she doesn't need to be in the hospital, she hates it, she knows what she has to do, etc. etc.

Last night at 9:30, we received a phone call from a nurse on her unit. Toots "had a bad day" yesterday, which means she balked at requests, spoke nastily to staff, picked arguments with other girls, refused to do her schoolwork, etc. etc. Her aggression escalated on the unit last evening. She scratched her arm, although she didn't have anything at hand to cut herself with. She also punched a staff member in the face. The nurse told us that the injured staffer has a cut on the lip, and that's all. Thank God. Toots had to be restrained (they use manual holds only) and given "stat" medication (quick-acting sedative). She was put back on one-to-one, with a staff member with her at all times. They had her sleep in the common area of the unit, rather than in her room, for monitoring purposes.

If she does get out into the "real world", how long would it take for her to hit someone and be arrested for assault? Worse, what if she hits a police officer (she's done it before, but no serious consequences because she's a minor and a psych patient)and gets Tasered or shot?

Another step backwards

Toots is back on " close supervision", with a staff member near her at all times. She is upset about being referred to Big Children's Hospital and doesn't want to go there. So, she cut her arm three times (with what? Somehow she gets hold of things with points or edges), and stood outside the nursing station refusing to budge (I'm not sure about the timeline here).

I feel that 99 out of 100 people would not want to be on close supervision, and would act any way they needed to in order to end it. Sometimes it seems as if Toots welcomes it. She's always been all about the attention, and there's no attention more total than this. Just another aspect of Toots that is hard to understand.

Enough about that. Baggage of I'm looking for baggage that goes with mine is feeling especially sad today over a piece of medical news. Go show her some love.