Lucky Part II

The same nurse, led the way to a small room, it had a desk, three chairs, a phone and a blood pressure cuff crammed in there. She sat at the desk and we began my interview. She asked me the same questions as everyone else. She asked why I did this, what led up to this and then she threw in some random questions to make sure I wasn't delusional. What is the date, what year, what time, my first and last name. It just went on and on and on. I answered all her questions satisfactorily and it finally ended. Then she checked all my vitals. I must have been calming down as my blood pressure was back to normal, my heart rate was normal and I was beginning to feel exhausted. Finally, left the tiny interview room so she could give me the tour. Not much of a tour when you are in a locked ward. If you needed anything at all, you had to get out of bed and go to the nurses station. There were no call buttons, meals were served cafeteria style and there was one phone for patient use. As she showed me around, I asked for something to eat. I sat in the waiting room for 10 hours, I was starving. We went to the cafeteria where she gave me a salmon sandwich, milk and orange juice. I hate fish but I was starving. So I ate it without trying to taste it. I gazed around the room, there were a few games and puzzles. There was a shelf with a very sad assortment of books. Then, I noticed on another shelf, photocopied pages of a coloring book. Next to the pictures of puppies was a container full of crayons. No markers, no pens or pencil crayons. They worry patients may try to harm themselves with items so only crayons are allowed. Within minutes of eating the fish, I began to feel sick to my stomach. I walked the long hallway back to my bed. I crawled in and again I didn't cry. I thought I would but I didn't. I layed in bed and the nurse brought me some meds. Two ativan and a sleep aid. I asked if they were my meds I had brought with me and she said no. I was not allowed to have my meds as the doctor had placed a hold on them. So I received a less than half dose of my sleep aid and nothing for pain for my shoulder. I was already unhappy, now I knew I wouldn't sleep and I felt sick. She left and came back with papers for me to sign. Eventually she left for what I hoped would be the rest of the night. No such luck. They do bed checks every hour. They open the door and peer in with a camping lantern to make sure you are still in bed. What fresh hell was this, what had I gotten myself into I wondered. After the second or third bed check, I finally spoke to a nurse about my upset stomach. She came back with ginger ale and crackers. She said she wouldn't be able to give me any gravol or pain medication unless the doctor prescribed it and he wouldn't be in until the morning. We are in a general hospital, what do you mean there is no doctor?! At some point, I fell asleep. I don't know what time as there are no clocks allowed on the ward. It is the place that time forgot. I was angry and upset, I felt sick and there was nothing I could do. No one could help me, and now I was trapped in here. Before I knew it, there was a new nurse in my room. She was there to wake me and my roommate for breakfast. She came in, announced the time 7:45 am, and that breakfast was now being served. I'm sure I looked at her with glaring, fiery eyes that said how dare you disturb me at this ungodly hour. I rolled over, away from her and went back to sleep. My stomach was still upset from the awful salmon sandwich and I really didn't want to deal with anyone or anything. Unfortunately, rolling over only helped for so long.