Bloody Bookends

The shift ended the same way that it started, with a crazy man leaking blood from his penis and yelling his head off. They were different patients, but what they had in common was dementia and a catheter. Why is it that when people are confused, the first thing they do is pull all of their clothes off and start yanking on their catheters? It must hurt. Even despite the pain and blood flowing everywhere, they will continue to yank away. I don't get it.

The problem was solved the same way. Drugs, restraints and then tighter restraints. One of the patients was yelling in Spanish, so we have no idea what was in his mind. The other patient believed that he was in a gas station and we were holding him hostage. Asking him to look around the room at the other beds and read our nurse badges had no effect. To him it looked like a gas station and he couldn't understand why the old hags (his name for us) wouldn't let him leave. Sometimes, I wish that I could say, GO AHEAD... LEAVE...GET.