Terror at Boston General Hospital

The beep beeping of a hospital monitoring device was the only sound in the room. From it, ran a wire, to a small plastic clip attached on the index finger of a teenage girl. The device is called a pulse ox, and is largely used to monitor heart rate, oxygen levels, and things of that nature. In this case, it will allow the staff to determine when she regains consciousness.

The Bright lights won’t do much for her vision when she finally opens her eyes for a brief moment. Until her mind comes out of the sedative induced fog and registers her surroundings, She will be temporarily blinded.

She gasps, now awake. Drugs needed to be purge from her system, and the only way to do that was in the controlled environment of the Psychiatric Wing of Boston General Hospital. The walls are a vague blue, hazy in her post-sleep stupor, but when she begins to move and cannot, then panic sets in. The restraints, thick leather that permeates even the disinfectant tainted air hold her against her will. Panic, in the form of a chill that runs up her spine toward her skull causes her eyes to snap open all the way.

A sharp pain hits as she tries to move her head. She realizes that staying still and not trying to move her head or trying to talk, was the best thing for her.

Feeling powerless, being restrained, these are terrifying concepts to her, waking up, she fears that she is going to used, abused, molested, and raped. Thoughts of panic set in.

She wants to scream, struggle, anything to get out of the restraints, But just laying there and not struggling might hasten her release. She knows as long as she keeps her mouth shut and answers their questions in a calm rational manner and not letting panic and anger get the best of her she would have a chance.

She sees someone checking her monitors there and wants to ask a question but is not sure if she should or not, not sure if she’s allowed to or not but she has to take the chance.

“Where am I? What happened? How long have I been here?” She asks.

“Oh, you’re awake, Let me get the doc, I’m sure he’d be very interested in talking to you,” Nurse says to the young patient.

“Oh I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Sara. I’ll be your night nurse for a while,” the nurse says to the young girl.

The girl looks at her, confused and lost, but is silent for a while until she fully realizes her wrists are in restraints and she can’t move them.



“Can’t you get these things off me? I’m not going to fight or hurt anyone,” The young girl says.
“I have an idea, why don’t you lay there and imagine yourself somewhere peaceful where restraints don’t’ exist? A beach somewhere maybe?” the nurse suggests.
The girl tries to do as the nurse suggests until she is interrupted by the doctor coming in.

“Steph, are you awake?” Doc asks.

She open her eyes and see him there. “I’m awake, don’t ruin my being relaxed,” the girl tells him and look at him.

“Ok you stay in that place and try to answer my questions,” Doc says to her.

The girl tries to do as the nurse suggests until she is interrupted by the doctor coming in.

"Oh good, I see... (as he grabs the board and looks for the patient's name) Steph is finally awake"

She looks at him, quite confused as to how he knows her name when she doesn’t know it herself.

“Steph? Who is Steph?” She asks him in a state of bewilderment and confusion.

The doctor looks to the nurse and she slightly shrugs her shoulders. The doctor then turns his attention back to Steph, "I need your help, I need you to tell me what the last thing is that you remember."

“I don’t remember anything really,” She says, confused and sad.

“You don’t remember anyone you used to love and care about?” He asked the young girl. ‘

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember,” I tell him.

The doctor, who shows concern, leans over to the nurse and speaks softly into her ear while the nurse nods her head yes.

Clearing his throat, the doctor again turns towards Steph and says in a comforting tone, "There is nothing to be alarmed of, generally with time everything will come back to you. For now though, I want you to remain calm and we're going to have someone visit with you shortly."

“Who? I don’t want to see anyone else,” She says to doc.

“Why not? Don’t you want to see someone who might be familiar?” Doc asks her in a concern manner.

“I just want to be left alone and not have anyone else in my face and I don’t want any visitors right now,” She says to him.

The doctor starts to see where the situation is leading and begins to back off. He also changes his method of speaking to include moving his arms and hands in slow and smooth directions as he speaks his words.

"Steph, I can see that you are confused and I want to make this as easy as possible. What we're going to do is give you some time to yourself but if you need anything, do not hesitate to hit the call button.

“I want to be left alone! I don’t want to have to talk to anyone or see anyone and if I have my way and I know that won’t last long, I won’t talk to anyone here, NO shrinks,”

“I don’t think you understand, You are restraints, I don’t think you’re in any position or condition to refuse visitors or anything else we want you to do,” Doc says to the girl to nip any thoughts of protests and arguments and hostility in the bud.

“Seeing the visitor is the first sign of cooperation that will get you a step closer to release from the restraints,”

Nervously she asks, is this visitor going to be helping me or asking me questions that I don't have any answers to


“Well he’ll be helping you and asking questions, just do the best you can to answer them, just don’t shut him out or it will be longer you stay strapped down as it will show lack of cooperation if you don’t make an effort to answer the questions. If you don’t know the answers or have them, tell him you don’t know right now,” Doc tells her.

She decided that it was best to go along with what the doctor was telling her.

"You're making the right decision Steph. If you give us just a few minutes we're going to bring him in, his name is Dr. Jacobs.”

“I want to be out of the restraints so there wasn’t much of a decision to make if I want to be free of the straps holding me to this bed,” She says to him.

“Well you could refuse but if you do, it shows lack of effort to cooperate and the consequences of that decision would be to keep you restrained til you decide to see the visitor. Just let him know if you need a break or get tired,” Doc says to her.

She lays there with thoughts and conflicts racing through her mind. Trying to remember what happened to her and make sense of her being in the hospital and hoping her memory comes back.

She’s struggling to remember and make sense of things and what was real or dreamed or whatever. Her sense of reality was seriously altered by the medications her doctor had her taking.

The nurse stands next to the bedside and asks a simple icebreaking question, "
hmmm
"So... you come here often?"
"It must be a little frightening to be here, you know with not remember all that much. You don't have to worry too much though because the Doctor they're bringing is really good."

“What’s frightening is being strapped to this bed and not knowing why?” She tells the nurse.

“I hope he doesn’t push me too hard to remember,”She says to the nurse and wants to just shut herself down and build a wall around her.


michele.blackford@insightbb.com