Adventures in Babysitting CMM was supposed to come home this afternoon. We texted some this morning about what time to pick him up. Then around noon I get a garbled, confused phone call from him. Nurses can’t tell me what’s going on because he told them not to talk to me (pretty sure HIPAA privacy laws don’t have to apply when someone’s out of their head. ) I cancelled my afternoon patients and hotfoot it down to the hospital to find 8 doctors, nurses and security huddled in the hallway outside his room.
Apparently one of his doctors decided to give him a shot of Ativan to help with his hiccups (he takes baclofen to control them but probably hasn’t been absorbing it well enough due to his diarrhea).
Well - he had an adverse reaction and it made him hallucinate. He told me they were dragging bodies through the hallways and he was convinced the nurses call button/remote was a bomb. I got him calmed down and now he’s sleeping in his chair clutching the “bomb”. Don’t think he’ll be coming home today.
OMG! That is just awful. I really feel bad for CMM. Maybe when he wakes up he'll be back in this world and won't remember what happened during the adverse reaction. Poor man! He's been through so much. Maybe they will keep him an additional day or so just to make sure he's okay.
Keeping him in my thoughts and prayers. I do hope that you are able to get some much needed rest very soon.
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
He’s getting slightly better - has finally let go of the “bomb” and ate his dinner. But he’s still looking at me with paranoid suspicion. At one point he threatened to walk home. That would be quite a feat since he has no clothes, no shoes, and home is 23 miles away!
I’m just waiting until I can get him settled in bed so he doesn’t bug the nurses then I’ll go home to sleep.
I hope CMM was able to get a good night's sleep and is feeling more like himself today. I also hope you were able to get some rest as well. He certainly had a bad reaction to the medication and I hope that they noted that in his chart for the future.
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
Yes I made sure they put it in his chart as an allergy. I got a good night’s sleep, just getting up now. Hopefully he’ll be in his right mind today and I’ll bring him home.
I hope CMM comes home today and that you two will have a quiet and restful weekend. You both need a chill out weekend to recharge your batteries.
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
When I got here he wasn’t hallucinating but still irritable and suspicious. He gets angry if I ssk if he remembers what happened yesterday. He’s gradually clearing though and we are just waiting for PT to come evaluate him before we leave.
