Chapter 33—
A/N: Your reviews are always greatly appreciated. Please keep them coming.
Denise collapsed in to the chair next to Stephanie. Stephanie reached over and hugged Denise, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be ok.
But Stephanie was not sure if everything was going to be ok, in fact she was scared, she was scared for Denise, she was scared that Denise was going to lose her only son. Even though Jeremy was stabilized, no one knew what the drugs had done to Jeremy's body. He could be fine with time, or there could be lasting medical issues. Stephanie wished that Frank was here to support Denise. She had noticed that Frank had a calming effect on Denise; even though Denise was a very strong woman, but this was going to be very hard on Denise.
Stephanie and Denise walked slowly to the elevators to the sixth floor, where the psychiatric floor is; but standing and waiting by the elevator was Roland. Roland had his coat draped over his arm. Denise stopped and looked at him.
"Roland, what are you doing here?" Denise asked wondering what made him come back to the hospital.
"I got called that a young soldier tried to commit suicide. And my staff calls me when it could be a PTSD patient." Roland said quietly.
"Oh." Denise replied thinking that some other family was going through this tonight, what were the odds, not realizing that Roland had been called in for Jeremy's case.
"I could ask the same thing of you and Stephanie… what are you two doing here? Is this part of the studying process?" Roland asked.
"No… um… Jeremy was admitted this evening… and we are going to the sixth floor." Stephanie said finding it very hard to admit that Jeremy had tried to kill himself.
The look on Roland's face was one of horror, as he comprehended that he was called in on Jeremy's case. He thought that Jeremy was doing well physically and emotionally. However, there were many times when family and friends did not even know of the deep depression that the patient was in. The elevator door opened, and they all got in. Roland hit the button for the sixth floor. The elevator ride was silent. Roland was trying to formulate a treatment plan with the little knowledge that he had. Denise was in shock, and so was Stephanie. Roland had been in psychiatry field for many years, and in that time he had learned that not only do you treat the patient but you also treat the family. He had known Denise for years, but he was pretty confident that this was not going to be an easy case. The three of them walked to the nurse's station and asked where Jeremy's room was; it was at the end of the hall. The room itself was a small hospital room, but there were some added security features. The door to the room had the ability to be locked for the safety of the patient inside and other patients on the wing. Unfortunately when some one tries to commit suicide there is an added need for security. There is often a propensity for psychiatric patients to want to further hurt themselves and others around them, so the additional security was needed.
When the group arrived in Jeremy's room a nurse was there monitoring his vitals. There was another nurse securing Jeremy's arms to the sides of the bed. This infuriated Denise and Stephanie.
"What are you doing? He does not need those!!!" Denise yelled.
"Ma'am… I am sorry… but it is standard procedure when a suicide patient is admitted. The ER doctor put a 72-hour suicide watch on this patient. Please this is standard procedure." The nurse said without looking up. When she did she saw Roland.
"Dr. Burton, I am sorry I did not see you were here as well. Do wish to change the order of the suicide watch for this patient?" The nurse asked. Denise gave him a pleading look to please remove the restraints. But Roland could not and would not change the order. It was not that he did not want to, but the fact was that Jeremy was in danger of hurting himself.
"No, please leave the restraints on. We will take a wait and see approach to this… as the patient has yet to wake up, and if h does I do not want to put anyone in jeopardy including the patient." Roland replied trying to reassure Denise that these were necessary precautions.
"Dr. Burton, is there anything that you want changed?" The nurse checking the vitals said.
"I do not know yet, as I have not been fully briefed about this case." Roland continued. At this moment, it was no longer Roland it was Dr. Burton.
"Denise and Stephanie, why don't we let the nurses finish getting Jeremy settled? That will give me enough time to review his chart, and we can see where we progress from there." Roland said taking the chart and leaving the room. He headed to his office which was down the hall and to the left. Denise had been to his office many times before. It was nothing special; it had a large wooden desk, and bookcases with lots of medical books. Roland sat down behind the desk, and quickly read through the chart.
"Denise, were you aware that Jeremy was taking muscle relaxants?" Roland asked without looking up from the file. He wanted to know all the information that was not in Jeremy's medical file. Because in all his years of experience, Roland had learned that the family and friends of the patient can give great insight as to why the patient had attempted to commit suicide, and also the families were also able to give insight as to how to help the patient to recover.
"Yes, I was aware that Jeremy took muscle relaxants. In fact, Dr. Bartley prescribed them before Jeremy left the hospital over six weeks ago, and I think that was the same bottle." Denise answered.
"Denise and Stephanie, I am going to ask you both a lot of questions. These questions will be about Jeremy's life, his feelings, his habits, his conversations, his relationships, everything. I want to put this out there: NO ONE IN THIS ROOM IS TO BLAME FOR JEREMY TO TAKE THIS CHOICE! Got it!!" Again Roland had been in practice long enough to know that when a family member tries to commit suicide, the family and friend usually felt somewhat at fault.
"OK" Stephanie and Denise said in unison, as they looked at each other with surprise.
"Now that we have that said… lets get started." Roland said taking a pen and jotting some notes down.
"Has Jeremy been experiencing any mood changes?" Roland wanted to start with the basics.
"No, not really. Honestly he has not had any mood swings since before the seizure four months ago." Denise was thinking pretty hard about anything that she could have missed.
The questioned continued for about an hour, and Roland was starting to get a clear picture of who Jeremy was. From his conversation with Stephanie and Denise, Jeremy struggled with anger issues. The anger that he used to exhibit with this mother, was now turned inward, and that was the most dangerous kind.