The first week of school is over, and we all survived our crazy schedule!! It's going to be a busy semester, I can feel it in my bones.
I just finished my psych rotation out at Terrel State Hospital (one of the hospitals for mentally ill patients in our area). It has made such an impression on me. I think mental illness is so misunderstood. I worked with a patient that is a paranoid schizophrenic, and a very sweet person. Her delusions of children are as much a part of her as my children are to me, and there is no convincing her otherwise. She believes that she has 22 (the number isn't consistent, but always a large number ranging from 22-45) children. When you ask her to tell you more, she can tell you names of the kids (some not all), and when asked who's taking care of them she will tell you she's not real sure, but that someone is taking good care of them. She can even tell you where some of them live, and who they are married to, which generally leads into her talking about her grandchildren. She has a "commonlaw husband" that she talks about, too. It has just been so eye opening to me. I can't even imagine living with this kind of illness. She's just one case, we were introduced to so many. The common thread, I found, was that so many of these people started out with families who didn't take care of them. They were either sexually, physically or emotionally abused and many times I think it was a combination of all three. They typically come from a low socioeconomic group, and they just have no chance of success, I feel, when they start out life thinking people don't care about them. My patient, she even had a delusion that an angel, by the name of Isis, lived inside her. She was her protector from Satan and other evil. She has hallucinations, off an on, from this angel. She told me that Isis started living with her when she was 5 yrs old, about the same time her parents split up. Her mom was abusive to her, and I don't know who else might have been, but I believe that this Isis was her way of coping with the terrible hand she was dealt.
The hardest part for me was knowing that there were children on the hospital campus as young as 5yrs old. You think, "what could have possibly happened to make anyone want to institutionalize a child?!" I, of course, start trying to imagine one of my kids being there, and it just breaks my heart, to think that there are kids that have to live in a hospital, and go to school there, because there is just not anyone willing to care for their needs.
I have a greater appreciation for my family, both the family that raised me, and my family I've created with Jim. What a blessing it really is to have goodly parents who love you and teach you, and try to do all they can to make you happy, and give you a good start at life. Also, to have the knowledge of our Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to be happy. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go to Terrell State Hospital, just so I could gain this greater appreciation!!
Christmas Eve tradition for the Hastings' is to go to Grandma and Grandpa Hastings' house to read different versions of the story, "T'was the Night Before Christmas". All the grandkids come dressed in their new Christmas pj's and the daddy's take turns reading the different books (Texas, Louisiana, and traditional versionsof the story). Then Grandpa Hastings ends the night reading the passage from the Bible. Grandma Hastings usually has hot chocolate and cookies as a treat. The perfect night for making memories!!!
It was a night with good friends, good food and a pinning ceremony. One of the girls in our class gathered money from those who wanted to participate, and bought an "RN" pin for each of us to pin on a fellow student. It was emotional for some, and such a neat experience for all. At the end of the night, in the outside fireplace, we had a ceremonial burning of scrub tops, notes or anything else that represented the tough road we've all been on the last couple years. It was a night to remember!!!
