Beth’s Story
*name has been changed to protect patient privacy
I’m a registered nurse who works in a psychiatric setting,
and we had this patient who got combative. He was so strong. Not bulky at all, just tall but so strong. In the past, it’d taken 15 people to get him in restraints, and some of the people I work with are huge.
He got angry because the other patients wanted to watch a TV show, and when I tried to calm him, he tried to punch me in the face.
Another staff member took him down to the ground, and I went for one of his legs. He kicked me right in the chest. I flew back and hit the ground hard, and then got back up just long enough for him to do it again.
He was biting and scratching—completely out of control—and we didn’t have enough staff to get him in restraints, so we called a code gray. People came running as he started kicking me in the head over and over…
Afterward, I knew I was injured. I called in sick the next two days, and then tried to go back. But my ribs hurt all the way around, my hip really hurt, my back. My leg had gone numb. I’m pretty sure I had a concussion. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even use my arm to pull out a drawer.
I realized I wasn’t going to be able to work until I healed, and they told me I needed to go through worker’s comp, which was complicated. The claims manager would only accept one thing at a time, and it was really slow. I could only see their contracted doctors, and at one point she got upset because I wanted to see my own counselor, instead of waiting months for one of theirs to be available. Then she decided I should go back to work, even though I still had symptoms from my concussion, my back was killing me, and I was shaking all the time. They’d stopped paying me, though, and I had to be able to pay my bills.
I tried to work for two and a half weeks, but I couldn’t do it. The pain in my back was excruciating and I couldn’t even get comfortable sitting. The next day—I think it was the very next day—I tried to get out of bed and felt this giant pop in my back. It made a huge hematoma. I lost control of my bladder… I’d herniated disk.
I got so depressed.
My husband says I would just sit and stare at nothing. I wouldn’t talk at all. I kept having nightmares and reliving the assault, and anytime I’d hear something, I’d think the patient who’d attacked me was breaking into the house. I even had dreams that other patients were attacking me. It was PTSD, although I didn’t realize it at the time.
I got to the point where I couldn’t handle another second of feeling that sadness. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.
I told my husband that I felt suicidal.
We’d lost a family member to suicide six years ago, and my husband took what I said seriously. He called Dr. Sturges, who is our family doctor, and asked him what to do. Dr. Sturges told us to come in at 5 pm that same night, after his regular appointments were done, and he gave me ketamine using an IV. He stayed with me the whole time, and so did Erika (Sullivan, FNP), and some of the other staff.
They saved my life in a night.
The next day, I didn’t feel sad anymore. It happened that fast, and I felt like a new person. The treatment cost $600 and maybe that seems expensive, but they dropped everything to be with me.
Six hundred dollars is cheap when it’s the cost of your life.
I’ve been in treatment with them for five months now, and I’m also working with a good therapist. The ketamine treatments by IV weren’t covered by insurance, but the staff worked with my insurance company so I could switch to Spravato, which is a different form of ketamine that’s taken using a nasal spray.
I still get headaches from the concussion, and I have some memory problems that will hopefully get better. But I can enjoy going out to eat again. I can have fun hanging out with my sister-in-law, and play games with the family, or go walking downtown with my husband. I don’t feel anxious all the time. It’s amazing.
I have been to so many doctors that just want to take five minutes with you, and you're done. It’s not like that here.
Dr. Sturges will just listen to you. My first visit with him, he spent over an hour with me.
What doctor does that?
Erika is the same way. They care here. They remember your name. I am so grateful for every single person in this office, because they saved my life. How do you say thank you to the people who saved your life?
My husband and I are so blessed to be patients here.
*name has been changed to protect patient privacy
