These are the people that I spent time with on the psychiatric ward. These were extreme cases and the ward was mainly comprised of low functioning patients who were having a little more trouble than most.
Marabell: She was a delusional Puerto Rican woman with a soft, raspy voice and a penchant for not eating meals due to her Cyraquil. She often spoke of her younger days of getting arrested in the ghetto, and fantasized of going fishing with her son.
Marabell: She was a delusional Puerto Rican woman with a soft, raspy voice and a penchant for not eating meals due to her Cyraquil. She often spoke of her younger days of getting arrested in the ghetto, and fantasized of going fishing with her son.
Allison (Ally): Ally was something of a depressive-histrionic. She needed constant affirmation, and wept incessantly. She sobbed when her husband was 15 minutes late for visitation. She stumbles through life with eyes downcast, her whiskers prominent on her chin. She seemed to always live in a fog, and it was hard to snap her out of it. (Her wayward husband, who has 8 other women on the side, brings her entire bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper to chug. She had an affair with a crackhead 3 years ago. Her husband’s women was apparently a response to that.)
Sarah: Sarah had wild, frizzy, dyed blonde hair. She had sores on her face from picking scabs, and shook all the time. Despite all that, Sarah was sweet and well mannered. She started the unit trend of wearing blankets around one’s shoulders at all times. She left on Monday.
Ron: Ron was a bipolar, pathological liar on crutches who believed everything he said was pure fact. Ron claimed he knew about dead body parts, dead friends, and 80+ page murder affidavits and so on. Ron droned on constantly about the conspiracy against us in the ward via withholding lemon juice and milk cartons. Ron talked about how mean his parents were, and how his father brutally denied him happiness. Ron was annoying, and loud, but we all missed him. He left Tuesday.
Tanya: Tanya is new. She’s a bit dumpy, with droopy eyes and dark hair. She’s suicidal and depressed, and I only want to hug her. She left either the same day as me, or a day earlier.
Lee: Lee is a chill dude who switches between a walker and tottering around on his own. He quacks “AFLACK!!” often and makes “whoo-whee!” sounds constantly. Lee brings us all joy. He has koofoo, complete with awesome ninja moves. After a heart to heart session with Lee where he hit on me incessantly, Lee told me he dealt crack and got caught, and used to smoke a lot (4 packs/day). Lee is a self-proclaimed P-I-M-P, and therefore assumed I would succumb to his manly wiles. But that’s okay. Lee’s a good sort, when he’s not flipping shit.
Danny: Danny is new, as of Sunday night. He has a wrinkled face, and a love for coffee at every meal. He left the same day I did.
Mr. Sinclair: Those monsters from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? That’s Mr. Sinclair. Wormtail from Harry Potter? That’s him. He comes with his own wheelchair and gurgling sounds. But he was sweet. Just a little deranged and disabled.
Elliot: Elliot is cray-zee. He’s well meaning, and can put down food like an 18-wheeler chugs diesel. I believe Mr. Elliot is mildly schizophrenic. He doesn’t always know where he’s at, dissolves into giggles, and his speech often dwindles to muttering. Elliot was sweet.
Phillip: 30-something, Phillip was lanky and quiet. He was Ron’s unassuming roommate, and I stuck close to him at meal times because he made me feel normal and safe, relatively speaking.
Tammy: Tammy was erratic, bedraggled, and snaggle-toothed. Her badly dyed hair frizzed out, and she had been in the ward not a week before, only on a higher functioning floor. She was loud, not very smart, and self righteous. I was a little glad when she was discharged Tuesday.
Gina: Gina was a bitch. She was oppositional defiant, and every comment towards her was considered a direct attack at her moral fibre. She never smiled, and I kind of despised her. I was insanely happy when she went down to the 4th floor on Monday. Thank. God.
Mr. Garcia: His stay with us was brief. He spent hours on the phone, and was irritable.
Arabic Veteran Guy: AVG was pretty quiet up until Tuesday, when he flipped shit and started ranting about being a veteran, and having rights. The he began ranting about Mohammad and salaams and ranted in Arabic for a bit, and it was terrifying.
Crazy Joey: Joey was bug eyed and rather insane. He burped and ate food with his hands, and was rather twitchy overall. He was always after my eggs or baked potatoes. I tried to sit away from him.
Jamie: Jamie is new, with a troubled past and a haunting gaze. She likes crosswords, and I’d guess she was once educated. Jamie was proficient at inflatable bowling.
Shudder Dude: He came in recently. Jamie coaxed the fact that he was a crack dealer out of him. He shudders a lot. (I think he did some of the crack he dealt.)
Joe (Jimmy): Joe is new, and entirely delusional. He came into dinner and began singing hymnals. He has no idea what’s going on, likes to hit on nurses, and harass other patients.
Mr. Richards: He’s antisocial and I don’t know much about him, only that he’s finicky about his deodorant.
Rebecca: Rebecca, or Becky, was my roommate all five days. She was very low functioning, and could hardly take care of herself, though she apparently used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. Becky peed herself a couple of times, several of those occurrences taking place outside of our room. She did it twice in the dining room. I avoided her chair like the plague.
