Christmas Eve 2021

Christmas Eve 2021

(Made a note to self in Summer 2023 - Need to tell this story …. IMPORTANT)

It is taking me almost two years later to tell this story … it was traumatizing at the time … I might get triggered in the retelling of it, well see, but it needs to be told …

This story picks up after the L2K A.K.A. Legal 2000 blog post on FIC on Nov 10, 2021, … no wonder I didn’t write again until February 2022! I was recovering from trauma …

My brother went off his meds … He is schizophrenic … he was in 3 different hospitals over 4.5 months in the Fall of 2021 … They would release him undermedicated, then the next hospital would release him over medicated, so he had to keep going back in …

He went into St. Rose Sienna Nov 1, 2021, with HUGE diabetic sores/holes on his big toes and had developed Osteomyelitis, an infection to the bone, in the previous hospitals, evidently the other hospitals didn’t notice his bloody toes … he had to be on a PICC line, to his heart, for 6 weeks … A guard/staff member was stationed at his door 24/7 for two reasons: 1. His Crazy 2. He was a fall risk.

This stay alone cost $500,000 – YES - HALF A MILION DOLLARS … A Half Mil … All paid by the VA – or YOU – Your Taxes dollars - keep that in mind, as if that is not crazy enough to be spending on one person for 6 weeks … what comes next will blow your fucking mind … it did mine … and no one seemed to care …

When the wounds were finally healed, they released him, but he had to go back into the hospital because he was over medicated. He was likely to hurt himself, he couldn’t even answer his phone, navigate his TV, use the hot water in his shower with out burning himself, all things he can normally do fine … He needed to be evened out … The VA nurse practitioner felt it was best to wean him off his present meds and make sure he was on the right meds, as the meds differ from private hospitals to what the VA provides …

He went into the VA hospital psych ward, 2 East, December 17, 2021

The holes on his toes opened back up within the week as they were letting him run around the psych ward in dirty, bloody socks, with no medical dressing on his feet, after he had just done a 6 week, PICC line IV course of antibiotics, directly to his heart! $500,000 spent – Down the fucking drain … Are you fucking kidding me?! Nope … I am not … I have the pictures to prove it …

He was in the St. Rose Sienna with the PICC line from Nov 1 – Dec 15, 2021 … released and back to the VA hospital within a couple of days, Dec 17, 2021 and YES to my earlier concern of me getting triggered … looked back to see when Stu went back to the Hospital and I found a picture of him at the VA Southeast Clinic (SEC), which is where we were to see the nurse practitioner, on December 17, 2021 looking so dejected … I can’t stop crying …

Why do I torture myself in the retelling? … why do I submit myself to the excruciating pain and agony of recounting all of this bullshit for you? Hoping for change … hoping someone will help me to change all of this … Change the Mental health system to help, instead of just get by … or making a bloody fortune from it … gives new meaning to bloody fortune doesn’t it …

SO, this is part of the story is when I also get triggered … Mother Fucker!  Just had to get that out of the way upfront … I get sick to my stomach just thinking about all this again …

I go to visit my brother on Christmas Eve … Dec 24, 2021, visiting hours 5-7pm, I arrived approx. 6pm. … this is when I discover his toe wounds are back open after all the time, efforts, and money to heal them …

I call the attending orderly/attendant/bouncer (he is a BIG guy) over to show him my brother feet and tell him this is unacceptable after Stu had been in the hospital 6 weeks, PICC line, time, effort, money, etc … This mother fucker gaslights me … He then uses his height and HUGE stature to try to intimidate … steps closer to me, towering over me, tells me he read all the reports and knows the situation and has it under control … I see him making the move to shut me down and shut me up and this is where I love me … I look at him and express “BULLSHIT! No, you don’t” … I knew I had to be careful, or he would throw me out of the ward …

Need I remind you this is Christmas Eve? Merry Fucking Christmas!!! I have visited my brother in many mental wards, for so many holidays over 35 years, its sickening … puts a bad taste in my mouth for the holidays and people wonder why I like to avoid them … that’s a whole other post … fuckers … I digress …

I knew I was talking to a wall with this jackass … figuratively and maybe a little bit literally too … I knew I had to wait until Monday … Christmas eve fell on a Friday in 2021, so I had to wait until Monday before I could talk to someone who mattered, not trying to feed me a line of bullshit and trying to cover his tracks by flexing his over sized ego … what a prick … its obvious Stu’s toe wounds are opened, undressed, unattended, and he says he read everything and knows how serious it all is? LIAR!!!  Lying Mother Fucker … I get worked up again as you can see … sometimes it is the best way to express the emotion & frustration …

I waited until Monday and called the office of the CEO of the VA hospital and asked them how come my brother’s wounds were unattended after such a serious hospitalization?! Got some action … The manager of the psych ward calls me to assure me its all being handled … ok, just like it was handled before?

Then were trying to get it all figured out, so this is the next line of bullshit I was handed … Oh, Well, Ya see,  we need to get a doctor’s referral to attend to the wounds and only nurses can do the dressing, AFTER the doctor gives instruction and only certain wound care items can be brought onto the psych ward so as not to provide any materials that a patient could stab us with or hurt themselves with, so we have to be careful … so that took another week for them to figure out how they were going to proceed and we, of course, ran up against another holiday with New Year’s Eve … so had to wait for the following Monday for any REAL action to happen … 10 days …

Stuart was out of his mind this whole time (as evidenced by the photos I have) so he has no idea what is happening to him … he just wants pizza and movie night …

SO, from Dec 15, 2021, to approx. Jan 3 or 4, 2022 his Osteomyelitis wounds were not properly cared for in the VA hospital … and I end up looking like the bitch for screaming to everyone that they dropped the ball … now to be fair, I am a big bitch … HA! SO, good thing Stu has me to look out for him … ;-)

Stuart was released on January 11, 2022, … he was still not completely balanced …

This whole process took so much out of both Stu and I … we were both just so worn out after he got out … it took a long time to recover, we were depressed and off our game, and just when we were starting to regain a little strength and sanity, meaning we were not so depressed, it happened again …

He did not ever regain balance, he was getting a little better, but the meds were not right and the effort to reclaim his balance was lost … he slid off the map again and took off for another run …

July 27, 2022, Officer Areida of Henderson Police Department called me and left a voicemail …

The voicemails we have transcribed run from July 27, 2022 – November 24, 2022 – there are more, but those are the ones we have so far … there are voicemails from, Stu in his mania, the VA, caseworkers, social workers, hospitals, other patients, care takers, home health, etc …  46 pages worth so far …  just to document it all

I guess I wanted proof that I am not the one who is crazy … or maybe I am for documenting it all!! It is priceless information and necessary to prove the circumstance that Nevada is 49^th in the nation in regard to Mental health … we can change that for Nevada and even make mental health care better for the whole nation … how you ask?! I don’t fucking know!! But together maybe we can figure it out … let’s start the conversation and see where it leads … there are people far smarter than I who can help, if they want to, and are aware of the need … let’s talk!

I am going to keep talking about it until someone hears me …

My dad used to tell the story of baby Stuart and Sara …

Stuart, when he was a baby, would cry and after a while, when no one would respond, he would say “maybe they don’t hear me … maybe I’ll try again later …”

Sara, however, as a baby, would cry & cry and when no one would respond, she would say “maybe they don’t hear me … I guess I’ll cry louder!!”

Some things never change …