Categories: uncategorized
Date: 28 February 2007 17:41:04
I have just had one of those days today. I was feeling pretty knackered when I went into work today and I was greeted by a stack of urgent phone calls and the news that two of my really vulnerable clients had been admitted to hospital.
So at lunchtime I took my social work student up to the hospital to visit these two clients. It amazes me sometimes how badly my clients can be treated by hospital staff when they find out they are on methadone. One of the guys had been admitted for a badly infected abscess and when I read his notes it turned out that he'd had a run in with the matron. When I finally spoke to her about this she said he had been very rude to her and was shouting but when I asked her whether he'd had his methadone she had said she ‘didn't think it was that important'. The poor bloke had not been given 90mls of methadone and she was expecting him to reason things through sensibly with her. I just thought she was being a prime bitch.
The second client was in ITU with pneumonia and I was so sad to see him all tubed up. This guy is one of my favourite clients (I know I shouldn't have favourites!) but he is a delight. His family reminds me of an Eastenders family, he and his brothers have a ‘bit of history' (!!!) and his mum is such a strong matriarch. Unusually for me I came out of this visit and cried when I got home. I am pretty tough, and yet I still care deeply about the people I work with and I get very angry with some of the shit they have to go through, especially when it is things over which they have no control.
You know those days when you wish you had never got up? This was one of them.