Uppercuts - Not my idea of a good time.

Yup, I got decked today.

I'm not impressed by the experience. It hurts like a sonovabitch.

My assignment was medical psych. We have two adult types of psych units at the hospital - medical psych and "regular" psych. Regular psych is where anorexics are, violent drunks, severely depressed, etc. Medical psych is where the people who are very medically ill are...the schizophrenics, those who attempt and almost suceed suicides, the folks who are not only mentally ill, but are also medically sick. Thus, you never know what you're going to find from time to time when you are assigned to that unit. Most times, you really feel like you'd like to have a really big stick when you work that floor.

The staff is good there; and they're good to me. I've never had reason to complain about them. So, I'm not angry about anything they did or didn't do.

My first patient today was in the "quiet" room. He had someone sitting outside his door. Don't know about other places, but here it's called a "one-on-one". It can happen for a variety of reasons, but most generally, the patient can't really be trusted.

I went in and did my usual introduction of myself, and explained why I was there. The guy raised up in his bed and began cursing me. Found out some things about myself I didn't know..found out his opinions about my body parts, too. *chuckles* He settled down, and started talking calmly to me, and then he held out his hand because he wanted to shake mine. I said, shake? I meant *break*. He tried....oh how he tried. Too bad for him that I know how to break that grip quite easily. I looked at the nurse and said, "Ain't gonna draw him. Period." And, I wrote hm up as patient uncooperative. The docs can have at that one...and the other one, too.

The second guy had been "stepped up". He'd been so good the last few days that he'd been allowed to have his restraints removed. He's been cooperative the last few days. There was no reason to really think there'd be a problem...other than he IS a patient on medical psych.

Anyway, I'd introduced myself to him, gotten all the equipment together, found a vein, tied the tourniquet on, and was swabbing the area with alcohol. Suddenly, WHAM! I get a right uppercut to the left side of my face. Popped me right on the cheekbone.

He didn't knock me out. I didn't "quite" see stars. He did bruise the living hell out of my face and my eye is swollen half shut. I'll betcha the bastard is in restraints again. Or he'd better be.
The orders that no phlebotomist is to go in there alone have been issued already.

I have been fortunate in my life to never have been in any kind of a physically damaging fight. Goof off stuff, yeah. Hair pulling, pinching hard. stuff you know might happen when you're wrestling around with kids. Well, that's not exactly true either. But that's something entirely different and far more personal.

But plain and simple assault? Let me put it this way. It had better not ever happen again. I'll let everyone figure out what might happen if it does. I know who to ask for help if I can't take care of it myself.