Banker Ben Mitchell had a rocky start in life, but lately things have begun to look up. His bank is a success, he's found a beautiful new wife and his industry peers have gathered to honor him. Then, at the moment of his triumph, he suffers a catastrophic psychiatric episode.
*****
When she got to the hospital on Monday morning, Gina Esposito found a note telling her to check in with her supervisor. A thrill of fear shot through her - the hospital had already had one round of lay-offs and the rumor mill said more were coming.
But when she found her supervisor she was relieved to learn that she wasn't being laid off. Her relief turned to dismay, however, when she heard she was being given a special assignment. "Effective immediately, you've got a new patient to work with. He's a VIP and Dr. Adenauer is going to be treating him personally, so you'd better be on your toes."
Gina tried not to roll her eyes as she took the file on her new patient. "Just what I need: wiping the ass of some senile old rich guy under the supervision of the chief medical officer," she thought disgustedly. But then she reminded herself that she was lucky to still have her job and she chided herself for her attitude.
She found herself doing that a lot. In fact, she thought, "It's been happening ever since that rat bastard ran out on me." Her then boyfriend had managed to get her pregnant even though she'd been on the pill. When he found out, he forgot his promise to marry her and promptly disappeared. Pregnant and unable to pay her rent by herself, Gina had had to move back in with her mother. "Still," she reminded herself, "if I hadn't gotten pregnant I wouldn't have Angela now." The thought of her little girl cheered her up as it always did, and she marched off to her new assignment with her normally cheerful attitude firmly back in place.
As she walked down the hallway, she went over her new patient's chart. "Well, I was wrong about the Alzheimer's," she thought. Apparently her patient, Benjamin Mitchell, was a 36-year-old white male in otherwise good health who had had a sudden psychiatric crisis on Saturday night. She flipped through a series of pages. "Wow, they put this poor guy through the wringer," she murmured. He had had a CAT scan, PET scan, MRI and a complete physical exam. Everything had come back normal.
"Great," she thought, "I wonder what I'm supposed to do with him?"
She found him in the rubber room. It wasn't really rubber, of course, mostly plastic-covered foam, but everybody at the hospital called it the rubber room. "He must have thrown a doozy," she thought, peering at the comatose figure through the peephole.
She turned to the night nurse who was preparing to go off duty. "What's he been like?" she asked.
"They took him down with diazepam during his psychotic episode and they kept him on it while they were testing him. Once they finished they brought him here and he's been sleeping it off ever since. My guess is that they'll start him on clozapine once his system has cleared and then see what happens."
Gina nodded. "Who's on duty, Ed or Harold?"
The nurse knew what she meant immediately.
"Harold's on today, if you need him."
Gina nodded again. Either one of the two big orderlies could handle the most violent patient, but Gina preferred Harold - he was a gentle giant. Ed always seemed to look for opportunities to inflict pain if a patient offered any resistance.
She went back to the peephole and looked again. To her surprise the patient was now sitting up, his back against the wall. He didn't appear agitated so Gina decided to take a chance. "Get Harold down here for me," she asked the other woman. "I'm going to go see how our boy is doing in there. He doesn't look dangerous, but it's nice to know help is available."
When she slipped the latch and opened the door, the patient looked up quickly, but otherwise didn't move. Nevertheless, Gina made sure to stay on the opposite side of the room.
When she made no further move, he looked at her blankly. "Who are you?"
"I'm Nurse Esposito," she said, "and you must be Mr. Mitchell. Is there anything I can do for you?" She watched him carefully, curious to hear what would be his first priority.
He surprised her. "Yes there is. Could you get me a cup of coffee?"
She thought about it momentarily, then decided a little caffeine couldn't hurt. She turned to the grill in the wall and said, "Harold, could you get a cup of coffee for Mr. Mitchell?" She turned back to look at Ben. "Cream and sugar?"
"Just sugar - two packs."
When she handed him the cardboard cup, he quickly took a sip, then made a face. "This is terrible," he said.
She laughed. "Tell me about it!" she replied. "I have to drink the stuff every day."
He gave a little smile, and she thought to herself that that was a positive sign. She also noted that he didn't stop drinking the coffee.
When he had finished the cup, he abruptly asked, "So where am I?"
She had anticipated the question and decided to answer it directly. "You're in Longview Psychiatric Hospital, Mr. Mitchell. You apparently suffered some kind of breakdown on Saturday night, and you were brought here for observation and treatment."
He looked at her strangely. "I remember being at a banquet, but after that I must have gone to sleep because I had terrible nightmares. At least I thought they were nightmares." He got a confused look on his face and suddenly asked, "What day is it?"
"It's Monday," she said quietly, waiting for his reaction.
"Monday!" he exclaimed. "Have I really been out of it that long? What is happening to me?"
Before Gina could reply there was a noise from the door behind her and in walked Dr. Bernard Adenauer, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of the Longview. "The great man himself," she thought sarcastically.
"I'll answer that question, Nurse," Dr. Adenauer, and Gina stepped hastily aside.
