It's rare after so many years of doing the same thing to stumble upon something new....well, not new, but a new version.
What do you do with a 50 something year old man, who is quite tall, maybe 6'3".....and weighs........128 lbs???? Not kiddin you! And that was with his clothes on...so maybe closer to the 124 mark. He does not have anorexia, which is usually the only time you see someone this cachectic in psych. As a matter of fact, in moments of "awakening" he is a delightful man, funny, warm, brilliant.....and starving to death. How it got this far is almost beyond me. But not quite, you see his wife will not come visit him, nor will she call the staff to see how he's doing. She's apparently afraid we'll keep her, obviously unaware of our "one family member at a time" policy.
During his moments of lucid thought (he had one entire day over the weekend) he has tried to eat whatever is not nailed down. I had to stop him. Re-feeding a starving body has its own unique set of complications.
We do get calls from his siblings around the globe telling us what to do and not to do. I didn't have the heart, even after the 25th phone call to tell sis, 1). We are not new at this. 2). Have you SEEN your brother lately? He wouldn't let me take a picture, but let me tell you, some of the survivors of Dachau looked healthier! I think the "standing by and watching someone die" was already covered by his wife, so we've crossed that treatment approach off our to do list.
I have twice had the pleasure of bathing the Thin Man, so I've seen his body up close and personal. 2 amazing things. 1). His skin is (so far) intact. Kinda odd considering his nutritional status in not "up to par", and his bones stick out way farther than any other tissue. 2). You could easily teach an anatomy class with this guy as a living example/skeleton. You can count each bone all 206 of them.
So exactly what is the matter with this man, you may ask? Here's my 25 cent diagnosis: he has a major depression, with psychotic features. He has delusions (here we go again) vs. hallucinations. He chose not to (or could not) get help or have his depression treated, so typical of men! It progressed along it's merry way and invited some psychotic thinking to join in. Fortunately his last healthy neuropathway was lonely and picked up the phone to schedule a check up with his internist (who, btw has called 3 times a week to see how he's doing), who booted his butt (gently, hence the still intact skin) into an ambulance and off to the hospital.
I like this guy. I wish I could tell you more about him....he has had a fascinating life so far.....but seriously, all that HIPPA stuff is real, and was around YEARS before the stupid HIPPA laws, which really have nothing to do with privacy BTW. That's another soapbox story.
