A letter from Karen
Here is the letter that Karen sent to me for us all. Please leave comments and I will copy then into the reply that I will be sending. Sorry for any mistakes, they are obviously mine and not Karen's!! Please bring anyone here who I don't know, I've left it unlocked deliberately.
Dear Everyone,
Miss you loads and loads and I have only been here 3 days. I am settling in all right I suppose. It’s a great deal different than I expected and yet like I expected. It’s a small ward - only 11 beds. I have my own room which is nice and good. I am keeping it quite clean which is good for me.
We get up at 6:30-7:00 for breakfast and meds and vitals then back to bed after that for a nap until 10:15. Breakfast is simple and monotonous, it’s either cornflakes or rise krispies and milk. The big commotion around here is the 8am cigarette break. You wouldn’t believe the hub bub it causes. One of the clients is absolutely obsessed with getting hr cigarette to the point of obsession. Everyone is allowed to have one or two cigarettes every two hours and everyone smokes and time is told by cigarette breaks. As I am the only one who doesn’t smoke, it’s a little annoying, people are more concerned about getting their cigarettes on time than participating in groups. Groups are better here than at the hospital but a few people tend to dominate the conversation and the others just don’t seem to get whats going on.
Everyone here has a chemical dependency problem but me. And it’s not that I feel superior to all these people, it’s actually that I feel inferior to them, they couldn’t control what happened to them - the drugs and alcohol brought them here. I got here because of my own agency, but I am adjusting.
We have a second group at 11. We’ve talked about sleep, relaxation, self esteem. There’s break for lunch until 12:30. For me, lunch is salad and maybe fruit. We have group in the afternoon then community meeting and inspirational thought for the day and chores. I wipe down all the wood furniture (very difficult job, I know).
Dinner is 5 or so, they order out but unfortunately the food on the list all contains flour so I get another salad. We’re trying to get light dressing because there is just way too much fat in it. So I will be a rabbit before I get out of here. Maybe I will lose some weight - which I could use. We do get a snack at night - ice cream and popcorn or nuts. If it’s not group time, the TV is on. Did you know there is really nothing good on TV? I am trying to work on my book.
I had a bad couple of days here at first but I am settling in. It’s going to be a very long three weeks at least. I think about you all the time. I hope you all are well and not stressing too much over the holidays.
I hope you are out seeing Harry as much as you can. I still loved it the second time. I can’t wait until I get my CDs back.
Well, until I get back, stay out of trouble, have fun, smile often, love much.
Love from
Karen
Dear Everyone,
Miss you loads and loads and I have only been here 3 days. I am settling in all right I suppose. It’s a great deal different than I expected and yet like I expected. It’s a small ward - only 11 beds. I have my own room which is nice and good. I am keeping it quite clean which is good for me.
We get up at 6:30-7:00 for breakfast and meds and vitals then back to bed after that for a nap until 10:15. Breakfast is simple and monotonous, it’s either cornflakes or rise krispies and milk. The big commotion around here is the 8am cigarette break. You wouldn’t believe the hub bub it causes. One of the clients is absolutely obsessed with getting hr cigarette to the point of obsession. Everyone is allowed to have one or two cigarettes every two hours and everyone smokes and time is told by cigarette breaks. As I am the only one who doesn’t smoke, it’s a little annoying, people are more concerned about getting their cigarettes on time than participating in groups. Groups are better here than at the hospital but a few people tend to dominate the conversation and the others just don’t seem to get whats going on.
Everyone here has a chemical dependency problem but me. And it’s not that I feel superior to all these people, it’s actually that I feel inferior to them, they couldn’t control what happened to them - the drugs and alcohol brought them here. I got here because of my own agency, but I am adjusting.
We have a second group at 11. We’ve talked about sleep, relaxation, self esteem. There’s break for lunch until 12:30. For me, lunch is salad and maybe fruit. We have group in the afternoon then community meeting and inspirational thought for the day and chores. I wipe down all the wood furniture (very difficult job, I know).
Dinner is 5 or so, they order out but unfortunately the food on the list all contains flour so I get another salad. We’re trying to get light dressing because there is just way too much fat in it. So I will be a rabbit before I get out of here. Maybe I will lose some weight - which I could use. We do get a snack at night - ice cream and popcorn or nuts. If it’s not group time, the TV is on. Did you know there is really nothing good on TV? I am trying to work on my book.
I had a bad couple of days here at first but I am settling in. It’s going to be a very long three weeks at least. I think about you all the time. I hope you all are well and not stressing too much over the holidays.
I hope you are out seeing Harry as much as you can. I still loved it the second time. I can’t wait until I get my CDs back.
Well, until I get back, stay out of trouble, have fun, smile often, love much.
Love from
Karen