Madcap

I will call this resident Madcap (which is not her name). She is certainly a puzzle. She is seriously obese and arrived here on a Friday afternoon. She's pretty quiet except when she acts up. I think she thinks she is good at impersonations. She mimics voices like cartoon characters – loudly – from her room saying all sorts of things. It always sounds like there's a conversation going on in there. She's also mentioned that she's married to a celebrity and pregnant with his baby. Who knows whether these other sides of her are real, or are something she's using as part of her persona here.

A couple of weeks ago she made a mad dash for the front door. It's not really a means of egress. But, I suppose it could be if there was a fire. She ran towards that door like she was going to escape. It's amazing how quickly her heavy body could move with the right motivation. But she was taken off her feet easily by staff and kept from getting out the door.

I can't move enough to even try to escape. But that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it. I have gone out doors without assistance in my previous nursing home. But I really don't like to do that. After all the doors are glass and if something bad happens, glass can break, and then glass can cut. I don't really want to experience that.

For some reason, Madcap acted up this afternoon. It was right at shift change. Perhaps she knows the drill now and has learned the vulnerable times when it's easier to catch staff offguard. So, that meant staff had to chase her. I heard a lot of noise outside my door. This time she headed for the same exit. But they were able to take her down to the floor again.

Madcap was yelling and cursing and quite angry. There were several curt, sharp voices talking to her. One nurse said to call 911. That certainly sounded like a good idea to me. You have to remember that I was behind the closed door at the time. But I wonder if at any moment the scramble would come in my door.

The nurse manager came out and talked with Madcap. She told her if her guardian said she could leave she would open the door for her. I'm sure that was something Madcap was surprised to hear. But I'm thinking there is probably no way she could find her guardian in, let alone get to actually speak with him or her at 3 PM on a Wednesday.

I luckily am my own guardian and don't have that concern. But some residents complain because when they need to talk two their guardian they can't. At times I think they are are being put off, and that angers me. I know a compulsive person with behavior problems cannot have easy access to his/her guardian or all the guardian would do would be answer their calls.

After two sedative shots Madcap eventually calmed down. At one point she was back in her bed.

She'll learn it's very hard to fight the system here. You might try to. But most of the time its quite secure.