Mars, Venus, Where the Hell am I

When I arrived at the psychiatric hospital I first they had taken me to a jail instead. It certainly looked like one. inside was a completely empty room to wait in. The paramedics stayed with me at this point. I was wanded for metal and then moved to a room with a few traditional medical items. It was at this point that I signed myself in. Signing your self in means you can request a discharge and the doctors will reach a solution. If they feel you need to stay they will get a court mandate. If you have a mandate you cannot refuse any treatment proposed by the doctor. Since I like to have the right to Say 'no!" like a two year old I chose to be voluntary. I was sent up to the fourth floor, what I so lovingly call Dante's Inferno. I was strip searched and given hospital 'clothing" to put on (mesh underwear, disposable blue pants and two gowns (one served as a gown, the other a robe). I did not have either of my wheelchairs with me so I had to use what looked like a 1970s ghetto wheelchair. Add in the yellow no slip socks and i was hot. :)
There are four floors to the building i was in. the forth floor held  the crisis unit (think of running around yelling i can fly tinkerbelle!) an the fourth floor unit. It was very convenient as patients bounced in and out of the crisis unit. These were the adults that could not stop responding to the voiced they heard, who tended to be aggressive, and as a whole seemed unmotivated to change. In line for breakfast there was a patient enraged  He started throwing chair and somehow just missed me.
Knowing there were people with homicidal ideation and even plans was enough to keep me awake all night. i was rescued by my psychiatrist said that was the wrong placement for me. As soon as a bed was available I would transfer down to the first floor. That unit was calm, friendly, and real. There were few instances of arguments.
Now before I make this sound too good here, we hqd MHAs who checked on us (yes, some even in the shower), a routine that  stqrted with groups ,we were awoken qt 7;45 and all made a mad scramble for the coffee. crappy decaf but it was coffee. I cannot wait to try the new  biggby by our house thqt was built this winter while I was done.
I was quiet, observing, and trying to figure out the people around me. To my psychiatrist I was withdrawing, isolating, and socially inappropriate. SIR, my normal may look a lot different than your normal but that is not a  psychological problem. . the major depression qnd fun little voice  screaming at me in my heqd provided plenty of entertainment.