Wednesday started like any other workday. I walked into the nursing station and said good morning to the night shift as I grabbed my Kardex's. I sat down and started looking up my patients. I quickly noticed a specific patient. The Kardex read "John Doe 25-year-old male with AMS". My experience quickly took me to his drug screen. To my surprise, it was all negative except for marijuana. I was intrigued by the report the night shift was giving me. Per the night nurse, they found John Doe outside of a restaurant in Westlake. He was not talking and could not answer simple questions like his name. He had no ID. The previous nurse stated he kept on saying "escape" or at least that is what they understood. She continued with report, we do not have any history for John Doe. John Doe is alert but not oriented. He is on RA. Vital signs are stable. John Doe was unable to void and had to be straight cath last night. I thought to myself, a 25-year-old not voiding on his own!? I thought to myself "AMS" I should probably sit in front of his room since I expected to be running to bed alarms all day.
I went to see John Doe first. He appeared younger than the age ER gave him. Maybe 18-19 years old. He did not appear homeless since he was clean and groomed but was underweight. He had no visible bruises or injuries. I asked him what his name was. He looked at me with a blank stare and did not answer. I talked to him with a calm voice and explained to him our plan of care. Once again, he gave me a blank stare. I felt the need to sit with him and comfort him. I pulled up a chair and started to talk to him hoping he would talk back, but nothing. I asked if he was hungry, he would start with "umm" but turn his head and not answer. I asked the hospitalist for a diet order since he was kept NPO throughout the night. When the breakfast tray came, he stared at his food. After much encouragement, he began to eat. I turned on the TV for him and left to attend to my other patients. Every time I would leave a room, I passed through his room to check on him. He sat in the same spot I left him staring at the TV. The hospitalist came into the room and started to ask him several questions. He did not make eye contact and did not answer his questions. He gave him a piece of paper and a pen. He asked him to write down his name. John Doe grabbed the pen and it appeared like he was about to write something but quickly dropped the pen. We were back to square one. I asked him how his breakfast was since he got bacon and coffee cake and it was my favorite. He answered, "it was ok". I told him that he needed to void since he has not for a few hours. I was going to place his socks on when he said, "I'll do it" I handed him the yellow socks. John Doe stared at the socks as if they were from another planet. He would attempt to put them on but would not complete the task. I helped him with the socks. We walked to the bathroom and asked him to void. He stood in the bathroom for a few minutes confused. I directed him to the toilet and sat him down. He voided! I was very excited for him, which seemed to scare him. I walked him to the chair and he sat there watching TV. Our social worker came to visit him. She investigated his belongings. He had clean Adidas shoes and a gym short. She did not find any identification in his belongings. She stated she would call Ventura sheriff department. They could possibly identify him.
When the Ventura sheriffs came to see the patient, John Doe appeared scared. Once again, John Doe was being questioned. I found a note from ER stating patients name was D. The Sheriff's Department asked him if that was his name. He nodded his head yes. When asked what his last name was he did not answer. I started looking up his first name on Facebook with no luck. When the sheriffs left, he became tearful. Once again, I sat next to him and apologized if we were scaring him. I said we are trying to help him locate his home. He started to cry and said he wanted to go home. I handed him the pen and paper and asked him where his home was. When I returned to check on him he wrote down "I want to go to Atascadero" I quickly MapQuest Atascadero, it's almost 3 hours from where he was found. I handed him my personal phone and said look yourself up on Facebook or Instagram. I figured most teens have social media. I entered his first name on Facebook search and asked him to enter his last name. He grabbed the phone and moved his fingers as if he was about to enter his last name but kept deleting his first name. I left him to attend to my other patients since it was getting close to the end of shift. Once all my patients were ok, I came back to D. I handed him my phone again and said look yourself up. After much encouragement, he entered his full name on Facebook. I then realized he was deleting his name in the beginning because I was spelling it wrong and realized we found him! I was so excited! I was showing him his personal pictures of him skating. He smiled and was very amused. I started to look into his Facebook account. I found tree accounts that matched his last name. I asked him who they were and he said it was his aunt and sister. I searched the two accounts and found a missing person flyer with his picture! That was him! I was so excited once again! He started crying. My charge nurse and I called Ventura Sheriff's Department to tell them the news. As I was dialing his dad's number I froze for a second thinking of the day we had. I said, "hello my name is Vanessa and I'm calling from Los Robles Hospital, I'm taking care of your son, D." I could feel his emotions through the phone. He was very happy and stated he was seconds away from talking to the news media about his disappearance. I handed D the phone as he tried to get words out.
The next morning, I met his dad and little sister. His dad was very thankful and gave me a hug. John Doe was still not talking much and needed help but seemed relieved.
At that moment, I remembered why I wanted to be a nurse. The sacrifices we make physically and mentally every day as a nurse is worth it. We might not notice it every day, but we make a difference in our patients' and families' lives. Most would see John Doe as another patient, homeless, run away but our floor and the staff who took care of him did not. We took the extra mile in his care. 4-Surgical represented Los Robles hospital values in this journey. "We recognize and affirm the unique and intrinsic worth of each individual and we treat all those we serve with compassion and kindness".
John Doe was missing for 5 days. His car was found 5 hours from Westlake. He had his dog with him and the dog's search is still ongoing. John Doe or D is 19 years old and he lives with his dad and sister in Atascadero. He loves to skate. He then said I was not saying he wanted to "escape" he was trying to say he wanted to skate. He remembers his dog running off and getting into a van. How he got to Westlake 5 hours from his car is still a mystery. He was discharged home from Los Robles a few days after he was admitted. The last thing his dad told me was thank you and that I had angels with me the day I was caring for his son.