Talk to Me
He came from jail. He had been arrested a few days ago and started hallucinating. Alcohol withdrawal. A not uncommon sight in the hospitals of the Navajo Nation, he was taken to the ICU when the standard medications couldn’t control the shakes, the delirium. I met him the next morning, restrained to the bed, for his own safety. I greeted him and he gave some short answers, still with some tremors. I asked him why he was there and he said he thought it was because of his diabetes. I told him about the withdrawal and he just looked down. He didn’t have much else to say; I went to see my other patients. (more…)