Texas State Fair!

Today, as promised, Dr. R took five med students (we were joined by a 4th year, Randy, who's working at the child/adolescent ward), several staff members, and about 18 patients to the State Fair. For most of us, this was our first time at the fair; it might as well be mine since I have no memory of going to the fair when I was little. Patients were given about $35 to spend while med students only received $15 ($10 buys twenty tickets and most food costs at least 8 tickets so do the math: we didn't get much). We were split into four separate groups; I went with Dr. R and three patients named John, Renee, and Patel. They were a good, well-behaved bunch except John got tired really easily (he's a big guy) and we had to sit down every so often so he could rest. Renee has bipolar disorder but is doing very well; she expects to be released soon. I don't know what Patel was at TSH for, but she's been at TSH for three months and is just like any other person. John is MR and used to talk only in "yes" or "no," but he sure was smiling a lot and talking more today, so that's good.

Dr. R wanted to ride the Ferris wheel but couldn't leave Renee behind (she's scared of heights), so while the rest of us waited, Patel and I went to ride the gondola (similar to the Conquistador at Six Flags) and then Patel went on a freefall ride alone while I watched (no way am I riding one of those things). The State Fair was known for its fried concoctions like fried ice cream, fried bananas, fried cheesecake, and this year's special, fried lattes. I had no idea how to fry a latte, but I did indulge in some fried cookie dough. It cost me 12 tickets and came in a cute little cardboard model of a 1957 Chevrolet Cruiser (probably why it was so pricey), but that stuff was goooooood. When Patel and I got back to keep Renee company, John and Dr. R went up in the Ferris wheel. After they got off, we went to see a show called Birds of the World. They had various exotic birds fly out and do tricks for us, and the birds were so pretty! Two hawks flew from the top of the Ferris wheel many feet away to land on the trainer's arm, all to demonstrate their speed and grace in the air. Another parrot sang, "Old Mc Donald Had a Farm." I was very excited to see a palm cockatoo, which I first saw an old kids' show back in the day. Dr. R commented later that the closest bird related to the T-rex is the chicken, and I said it was ironic how the T-rex used to eat everything, and now we're eating its descendents. Renee joked, "That's something only a medical student would think of."

After the bird show, we walked over to a Chevy car show, and saw a whole bunch of brand new car models. John liked the trucks and the Hummers; it was fun watching him sit in the driver's seat or else lean against the trucks. Some of those cars were huge, and they cost about $60,000 each. Yeah, can't afford that yet. One thing that excited everyone was the appearance of the Chevy Camaro Bumblebee from Transformers; that car will be available for purchase in late 2008, I think.

By the end of the day (we met up to leave at 3:00 pm) everyone was exhausted but happy. Most of the patients indulged in the food at the fair (Patel had a funnel cake, fruit cup, a Mexican specialty burrito, a hot dog, and a pizza) since it's been ages since they had anything other than hospital food. Others won prizes and bought new items; a pair of sunglasses made one lady very happy. This same lady, however, had jeans hanging so low that when she sat down her entire butt crack was showing; we had to stand around her to keep others from staring. One guy, BB, the same guy who asked Dr. R to "make him happy" two weeks ago, was a bit agitated; he was in Kyle's group and Kyle said BB seemed to be responding to internal stimuli (hearing voices) and at one point took a swing at Randy. Dr. R heard this and said she was assigning him to a lower level (at TSH, level 7 pretty much means isolation whereas level 4 means you can walk around the grounds of the hospital). BB was currently at level 4. Later, when we returned to the hospital, Dr. R told BB that she was making him a level 5, and in his anger he took a swing at another patient, dropping him down to level 6 and he had to receive emergency meds. "Two strikes..." said David.

This was our last day to see Dr. R; she's going to Norway for a 2-week vacation. Randy will be doing the orientation for the new group of TSH students in another week and a half. Wow...I can't believe my psych rotation is almost over!