I saw the knife from the corner of my eye!
The knife was pretty long and wicked looking. The woman on my right holding it was mad and was barely two feet away. On my left, stood another woman holding up a weight used for traction. They cursed each other out as I flinched hoping this was just a bad dream, I would wake up from! I sat between them on a stool with my patient in front of me with her legs spread out. I was going to catheterize her in her house. Ms. Land was home bound, morbidly obese with a host of chronic conditions and a neurogenic bladder. I came almost every third day to catheterize her as she kept ripping the Foley out every time the bladder spasms got bad.
This all began 40 minutes before when my husband dropped me in front of the apartment complex where this patient lived in an unsafe neighborhood littered with drug dealers, gangs and graffiti ridden walls. I worked for a private agency that provided RN services to home bound patients. My husband waited in the car with my older two who then were 6 months and 2 years old. When I went upstairs and knocked on the door, Ms. Land my patient called out that the door was locked and her HHA had gone to get milk. So I sat on the steps and waited for her, wearing regular clothes as no uniform was required from this agency, my ID prominently displayed holding my Nursing supply bag. After 20 minutes the HHA Sherry Walters came.
"Good Morning Sherry! How are you?"
"I am fine Nurse Annie. How about you?
"I am good. I have been waiting for someone to open the door. Do you have the key?"
"No, Nurse Annie, I don't. Ms. Carpenter has the key!"
"Who is that Sherry?" Sherry rolled her eyes.
"Her partner. She left with me and took the key with her. She said she would be back in half hour."
I went on full alert as I had heard about this Ms. Carpenter from the agency. She used to be in a physical relationship with my patient. She did not live with her anymore but came every month to case the apartment and take my patient's money. She then went and gambled the money off. She had got into multiple fights with the agency staff. Her MO was to get everyone off the premises and then do what she had to without witnesses. The patient was afraid of her but would never press charges even though she had been advised multiple times. She was alert and capable of making decisions and was in no way cognitively impaired. The partner never physically abused her but took her money. I told Sherry to keep her cool and not get into any argument with Ms. Carpenter when she came.
Ms. Carpenter arrived around 10 minutes later and looked me up and down. "And who are you?"
"I am the Registered Nurse Annie." She ignored my ID.
"How do I know who you are? You don't look like an RN. For all I know you could be here to rob Debbie Land!" she sneered. I stayed calm as I knew she was trying to needle me into a fight.
"I don't know you either and can same the same about you! I am here for my prescheduled 10 am appointment with Debbie and have been waiting the last 40 minutes for you to come and open the door. Could you open the door please?" I replied calmly. She backed down and opened the door. I ignored her, greeted my patient and proceeded to do a quick assessment. I set up for the catheterization. In the background, I was aware of Ms. Carpenter taunting Sherry, the HHA and sherry getting more and more irritated and struggling to hold her temper in check. Sherry was very meticulous with her cooking and cleaning and took pride in her work. She also had a very soft fuse and very strong Jamaican accent when she was excited or upset. I made eyes at her not to respond to the needling but I could see that her temper was held by a frayed thread at this point. As I sat in front of the patient on a stool with the footboard out of the way, Ms. Carpenter made another rude comment about how the apartment was kept. Sherry snapped.
"That's it with your nonsense! Don't say another word!" Ms. Carpenter puffed out her chest and wagged her fingers with a smirk at Sherry.
"What are you going to do? Let me see!" She was delighted as her plan was working to perfection. Sherry grabbed the traction weights and stood by me.
"Sherry, please put that down."
"No, Nurse Annie me had it with her. She gonna get it you know. She is making me so mad!"
"Sherry don't let her play you. Put that down now." Ms. Carpenter laughed at us.
"You are a bunch of lilies. What losers!"
"I'll show you who is a lily!" Sherry grabbed the weights and made a move closer. Ms. Carpenter went to the kitchen and pulled out a knife from the drawer.
"You want a fight! I'll give you a fight!" Sweat trickled down my forehead as I sat between them trying to find the urethral opening amidst the jungle of hair, acutely aware of the knife and weights barely an arm length away on either side. Saying a prayer, I blindly went in, right under the privy parts and hey presto clear urine. My hands never moved so fast as I inflated the balloon and hooked her up to the bag in less than 2 minutes. I grabbed the stuff on the bed and dumped it in the plastic bag and then the trash. I turned around and looked Ms. Carpenter in the eye and said, "Put that knife down now." They both stared at me and slowly lowered down their weapons. Ms. Carpenter picked up the phone and dialed, still holding the knife in one hand!
"I am calling the cops on you as you threatened me with the weights!"
"Excuse me! You pulled a knife and you are calling the cops! That is rich! Let them come, because I am going to do some talking!" Sherry fumed as she put the weights down. I got my signature from the patient and got my stuff together. The cops were there in 5 minutes. Both Sherry and Ms. Carpenter started talking to the cops at the same time. One of the cops saw my badge and asked me to step outside the door and spoke to me in private. He asked me what happened and I told him what happened. After getting statements from both of them, they spoke to my patient who as usual did not want to press charges against her friend. Sherry however did and they booked Ms. Carpenter and took her for further questioning. I left the apartment and went downstairs to my unsuspecting husband. As we drove away, my husband informed me that he had seen 2 squad cars pull up in front of the building a little while back and wondered aloud where they went.
I calmly told him that it was to the same apartment that I was in! My husband was in shock and told me to quit that assignment as it was not worth my life. When I went home, I called the agency and told them and they pulled out their staff from that case. I am not sure who provided her services for her after that but since then I have never beat that record time of two minutes to insert a Foley catheter!
