The exorcism...

My first day, I was put on with Randy and Blake. No, those aren't their real names. We usually don't run 3 people on a BLS rig, but I was training for the next week or so with them. The day went by, for the most part, uneventfully. On about our 3rd or 4th run, I get my first psych call. "Unit 88, I have a call coming out of Elmhurst Elementary School in_______(city.) Patient is a 9-year old male, school counselors state he's on a 5150 for DTO (Danger To Others.) How do you copy?"
"88 copy, show us enroute."
The whole drive there, I'm thinking "how the hell is a 9 year old a danger to others? I mean, shit, he's 9, how much damage could he do?"
We arrive on scene, and are sent to the counseling office, a trailer near the playground. We are greeted by a whole team of school officials, and the kid's mom. As we jump out of the rig and go to grab the gurney in the back, a counselor approaches us.
"Do you have restraints?"
"Uhh yea... Do we need them?"
"Well, he's asleep right now. He's locked in a room by himself, and you're going to have to get him on the gurney and restrained pretty quickly, before he figures out what's going on.."
"Ummm... Ok.. Lead the way."
She leads us into the office, and we're shushed by everyone as we approach the door to the room this kid's locked in. They quietly open the door to an angelic looking 9 year old, asleep on the floor with a pillow.. I thought "Come on, this is nuts. This kid looks fine!"
And then....I looked around...
I realized, stepping into the room, that other than the pillow and the kid, the room was COMPLETELY empty. On further observation, I also realize that all the wallpaper, from about 3 ft. from the floor all the way down has been ripped off the walls, and what appear to be fingernail scratches cover every wall..
The boy's mother walks over to him, and gently wakes him up.
"Jimmy... Jimmy sweetheart.. These nice people are going to take you to the doctor, ok?"
"Huh? What? WHAT?!?! WHAT THE F**K?!?" (Yea, this is the kid)
"Honey, calm down, everything is ok..."
The boy jumps up, starts flailing around and screaming every obscenity you've ever heard, and even some you haven't. He's beet red, and really pissed. He starts hitting everyone, spitting, and basically throwing the biggest tantrum I've ever seen. We rush the gurney in, while 6, yes 6 of us attempt to pick him up, plop him on the bed and tie him down. The kid is going completely apesh*t. I couldn't believe it! It took basically everyone in the room to hold him down, and in doing so Randy and Blake both manage to get bitten, punched, and kicked several times. I, on the other hand, the terrified rookie, had backed myself into a corner (literally) and just stared, slack jawed at the scene playing out in front of me until Blake yelled "Get over here, hold his head down!" Which, miraculously, snapped me out of my terror. I'm holding the kid's head in C-spine (meaning completely immoblizing his cervical spine, a maneuver most often used for patients with suspected spinal trauma, or in this case, psychotic grade-schoolers) and the entire time, the boy is looking me square in the eye screaming "YOU F**KING C*NT!! LET GO OF ME YOU STUPID B**CH!!" During this outburst, the mother turns to me, and in a sweet, quiet voice says "I'm sorry, he can be such a potty mouth sometimes.."
POTTY MOUTH? Are you KIDDING? I don't even talk like that, and I'm a grown woman!
We wrangle the kid into the restraints, and whisk him into the back of the rig, close the doors and take off. On the ride to the hospital, Randy looks at the kid and says "Look, here's the thing. I don't have the energy to sit here and hold you down the entire drive, so just chill out man. We're taking you to the doctor whether you like it or not, and really, it's not so bad. A 3-day vacation from school and your mom, all you gotta do is talk to the doc and tell him what's going on."
Surprisingly, the kid ACTUALLY calmed down. He ended up relaxing enough for us to take him out of restraints, and we find out he's a pretty decent kid. Likes to ride dirtbikes, actually doing pretty good in school too. Just a classic case of a kid diagnosed with ADHD and severely overmedicated. We arrive at the hospital with a calm, quiet 9 year old, and hand him over to the doctor there. When we explain what had happened, he looked at us like WE were the ones who needed to be admitted, but said no more and accepted him.
We had a few other calls, but nothing too exciting. When we got back to station that night, we told the story of what we now called "The Exorcist Child" and everyone got a chuckle out of it.
Truth be told, as sad as these types of situations are, we HAVE to laugh at them. I know it sounds cruel, but if you don't find some humor in the situation, you end up depressed and feeling helpless against all the horrible things that make people "ill" physically, or even mentally. In short, don't let the crazies make you crazy. It made for an interesting and educational first shift, that's for certain.
Over and out-
the PSYCH wrangler