Perception Story: Jessica's Painful Experience

A. Teacher reads story to the class called "Jessica's Painful Experience."

B. Story Description: This story is fiction, but it is based on true events. The idea for the story came from a social worker who used to live in Knoxville, Tennessee. She had clients who had to get their stomach pumped due to either accidentally or purposely taking an overdose of pills or drugs. One of the points of the story is that if you cloud your vision or dull your senses by taking drugs or drinking alcohol, the world will lose out of all your special talents and abilities. Each of you is essential to making the world the best possible place it can be.

Jessica's Painful Experience
© 1999 by Debbie Dunn

Fourteen-year-old Jessica walked into the house. On the bed was a note from her mother. "Honey, good news. A neighbor of ours in the next block over is a counselor. He has agreed to be your counselor to help you get over the divorce. I'll take you to meet him after dinner tonight. His name is Stephan Walker. Lots of Love, Mom."

Jessica read the note, crumpled it, and threw it across the room. She walked to the dresser and stared at her moody reflection in the mirror. She made a face and stated, "I don't need a counselor or a therapist or anybody. I've got my friends and I've got this." Jessica walked over to the closet and rooted around. Her hand came up empty at the spot where she expected to find the bottle of vodka she had hidden there just a few days back. "Maybe it fell over," she exclaimed hopefully. She turned on the closet light, got down on her hands and knees, and searched more carefully. Cursing softly to herself she began grabbing everything on the closet floor and throwing it into the interior of her bedroom. The bottle was gone. Jessica realized that her mother must have found it and taken it out of her closet.

Jessica ran through the house, searching. "I just need a little drink, just little one, just a little drink." The litany kept pace with her running feet, inside her head. She finally found the bottle in the kitchen. It was in the trash can. She lifted it out in hopes that it still had some vodka inside. But, no! It was empty. Cursing loudly, she sank to her knees and began to cry. She also began to shake.

Jessica felt that she desperately needed a drink. Knowing her mother kept no alcohol in the house aggravated her feeling of helplessness. Then she remembered the rubbing alcohol. She ran into the bathroom, pulled out the half-filled bottle, and drank it down. It relieved the part of her that was addicted; however, her stomach and throat rebelled violently. Retching, Jessica crawled over to the toilet and threw up again and again.

When her mother got home, she found Jessica lying on the bathroom floor, passed out. The empty bottle of rubbing alcohol lay on the floor beside her. The aspirin bottle was also lying there-half empty. Not knowing how many pills Jessica might have taken and fearing the worst, she got Jessica up and rushed her off to the hospital to get her stomach pumped.

At the hospital, Jessica was quickly taken to a room where a whole team of nurses and one doctor were waiting. On the left side of the flat bed stood a nurse and a cart with a basin lifted to nearly bed level. On the right side of the bed was a doctor and a nurse holding an extremely long tube. There was also a male nurse who was there to help hold her down should she begin to shake, try to fight them off, or in case of seizures.

While the doctor and nurse began inserting the tube into one nostril and guiding it down through the esophagus and into the stomach, two other nurses began poking Jessica with needles in her ankles and arms. Even though they were told about the rubbing alcohol and aspirin, they were drawing blood samples to test for other drugs the ninth grader may have consumed. As soon as they had drawn enough blood, they rushed off to the lab to get it tested. Later, they came back to report that her malady was confined to only the rubbing alcohol and the aspirin.

Jessica was blessedly unconscious as they poked her ankles and arms with needles and as they guided the tube through her nose, past her throat, and down into her stomach. But she quickly became horrifyingly awake for the next part.

Once the tube was firmly in place in her stomach, a funnel cup was attached to the free end of the tube. Immediately, they poured a large amount of some kind of liquid into that funnel cup. Whatever this liquid was, it caused the stomach contents to immediately be swooshed out.

That was when Jessica came awake, gagging, choking, and ready to vomit up the contents in her stomach.

The nurse on the left side of the bed was ready for her. She tilted Jessica's head toward the basin just in time for Jessica to vomit. The vomiting caused Jessica to scream and cry in pain. The discomfort of vomiting would have been bad enough if her stomach was only full of the food she had eaten at lunch, the rubbing alcohol, and the aspirin. Unfortunately, stomachs are also full of stomach acid. The stomach acid alone caused a searing, burning pain in her throat. The rubbing alcohol, which has the potential to cause blindness, made her throat burn even worse.

Jessica begged them to stop. They let her rest for only a moment. Then it began again. Pour liquid in funnel cup-Tilt head-Vomit into basin. The doctor and nurses had to do this quickly to get the poison out of the stomach before it had time to do even worse damage to Jessica. They could show no mercy if they were going to save her.

Pour liquid in funnel cup-Tilt head-Vomit into basin. They did this four times until they felt certain, by examining the contents in the basin, that they had gotten most of the poison out. During the whole process, Jessica watched in horror. She begged, pleaded, and cried, "Please don't pour more! Please don't pour more!" Too late! They had to pour more in order to save her. But finally, they stopped.

Jessica burrowed herself deeper into the bed, hoping that finally the horror and searing pain would stop. But no! It wasn't over yet. First, they had to pull out the tube. Even pulling gently, it made Jessica gag and choke and throw up once again.

Next they sat Jessica up. They filled an eight ounce cup full of liquid charcoal. We are talking the real kind of charcoal that is used to grill food. The male nurse said, "You must drink every drop of this down. If you throw it up, you will have to drink another entire cup of charcoal again. So you better keep it down the first time."

Jessica whimpered, "Why must I drink charcoal? It'll kill me."

The male nurse said, "No, it won't kill you. The charcoal will absorb any poison that might have gotten into your stomach lining. It will actually work to save your life and make you better."

Jessica took the cup with one hand. She held her nose with the other hand. That hurt dreadfully to do for the tube had made her nose quite sore. Nevertheless, she plugged her nostrils closed so that she would not be able to smell the charcoal. She gulped it down as quickly as she could. Her impulse was to vomit into the pan, but she forced herself to swallow it back. The thought of having to drink another cup was far too terrible. Finally, they let her lie back down. The worst of the pain was now over. Unfortunately, more discomfort was to come.

Meanwhile, one of the nurses had been taking her blood pressure over and over to make certain she was stabilized. In Jessica's weakened condition, they wheeled her off to spend the night in the ICU (the intensive care unit). They hooked her up to a heart monitor just to make certain she was okay. They set up a cot for Jessica's mother so that she could stay nearby.

The mother watched as they placed a bed pan in the bed. She wouldn't need a vomit basin, for amazingly enough, the charcoal succeeded in settling her stomach.

Jessica's mother asked, "What is the bed pan for?"

A nurse explained, "Your daughter will be excreting charcoal in various parts of her body for the next week. It will be in the tear ducts of her eyes. It will crust up her nose. It gets caught between her teeth. She will be spitting charcoal for quite some time. It does not come out in her urine. But instead of diarrhea, she will have, shall we say, charcoal-rea."

Jessica's mother wrinkled her nose in horrified amazement and then asked, "How is she?"

The nurse said, "She's fine now. It was only the rubbing alcohol and aspirin in her system and we got all of that out. She'll feel pretty rough the first 24 hours and will sleep a lot for probably two days. But after that, even though she'll be quite exhausted, you can send her back to school. Don't expect her to feel entirely well until a week has gone by. Then she should be fine."

Jessica's mother then asked, "What's next?"

The nurse said, "In the morning, a social worker will come in to ask Jessica some questions."

The mother asked, "Like what?"

The nurse explained, "She'll want to know if Jessica has been depressed lately and if it was possible that she tried to commit suicide."

"No," the mother moaned. "Surely she wasn't trying to do that. It's just that my husband divorced me for another woman a few months ago and the wound is still pretty raw. Jessica felt that her father divorced her as well as me. I know it upset her, but not enough for her to try to take her own life. Surely not that!" Jessica's mother was near tears at the thought.

"You're probably right," the nurse comforted. "A lot of kids are not trying to kill themselves. They just want to get high. Unfortunately, they don't understand the kind of damage they are doing to their bodies when they do that."

The next day, the social worker said pretty much the same thing. After talking with Jessica, it was clear that she had been trying to self-medicate herself on alcohol in her attempt to relieve the pain of her father leaving. She had grown dependent on the alcohol, not because she was an alcoholic, but because it had become her best friend and buddy that seemed to numb the pain of her father leaving. But this experience with her stomach getting pumped had succeeded in scaring Jessica straight. She was determined to stop drinking and get her life together with a lot of help from her mother and a counselor of her choice.

After Jessica was safely back home, she took a good look at her mother's loving yet anxious eyes. Jessica burst into tears and said, "I'm sorry, Mom. "I'm so sorry."

Very gently, her mother asked, "Jessica, please tell me the truth. Were you trying to kill yourself?"

Shocked, Jessica responded, "No, way! I just ... needed a drink. And since I guess you found and emptied my bottle of vodka, the only alcohol in the house as rubbing alcohol. That made me feel awful sick. So then I tried to take a bunch of aspirin to make me feel better. I guess I took way too many."

Jessica's mother asked, "How are you feeling now?"

Jessica said, "Awful. Getting my stomach pumped was one of the worst things I've ever gone through. I never want to have to go through that again."

Her mother said, "Jessica, I love you so much! I didn't mean to make you angry or fearful about meeting with Stephan. But he is an excellent counselor. He meets with several young people once a week in the evening to help them work through their problems. He has an office in his home."

Jessica stared thoughtfully at her mother for awhile. Finally, she said, "Okay, I'll go one time to try it out. If I like it, I'll keep going. But if I don't, than that's it. Deal?"

Jessica's mother smiled and said, "Deal."

The two of them hugged. Then the mother stroked her daughter's hair as Jessica gradually drifted off into a healing sleep.

The next group meeting for young people was on the following Thursday night. Finally feeling recovered from her ordeal at the hospital, Jessica shyly rang the door bell. Her mother waited in the car and did not drive off until she saw Stephan welcome Jessica into his house.

Stephan said, "Hello, Jessica."

Jessica said, "Hi. Uh ... what do I call you?"

"Stephan will do fine."

Jessica asked, "What kind of name is that anyway?"

Stephan said, "It's Greek. My mother was Greek and my father was from America. They met, fell in love, and married. It was her wish to give me a Greek sounding name pronounced Steh• faun."

Jessica nodded and said, "Oh. Okay."

Stephan said, "Come on in to my office. Let me introduce you to the others."

In the office was a circle of chairs. Sitting in those chairs were five other boys and girls, ranging in age from 11 to 16. They each were there for a variety of reasons. Three of them, like Jessica, had either a drinking or a drug problem or both. One boy had run away from home and was forcefully brought back by the police. One girl was having a very hard time because her parents were in the process of going through a very messy divorce.

Jessica sat down, weakly smiled a hello, and stared at her feet in embarrassment. She wished herself to be anywhere but here.

Stephan sat down in the one remaining seat. He said, "I wish to welcome Jessica to our group. For her sake, I'll explain how we work things here. Everyone who wants to has the opportunity to share the problems that are bothering them the most. No one has to share, however, it needs to be understood that everything that is said here is entirely confidential. And unless you say something that indicates to me that you might plan to cause serious harm to yourself or to others, not even your parents will hear about what you say. Will you agree to keep everything said here confidential, Jessica?"

Jessica nodded and mumbled her agreement.

Stephan said, "Excellent. Who would like to begin?"

Half the group had been coming for a few months. Two had been coming for only a few weeks. The old-timers were the first to share as they were entirely comfortable with the process. Jessica listened with interest; however, she couldn't imagine herself wanting to open up like that to kids she barely knew.

Toward the end of the session, Stephan began to speak. "You did an excellent job of sharing today. Now, I have a few words that I would like to say."

All the kids but Jessica brightened, for they took great comfort in Stephan's encouraging words. "Jessica, the kids who have been coming here for awhile know that my words are not at all meant as a lecture. I simply wish to acquaint or remind you of a few truths I feel it is important for you all to know."

Jessica lifted her head and listened to Stephan with some curiosity.

This is what Stephan had to say.

Every single one of you is so very special and totally unique. Sure, there are physical things about you that are similar to other people. But just like that there are no two snowflakes exactly alike, the part of you that makes you what you are is also totally unique and absolutely essential to the world.

Each of you was born with a very special purpose that you, and only you, can accomplish. Some people figure out early on what their purpose and special work is. Others don't discover this until they are grown.

I believe that every person in the world is one jigsaw puzzle piece for a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. Every person is essential for helping this puzzle to be complete.

There are things that only you are capable of doing or bringing to this puzzle. You might not be the one who discovers a cure for cancer, but perhaps you save the life of someone whose special purpose is to discover the cure for cancer. Therefore, because you lived, the world will be a healthier place.

You might not be the one who creates a great invention. But perhaps, due to your friendship and encouragement to someone who might be having a rough time, that person grows up to create this great invention. So once again, because you lived, the world will have an easier time of it.

Your smiles, your kind words, and your friendship can make the difference that makes certain that the people around you are able to accomplish their special purpose. And then perhaps, they will be able to turn around and help you accomplish your special purpose. By helping them, you are also helping yourself.

But if you allow your vision to be clouded or your senses to be dulled by drugs or alcohol or an addiction to violence, you might never discover your special purpose and the world will suffer a great loss that can never be remedied. Each one of you is essential to making this world a better place for us all to live.

So go home and think about these things. As time goes on, you will discover what special talents that you and only you can bring to this giant jigsaw puzzle. Then you can be proud and happy that because you lived and loved and tried to do your best, the world is a much better place.

Jessica went home with a lot to think about. She decided she liked going to these group sessions. After several weeks had passed, she even felt comfortable enough to share the pain that had been festering in her heart.

The others kids in the group were extremely supportive and encouraging. It didn't happen all at once. But over time, Jessica no longer felt the need to drink. Additionally, she found a sense of peace about the divorce. Motivated by her own inner strength and the stirring words of Stephan, Jessica was able to go on with her life, happier than ever before.

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