Back in 2004 my Neurologist called and said I want to admit you to the hospital for some tests ,I said fine ,no problem ,the next day I reported to the hospital , that night I took my sleeping pills ,suspecting nothing .

When I woke up I thought wow ,I went to sleep in a white room ,this one is blue ,and I don't smell paint ,it was confusing, I walked into the hallway and it was completely different and I saw a door but couldn't open it ,saw an elevator walked over pressed the button it lit up ,nurses then realised OMG ,hes awake.

A small group of nurses approach and say the elevator is not coming because its locked ,they then tell me my doctor needs to talk to me ? I say "this is kidnapping ,I will have all your butts in a sling " the nurses didn't care and kept repeating your doctor just needs to talk to you, I finally said "I don't care if he wants to tell me that dream of being anally probed by aliens wasn't a dream " not even a trace of smile , then i start quoting chapter and verse of mental hygiene law ,and how illegal this was ( before getting on fire department ,I worked as a mental hygiene police officer in a near by state),`nobody cared , reflecting back on that day i know they had knowledge of what was going to happen ,and not being homicidal suicidal or threat to anyone was going to change very quickly ,once doctor had his talk , and yep I went from zero to mach 5000 in the blink of an eye,and need all of there support ,I spent 2 months there adjusting to my diagnosis .

The doctor was right to protect me from what he was going to tell me ,unfortunately he didn't coordinate with anybody and really couldn't, so I was defenseless and all my usual supports where doing other things,my mom was teaching Psycho drama workshops in Europe , I couldn't call her and tell her over the phone ,but I called my aunt ,she felt this qualified as an emergency ,so she broke the horrible news to my Mom and she basicly moved heaven and earth to get back here ,she sweet talked air traficc control she was 5 minutes from the airport and couldn't wait 18 hours for the next flight ,then once in the air she went to work on the pilot ,convincing him to declare an in flight emergency so he could drop her off in Buffalo instead of at laGuardia buffalo was closer to me and my aunt would be wauting at the curb motor running .

The people where very helpfull and nothing was done in a mean way , I have the benefit of the great equalizer TIME , that I would otherwise not ,people often make hasty decisions in the position I was about to be in ,they kept me safe and alive long enough to have the super nerd rare disease doctors a chance to correct my diagnosis ,originaly I was given less than a year to live ,obviously it isn't ideal ,I am still dieing but not at the breakneck pace originaly given .

If you get hospitalized remember they have your best intrest at heart ,they want to try and help,some staff will not be as friendly as others ( but we don't make friends with everyone in the real world either)
If it happens the better and open your mindset ,the less dramatic or traumatic it will be . In many places boredom rules as they have limited TV and no WiFi in most places, but that's a real easy concept focus on you ,not the world ,you would be surprized what you can do in little time ,when you don't have to do anything like make a living or even cook dinner ,on that final note the food is usually good and plentiful ,as good food helps to motivate everyone ,not just men .
They can keep you in most places 72 hours , before you either sign in as voluntary or you refuse and a hearing is set on the unit where a judge comes and listens to the doctors view and your view and makes a decision ,if the judge decides the doctor is right in most places they can keep you up to 3 months before another hearing ( doesn't mean they will ,just they can if they feel you need it) spending more than a week is rare nowadays due to financial pressures by insurance companies , all they want is you to be stabilized and discharged as soon as possible .