so, yesterday my younger sister attempted suicide. it's a long fucking story. but, she's in the hospital still (for medical reasons) and also in a juvenile psychiatric ward (for obvious reasons).

they have a 72 hour hold on her before they'll even talk about her being released.

i stayed with her on tuesday for like 9 hours at the hospital, but she didn't really talk (other than necessary words such as "my IV is pinching"), and i didn't ask her any questions about the whole event.

i'm going to the hospital again tomorrow evening (they've limited her visiting hours to 1 hour a day, at this new hospital), and i still don't know what to say.

generally.. i'm asking, wtf do you do with someone who's attempted suicide but failed? i mean... what can you say? or do?

i did a bunch of stuff without really thinking (ie: cleaning her room -- but i sortof had to, there was blood and barf and shattered wood everywhere -- and returning calls from frantic friends, telling them that she was in the hospital, but alive) is that bad?

argh.

__________________

just keep doing this. for now, anyway.

oh & be there. otherwise, surprisingly, you really don't have to say much at all.

suicide attempts are very informal.

Sorry to hear that happened. I'm sure you're doing everything you can and doing it 'the right way'. Your sister will appreciate not having to look at the mess she made, not having to deal with questions she doesn't want to answer...

All your sister really needs right now is love and support. She's surely feeling stupid and like a failure and an embarrassement more than you know. She'll be happy to be welcomed home and embraced.

I remember attempting suicide as a teen and my mother thought it would be a good idea to show up at the hospital with plane tix to visit my bro in Cali to bring me out of my funk. In reality, it just made me feel like she didn't want to deal with me herself. That was true. That was sad and it didn't fix anything.

You're doing the right thing. Be proud.

I've never known someone who has attempted to kill themselves, but I had this one friend who has very depressed, cutting herself and taking a lot of morphine. Whenever she'd get very obviously depressed, I'd never ask her to talk about it but I'd let her know I was there for her and listened whenever she felt like talking. Your sister will probably be seeing some kind of therapist, so they'll help her deal with whatever is upsetting her and she'll talk to you about it when she's ready.
I'm sorry you're having to go through this, suicide is a very sad and scary thing.

__________________
So I'm watching as his wings spread as wide as could be
Come on now and wrap them around me

as has been said, you don't really need to say anything. just be there for her. i took an overdose when i was 16 and my brother wouldn't even look at me because he was angry with me. that didn't help.
that was sweet of you to clean her room. she sure wouldn't have wanted to go home to blood, spew and shattered wood everywhere.