psychiatrist is recommending home teaching for difficult child but school nurse has to approve it!

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
We had our pcdoc appointments yesterday for both easy child and difficult child. psychiatrist is going to change up difficult child's medications. He is going to discontinue her Geodon and add in Seroquel. He says the Seroquel should help with her anxiety and sleep issues. I used to take Seroquel a few years ago and the medication was so sedating I had to stop taking it. I would take a small dose at night time, and the next day I would fall asleep behind the wheel while driving to work, and I was falling asleep at my desk. It was too dangerous for me to continue. psychiatrist says he is starting difficult child out at a very small dose, at 25 milligrams, and he is hoping it won't be as sedating for her as it is for most people. difficult child already has an incredibly hard time waking up in the morning, so I am concerned about the Seroquel, but psychiatrist says it should help with the anxiety so I'm willing to give it a go.

He also wrote a letter for the school recommending temporary home teaching until we can get difficult child's ulcers under control and get her on the right psychiatric medications to get her stable. He told me to give it the school psychologist so he can get an IEP started ASAP. I contacted the school psychiatric today, and he said I need to give the letter to the nurse. She has to approve it first, and then she sends it to the district and they have to approve it. You all know what a hard time the nurse has been giving us lately. A week ago she told me she would not approve home teaching unless difficult child was diagnosed with cancer or life threatening seizures. She even intimated that difficult child was faking everything since she was fine for most of the summer. difficult child went to her office yesterday to throw up, as stated in her IEP that she is supposed to go there to be monitored for possible blood in her vomit. The nurse is refusing to follow the IEP and is making difficult child go to the public restroom when she gets sick. Now she is the one who has to approve all of this, and if she disagrees I will have a fight on my hands. Not something I want to have to do with a coworker of mine, but my daughter comes first and I will do what I have to. I have to give her the letter later today and I'm nervous. Wish me luck!
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Good luck.

This nurse forces your daughter to throw up in the public restroom? She thinks she's faking it? Hehe...(wicked smile) that makes me your daughter would puke all over her. What a jerk :) I hope she doesn't act like the jerk she is regarding the home schooling.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
If only she could see difficult child throwing up in my car or all over herself in public. I know for a fact she's not faking and difficult child is supposed to be monitored for blood in her vomit to make sure her ulcers aren't bleeding. We talked about it at length in the IEP last year. The school psychiatric was there as well as the nurse. Suddenly this year the nurse decides she doesn't want to follow the iEP and refuses to let difficult child in her office. The school psyh is just as confused as I am to why she is suddenly changing the rules. No matter. Hopefully she will be approved without too much of a fight. The letter from her psychiatrist clearly states she is not physically or mentally able to make it through a school day, and she needs to get an education somehow.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
I am not an expert but I strongly believe that "the nurse" does not have the power to make those decisions once they are included in the IEP. My gut tells me that the school could easily be in deep poop if the higher ups don't follow the law. Good luck. DDD

PS: I once again strongly suggest that you keep a daily journal.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Well the nurse isn't here today so I talked to her aide. She was very nice and understanding. She gave me the necessary forms for the doctor and myself to fill out. She says the decision isn't even up to the nurse. She is the one who has to initially sign everything but the district is the one who has the final say. Thank God! So hopefully the district approves it no problems.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I am really hoping they approve it. The school nurse is almost absolutely sure they won't, because she isn't sick enough. I gave her the first dose of Seroquel last night, and she was so out of it this morning I couldn't even get her to sit up and take her morning medications. Hopefully that side effect wears off soon.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
You don't know if it's actually a side effect of the medication, or... a side effect of actually, finally, getting some real sleep.
Our difficult child took 2 years to catch up on missing sleep, when we added medications that enabled him to sleep. This was NOT a side-effect of the medication.
 

cubsgirl

Well-Known Member
Seroquel is VERY sedating. I had a terrible time waking up in the morning while I was on it. I know that my psychiatrist at the time told me that at higher doses it is actually less sedating but I don't know for sure if that is true. I had to go off of it because of weight gain and I also have restless leg syndrome which seroquel makes worse.

I really hope your difficult child can get some help with home teaching. She just sounds too sick (both physically and mentally) for school. ((hugs))
 
L

Liahona

Guest
That nurse could get the school in big trouble for not following the IEP. If she gives you any trouble bringing that fact to the notice of her bosses might help you.

:smile:
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Well the Seroquel hasn't helped her sleep in the last few nights. She has been going to bed very late. She does say after she takes it she feels less anxious, but she does not feel tired. I am going to call psychiatrist and see if we can go up from 25 to 50. She missed school again this morning because she refused to get up since she barely slept last night. And now I have my supervisor who is suddenly watching her attendance like a hawk. She pulled up her attendance earlier this morning and told me I excused her when I shouldn't have, based on the fact that she's been absent more than three days. If a student is absent more than three days the school requires a doctor's note, but difficult child didn't miss more than three days. I pointed out to her that she was in the school psychiatric's office for one period last Wednesday so she was technically in school. I don't know why she is keeping such close tabs on her. She knows the situation and that we are in the process of getting her home teaching. Until it goes through, I'm attempting to get her to school as much as possible but it hasn't been easy due to her medications being off. The school psychiatric came up to me today and said we are going to have a meeting either next Monday or Tuesday, depending on when his boss is available. I wish this would be over and done with already. It's putting me under a bunch of stress.
 

bby31288

Active Member
Oh California. I'm afraid you are walking a thin line with difficult child, missing school and your supervisor. Please keep a journal or something proving you are not unfairly giving difficult child excused absences. You know what I mean. Please be careful I would hate for you to lose your job due to this. Is there another department you could transfer to due to conflict of interest?

On the other hand just staying up late at night is not an excuse for her to not get up and going to school.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
It was my supervisor's mistake, not mine. She mistakenly thought she was absent more than three days even though I put a note in the computer that she was with the school psychologist on Wednesday. I don't ever treat my daughter any different than any other kid here. I know my job depends on it.
 

Bunny

Active Member
Did they set a date for the meeting about home schooling? Did you say anything to the nurse about suddenly not following the IEP? That needs to be brought to her attention, and to the attention of her boss if it continues. It doesn't matter what the nurse thinks. Your daughter has an IEP and it needs to be followed.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Document the nurse sending her to the public bathroom. THe IEP is a legal document and is binding and the school could be in trouble for not following. Personally, my kid would be told to puke ON the nurse if she refuses to allow her into the nurse office. NO WAY would that not happen. We did go through this. We had a few teachers and school people tell us to let Wiz puke in a trash can at his seat, but the school super had a FIT when I asked if she wanted this to happen. They got an update on the infection control policy that is state mandated that a student who vomits for ANY reason goes home, and if ti is an attendance problem, attendance is waived and home teaching is done. PERIOD. There is no exception for kids who puke from what is thought to be anxiety, and there is NO exception made to allow kids to puke in a classroom at their seat. The teachers etc...at the school had to go to a week long summer conference on infectious disease prevention in schools for just SUGGESTING this to us, and if they refused the state was going to yank their teaching certificates. It was HUGE.

The doctor told us to have Wiz leave school BEFORE he got sick because he was doing so much damage to his esophagus with daily vomiting. He developed a tear where the esophagus meets the stomach and it was actually quite dangerous. I have done this many times over the years, and knew tthe long term problems (I have years of stomach issues from a doctor who gave me tons of very harsh medications and no treatment for stomach problems even with evidence of them. I will have a lifetime of problems like this from three years of these medications as a teen.)I wanted to stop this before we got to this point with Wiz. In time, with the right medications, it worked out and hehas no problems now.

Ulcers can cause problems that recur for a lifetime. don't let these people damage difficult child's entire life by their stupidity and inflexibility. Contact the state dept of education fi you must over this vomiting issue. Nurses do NOT have discretion in their jobs when a doctor orders soemthing. It is neglect and they can lose their nursing license. We learned that over the mess with Wiz also. One of the school nurses actually did lose her license after refusing to do what a dr ordered to help Wiz. It was a huge deal, and we could NOT stop the state from yanking her license. We thought she was a problem, and needed to learn more about the problem, not lose her career, but he was not the first student she did this to, so she could not just get a warning.
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
CB, I don't think a nurse can override a doctor's orders anywhere. So I don't think you have anything to worry about if you have documentation that it is doctor's orders that she be put on the homebound program (which is what we call it at my school).

~Kathy
 
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