B
butterflydreams
Guest
Well, yesterday was a seriously intense day! Last week, the plan was to put difficult child in residential, but the wait list is 2-3 months out. Also, we needed to find out about ins. coverage. Well, my insurance covers 30 days inpatient - this includes the partial program difficult child has been in at 2 days to every 1 day inpatient, we found out the residential would be included, umm 30 days is not very much. Anyway, I spent Wednesday applying for Medicad (for which I make too much) but I applied for the Katie Becket waiver. I also was on the phone with social security to apply for SSI. Now, difficult child already receives social security survivor benefits because of his dad's death, well I talked to them and answered their questions and they scheduled an appointment for SSI application for 4/14.
Meantime, I went to the psychiatric hospital for the weekly treatment team meeting yesterday morning. doctor says difficult child is getting worse and his violent thoughts are occupying all of his thoughts and even dreams and his drawings. His agitation is worsening, etc. He told me that difficult child says he has this bubble around him - that this was the problem he had at school too, this bubble is around him and right now, that I am the only one who can get inside that bubble without being in danger of being hurt. There was some suicidal thoughts as well. He said it is no longer safe to leave him at home, for his safety as well as everyone else's. They were going to admit him and bring him over in the afternoon when the other kids go to AT. doctor says the new plan was to have him at the current facility, which is acute care until his benefits run out. He was going to call the doctor he works with at this other facility in town, which is run by the state, and see if there is room in their acute facility and move him over there to await a bed in the residential facility. They will draw from the acute inpatients before they draw from the waiting list. Talk about intense! I went from not knowing how my daughter and I were going to get through the next month or two with difficult child getting worse all the time to BAM he is inpatient. I spent the next few hours doing paperwork and talking with the nurse on the unit.
The doctor has already ordered a change in medications, he is adding Abilify - I believe 10mg to start. Reduced his Prozac 10mg and changed his Seroquel to PRN. The nurse couldn't tell me what the plan is as far as titrating the medications, just this is what the order was for this morning. The doctor is also ordering a type of brain scan - but first we have to get it approved by the insurance company. Apparently our doctor is the ONLY doctor for kids in this area to do this test, he is the only one trained to do it. I just hope it gets approved, then we will be able to see what is going on. Thing is, because it requires an i.v. I have to be there (I would want to be anyway). It is done at a hospital on the other side of town. I have to transport difficult child both ways AND he has to be off all medications for 48 hours before the test. Oh fun. Well, hopefully they will get approval and we can do it, then the doctor can see the activity in his brain and be able to get a better diagnosis.
I was really expecting them to have a lot of agitation from difficult child when he realized that he was being placed inpatient, but there wasn't. I called about 4:30pm to see how it went and the nurse said they didn't have any problems with him. I went for visitation last night from 6-7pm and took his clothes up there. We had a nice visit, difficult child asked what got him there, he thought he was doing fine in partial. I just told him that the doctor felt it was time and that he needed help. He understands. He told me his schedule. He then said he felt that he probably would be there for awhile and hoped he wouldn't be there over his birthday (in January). He mentioned he hoped he wouldn't have to go residential because of the possibility of having to go out of state and being away from home for like 6 months. I have never said anything to him about residential at all, so I am not sure where that came from. I told him he needed to just take it 1 day at a time. He said the thing he was going to miss the most was our dog.
Well, I am still numb, but I have to go to work today, since I took the last 2 days off to handle everything. I have appts next week, so I will miss plenty more then. I will be talking to the doctor again Monday morning, I will keep everyone updated. Well, gotta go.
Meantime, I went to the psychiatric hospital for the weekly treatment team meeting yesterday morning. doctor says difficult child is getting worse and his violent thoughts are occupying all of his thoughts and even dreams and his drawings. His agitation is worsening, etc. He told me that difficult child says he has this bubble around him - that this was the problem he had at school too, this bubble is around him and right now, that I am the only one who can get inside that bubble without being in danger of being hurt. There was some suicidal thoughts as well. He said it is no longer safe to leave him at home, for his safety as well as everyone else's. They were going to admit him and bring him over in the afternoon when the other kids go to AT. doctor says the new plan was to have him at the current facility, which is acute care until his benefits run out. He was going to call the doctor he works with at this other facility in town, which is run by the state, and see if there is room in their acute facility and move him over there to await a bed in the residential facility. They will draw from the acute inpatients before they draw from the waiting list. Talk about intense! I went from not knowing how my daughter and I were going to get through the next month or two with difficult child getting worse all the time to BAM he is inpatient. I spent the next few hours doing paperwork and talking with the nurse on the unit.
The doctor has already ordered a change in medications, he is adding Abilify - I believe 10mg to start. Reduced his Prozac 10mg and changed his Seroquel to PRN. The nurse couldn't tell me what the plan is as far as titrating the medications, just this is what the order was for this morning. The doctor is also ordering a type of brain scan - but first we have to get it approved by the insurance company. Apparently our doctor is the ONLY doctor for kids in this area to do this test, he is the only one trained to do it. I just hope it gets approved, then we will be able to see what is going on. Thing is, because it requires an i.v. I have to be there (I would want to be anyway). It is done at a hospital on the other side of town. I have to transport difficult child both ways AND he has to be off all medications for 48 hours before the test. Oh fun. Well, hopefully they will get approval and we can do it, then the doctor can see the activity in his brain and be able to get a better diagnosis.
I was really expecting them to have a lot of agitation from difficult child when he realized that he was being placed inpatient, but there wasn't. I called about 4:30pm to see how it went and the nurse said they didn't have any problems with him. I went for visitation last night from 6-7pm and took his clothes up there. We had a nice visit, difficult child asked what got him there, he thought he was doing fine in partial. I just told him that the doctor felt it was time and that he needed help. He understands. He told me his schedule. He then said he felt that he probably would be there for awhile and hoped he wouldn't be there over his birthday (in January). He mentioned he hoped he wouldn't have to go residential because of the possibility of having to go out of state and being away from home for like 6 months. I have never said anything to him about residential at all, so I am not sure where that came from. I told him he needed to just take it 1 day at a time. He said the thing he was going to miss the most was our dog.
Well, I am still numb, but I have to go to work today, since I took the last 2 days off to handle everything. I have appts next week, so I will miss plenty more then. I will be talking to the doctor again Monday morning, I will keep everyone updated. Well, gotta go.
