This morning we took Kaitlyn to the hospital to be evaluated (as required by our health insurance). Tomorrow we go to admit her to an inpatient facility. Not sure how long she'll be there, but it sounds like the best fit for her right now, and she feels comfortable with it. She'll have her own room and there's an outdoor pool. We're feeling confident that this is where she needs to be and are hopeful that once the insurance says her inpatient stay is up, she'll be able to transition into a day program, which will allow her to come in the morning, stay for the day, and come home for the evening. The average inpatient stay is 10 days, so it would be good if our insurance agrees with that, however, as long as she can be in a program and get the help she needs, that's what matters most. This is very good news and I wanted to share it with you. Thanks for your loving thoughts, prayers and well wishes. We appreciate each and every one.
Little by little, step by step, making my way every day.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
It's All In God's Hands
It's been almost 5 months since my last blog entry. Wow! So much has happened between February and now that I don't even know where to start. Medications have been increased, decreased or changed completely for Kaitlyn. She's had some side effects that we're not willing to live with or to make her put up with.
June was a very difficult month for Kaitlyn. She missed the last two weeks of school due to depression, anxiety and paranoia. She didn't even feel able to attend her elementary school graduation ceremony or their end of the year field trip to Boston and Gillette Stadium. Once school was finished and summer vacation had begun, Kaitlyn was finally able to relax a bit, but her ability to control her emotions, thoughts and feelings dwindled to nothing and she started acting on them. We thought we were going to have to have her admitted to the hospital, but we managed to avoid that. So it was a medication change, followed by the addition of a new one a couple of weeks later to help her control those actions and intense and frightening feelings. Now due to some very negative side effects of that particular medication, we're going to start weaning her off of it next week. I'll admit, I'm concerned that she's going to start acting on her thoughts and feelings again, so we're praying there is an alternative to that particular medication that might be a better fit for Kaitlyn.
Tomorrow I'm taking Kaitlyn to a hospital in Massachusetts to be evaluated for their partial hospitalization program. This means that if they take her, Kaitlyn will be going there 5 days a week from 9am-3pm. There she will receive intensive therapy and be taught coping skills to help her learn to live with her symptoms and feelings and make the most of each day. She will also see that there are other kids just like her, that she isn't the only one who has to learn to deal with similar problems.
The down side to this partial hospitalization is that the hospital is an hour away with no traffic, and about 2 hours away in commuter traffic. We'll be driving up with the commuters tomorrow of course, then if she stays for the day, I'll come back home until it's time to drive back to get her and home yet again. This means no less than 5 hours of driving per day. I will be asking if it's possible to have them authorize service for Kaitlyn at one of our local hospitals for this reason. There are also a few other factors that make this more than just an inconvenience. Not only do we need the original hospital to authorize us to receive services from one of our local hospitals, there would also need to be space available in the local program, and at this point, I really would need the hospitals to work it out between them, because I'm not sure I have what it takes to arrange it myself. God knows our need and I'm trusting Him to work everything out for Kaitlyn's best. If she's unhappy and uncomfortable it's going to be a real fight to get her to go, and she's too big for me to strong arm her into the car anymore. Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated. I am trying my best to just leave this all in God's hands and to not worry about what's going to happen.
It isn't easy writing about something that is such a large and consuming part of my life without going into a lot of details and coming off as a total downer, but I think I've managed it this time around. I'm not even crying, so that's got to be a good sign, right?
Hoping and praying for some good results to post about next time. Thank you all for your love and support, it means more than words can say.
Little by little, step by step, making my way every day.
June was a very difficult month for Kaitlyn. She missed the last two weeks of school due to depression, anxiety and paranoia. She didn't even feel able to attend her elementary school graduation ceremony or their end of the year field trip to Boston and Gillette Stadium. Once school was finished and summer vacation had begun, Kaitlyn was finally able to relax a bit, but her ability to control her emotions, thoughts and feelings dwindled to nothing and she started acting on them. We thought we were going to have to have her admitted to the hospital, but we managed to avoid that. So it was a medication change, followed by the addition of a new one a couple of weeks later to help her control those actions and intense and frightening feelings. Now due to some very negative side effects of that particular medication, we're going to start weaning her off of it next week. I'll admit, I'm concerned that she's going to start acting on her thoughts and feelings again, so we're praying there is an alternative to that particular medication that might be a better fit for Kaitlyn.
Tomorrow I'm taking Kaitlyn to a hospital in Massachusetts to be evaluated for their partial hospitalization program. This means that if they take her, Kaitlyn will be going there 5 days a week from 9am-3pm. There she will receive intensive therapy and be taught coping skills to help her learn to live with her symptoms and feelings and make the most of each day. She will also see that there are other kids just like her, that she isn't the only one who has to learn to deal with similar problems.
The down side to this partial hospitalization is that the hospital is an hour away with no traffic, and about 2 hours away in commuter traffic. We'll be driving up with the commuters tomorrow of course, then if she stays for the day, I'll come back home until it's time to drive back to get her and home yet again. This means no less than 5 hours of driving per day. I will be asking if it's possible to have them authorize service for Kaitlyn at one of our local hospitals for this reason. There are also a few other factors that make this more than just an inconvenience. Not only do we need the original hospital to authorize us to receive services from one of our local hospitals, there would also need to be space available in the local program, and at this point, I really would need the hospitals to work it out between them, because I'm not sure I have what it takes to arrange it myself. God knows our need and I'm trusting Him to work everything out for Kaitlyn's best. If she's unhappy and uncomfortable it's going to be a real fight to get her to go, and she's too big for me to strong arm her into the car anymore. Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated. I am trying my best to just leave this all in God's hands and to not worry about what's going to happen.
It isn't easy writing about something that is such a large and consuming part of my life without going into a lot of details and coming off as a total downer, but I think I've managed it this time around. I'm not even crying, so that's got to be a good sign, right?
Hoping and praying for some good results to post about next time. Thank you all for your love and support, it means more than words can say.
Little by little, step by step, making my way every day.
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