Alex entered the Discovery Place this past Tuesday. I went up by myself to Salem, and holy cow was that ever emotional. I'm glad Ben wasn't there, but could have used Jeremy's support. I could tell he'd lost even more weight...and on his trip to Urgent Care yesterday (to get another swab for strep to make sure it's gone) he was 67lbs. He was 77lbs in October. So the weight loss is concerning (he started losing at home, so it's been gradual...not all 10lbs since he's been out of the home), as is the fact that he's constipated. He hasn't gone (unless he did so last night or this morning) since Sunday, and that was a tiny, hard amount. I know he hadn't gone in four days for us before we dropped him off at the crisis foster home. I would be more at ease if those two things were solved. I think the constipation issue is two-fold: the new meds he's on and not eating much.
Anyway, it was bittersweet seeing him. On Tuesday when I picked him up, he was screaming and hitting until I got him in the car. He was quiet the whole ride over to Discovery. Then resumed screaming once we got inside. As soon as we got there, it was time for the intake meeting... and it was hard for me to concentrate hearing his screaming down the hall. The meeting took a couple hours, then I visited with Alex another hour or two. He didn't touch his dinner (they didn't offer him any of his known favorites) and was upset most of the time I was there. When I finally left, I was pretty upset. I just wanted to pick him up and run for the car and take him home. Instead I went to the hotel where I bawled until I could talk to Jeremy. The house manager called me around 9pm because she knew I left upset and wanted to let me know that Alex had calmed down and was having some fun watching another child play bowling down the hall. That calmed me down too, though I didn't sleep very well.
Wednesday I got there at 9am, and he was curled up asleep in his recliner (so glad we brought that up to him!). He'd slept from about 10pm to 6:30am the night before, so that's good. I rested on his bed until he woke, then got lots of great smiles from him. He was fine until we had to take him to Urgent Care, and then of course the angry switch got flipped. I stayed until about 2pm (he ate all his lunch after I suggested they bring out a bowl of yogurt so he could rotate back and forth). It was hard leaving him, but I'm glad to be home.
The plan is to stay in close contact with them. The house manager is supposed to be calling me today after her meeting to give me an update. I need to call his local psych to get him to fax up some sort of weaning schedule for all the meds he's on.
Off to do that now!
2 comments:
I hope he'll be eating well after he settles in a little more. It's too bad you had to handle that on your own. It sounds awful. I'm sorry that it was so heart-wrenching. I can't even imagine. Thinking of you.
That sounds like the most terrible trip a Mom would have to make. I am so sorry. If there are any more "transfers" like that, maybe one of us could come up with you? this will sound stupid, but do any of these facilities have online cameras so you can check in on Alex at anytime during the day? If that house manager doesn't call you every fricking day with some type of report, I'm going to become her personal phone stalker. Are we allowed to call and ask for updates? Seriously, give the boy his fricking yogurt already! Can we mail him tic tacs?
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