Discovery Part 9
I don't remember much about that first year of involuntary treatment for my son other than what I wrote of previously here...
Our son was somewhat stable and psychosis held at bay. His moods continue to shift like the Atlantic ocean changing places with the Pacific.
At the end of the year, my son's doctor agreed not to renew the court order as my son convinced us that he would continue his medications.
I do remember the day he stopped taking those meds just days after the order was rescinded, it was Mother's Day. Shortly afterwards he quickly declined. At first our son is lucid enough to request to go to the hospital. My husband takes him to a regular hospital where they do little for him and tell my husband to follow up with his psychiatrist. But then the delusions increase and take hold.
S. is convinced now that I am doing witchcraft on him. He believes people are talking to him through television shows and book covers. He says and makes frightening gestures. Upon consulting with the ACT team, we agree he is becoming a danger to self and others so the ACT team petitions the UPC (Urgent Psychiatric Center). The UPC team agrees with the assessment and phone our local police to pick our son up. We wait, not knowing when they will show up. We wait with large knots in our stomachs.
They arrive, handcuff our son and take him to downtown Phoenix.
My husband, youngest son and I weep as we witness this gut wrenching scene.
Upon overnight observation and consultation with the psychiatrist on call, they transfer him to another hospital in the Valley. He is there approximately one week. The amount of time alloted by our state's RBHA (Regional Behavioral Health Authority)...or state's contracted insurance co.
He is placed back on court ordered treatment.
Not knowing the "game" I need to learn to play yet, the case manager asks near discharge, "does he have a place to go after dismissal"? Of course I say yes, our home. We meet in a room to consult with his regular psychiatrist by phone with the case manager at hospital, case manager from ACT team and psychiatrist on staff at hospital. During this conference, I make the mistake of mentioning that I thought S. was a bit over medicated. The hospital psychiatrist overrides his regular psychiatrist's recommendations and sends him home on 10 mg. of Abilify. Nothing close to the regime of medications he was on prior, and no where near as effective.
I learn that the doctor on staff in hospital has the authority when it comes to prescribing new meds. Our son is discharged. He quickly descends even further into psychosis. We petition the UPC again. The police come again. We weep again. But this time, after keeping him overnight, we are informed that they see no reason to hospitalize him. My husband and I protest, beg, grovel, almost scream. We persuade them to keep him one more night. Still, they do not budge and send him home. Still, unstable. Putting himself, our family and the neighbors at risk.
By now our son's psychiatrist has switched him back to his old regime of medications. But our son's psychosis has gone on too long, he's not responding well. He is agitated, throwing rocks at the trees in our front yard in such a way that makes our neighbor lock her doors and consider calling the police. He does things like sit in the middle of our street with a garden hose spraying on him. Things that someone does when their brain is not making sense to them. When perceptions, colors, sounds, reasoning are distorted.
My husband and I are not sleeping, or at least attempting to in shifts. We allow our youngest son to spend many nights at friends' houses.
On one particular night S. was taking a walk through the neighborhood in the middle of the night I hit a wall. I just cannot take it anymore. My husband and I always felt it was our responsibility to do everything in our power to protect our son, to protect our family, and to protect our neighbors. To the best of our ability, we did that. It was time for the state to do theirs. I sat down and wrote the most fervent, pleading, sober letter I could to our Governor. I wrote out his entire history, I told her in detail what we were currently facing...then I ended by telling her that if anything happened to our son, to our family...they had this letter and it was on their shoulders.
I copied the letter to all of my legislators.
Then went to bed.
Our son was somewhat stable and psychosis held at bay. His moods continue to shift like the Atlantic ocean changing places with the Pacific.
At the end of the year, my son's doctor agreed not to renew the court order as my son convinced us that he would continue his medications.
I do remember the day he stopped taking those meds just days after the order was rescinded, it was Mother's Day. Shortly afterwards he quickly declined. At first our son is lucid enough to request to go to the hospital. My husband takes him to a regular hospital where they do little for him and tell my husband to follow up with his psychiatrist. But then the delusions increase and take hold.
S. is convinced now that I am doing witchcraft on him. He believes people are talking to him through television shows and book covers. He says and makes frightening gestures. Upon consulting with the ACT team, we agree he is becoming a danger to self and others so the ACT team petitions the UPC (Urgent Psychiatric Center). The UPC team agrees with the assessment and phone our local police to pick our son up. We wait, not knowing when they will show up. We wait with large knots in our stomachs.
They arrive, handcuff our son and take him to downtown Phoenix.
My husband, youngest son and I weep as we witness this gut wrenching scene.
Upon overnight observation and consultation with the psychiatrist on call, they transfer him to another hospital in the Valley. He is there approximately one week. The amount of time alloted by our state's RBHA (Regional Behavioral Health Authority)...or state's contracted insurance co.
He is placed back on court ordered treatment.
Not knowing the "game" I need to learn to play yet, the case manager asks near discharge, "does he have a place to go after dismissal"? Of course I say yes, our home. We meet in a room to consult with his regular psychiatrist by phone with the case manager at hospital, case manager from ACT team and psychiatrist on staff at hospital. During this conference, I make the mistake of mentioning that I thought S. was a bit over medicated. The hospital psychiatrist overrides his regular psychiatrist's recommendations and sends him home on 10 mg. of Abilify. Nothing close to the regime of medications he was on prior, and no where near as effective.
I learn that the doctor on staff in hospital has the authority when it comes to prescribing new meds. Our son is discharged. He quickly descends even further into psychosis. We petition the UPC again. The police come again. We weep again. But this time, after keeping him overnight, we are informed that they see no reason to hospitalize him. My husband and I protest, beg, grovel, almost scream. We persuade them to keep him one more night. Still, they do not budge and send him home. Still, unstable. Putting himself, our family and the neighbors at risk.
By now our son's psychiatrist has switched him back to his old regime of medications. But our son's psychosis has gone on too long, he's not responding well. He is agitated, throwing rocks at the trees in our front yard in such a way that makes our neighbor lock her doors and consider calling the police. He does things like sit in the middle of our street with a garden hose spraying on him. Things that someone does when their brain is not making sense to them. When perceptions, colors, sounds, reasoning are distorted.
My husband and I are not sleeping, or at least attempting to in shifts. We allow our youngest son to spend many nights at friends' houses.
On one particular night S. was taking a walk through the neighborhood in the middle of the night I hit a wall. I just cannot take it anymore. My husband and I always felt it was our responsibility to do everything in our power to protect our son, to protect our family, and to protect our neighbors. To the best of our ability, we did that. It was time for the state to do theirs. I sat down and wrote the most fervent, pleading, sober letter I could to our Governor. I wrote out his entire history, I told her in detail what we were currently facing...then I ended by telling her that if anything happened to our son, to our family...they had this letter and it was on their shoulders.
I copied the letter to all of my legislators.
Then went to bed.
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