Advocacy Part 4
The story resumes from here...
Somewhere after that last meeting with all of the staff, and a few new home managers come and go, a new group home manager is hired near the middle of the year. Mr. "E", I'll call him.
Mr. E. is heaven sent. He has a heart for the men, for my son, and by God's grace we develop a good relationship with him.
At this time our son is marginally stable. His doctor decides to try a new medication for our son, one that has just been approved by the state. We reluctantly agree as we hear good reports about other patients and are not 100% comfortable with our son's progress so far. It would also mean less medication needed.
For a few months or so, he seems to respond well, then we begin to notice concerning decline. Near Christmas time, our son is walking away from group home in shorts in the middle of winter. Traveling 5 hours at a time to our home with no water. We are gravely concerned.
When it becomes evident that hospitalization is needed again, a perfect storm emerges. Our son's doctor is out of the country and Mr. E., the group home manager, becomes very ill. There is no way to contact his doctor so we must rely on an attending psychiatrist at St. Luke's who will have no communication with his doctor.
A perfect storm indeed, with swirling clouds and threatening winds. Yet somehow, I couldn't help but rest in the fact that God is sovereign over storms. He was arranging every detail. Every seeming support was removed, and we clearly had to rely on Him.
The attending doctor was very communicative with me. He had some differing observations and wanted to prescribe a totally new regime of medications. One of the medications was one that I had always wanted our son to try, so I agreed with one objection. I had nothing more to go on than a complete trust in God.
Par for the course, the push for him to leave the hospital began. I'll spare the details, but we had no choice even though he was clearly not ready for discharge. And then...a miracle happened.
Somewhere in the discharge, a mistake was made with the prescription or a miscommunication...either way, our son received a new medication added to his regime that we had not discussed.
Within 2 days, he was responding and doing better. Back at his group home again.
Mercy in the mess.
I emerge from this experience with a new medical goal for our son in mind: No more digression. Progress = no further psychosis
Somewhere after that last meeting with all of the staff, and a few new home managers come and go, a new group home manager is hired near the middle of the year. Mr. "E", I'll call him.
Mr. E. is heaven sent. He has a heart for the men, for my son, and by God's grace we develop a good relationship with him.
At this time our son is marginally stable. His doctor decides to try a new medication for our son, one that has just been approved by the state. We reluctantly agree as we hear good reports about other patients and are not 100% comfortable with our son's progress so far. It would also mean less medication needed.
For a few months or so, he seems to respond well, then we begin to notice concerning decline. Near Christmas time, our son is walking away from group home in shorts in the middle of winter. Traveling 5 hours at a time to our home with no water. We are gravely concerned.
When it becomes evident that hospitalization is needed again, a perfect storm emerges. Our son's doctor is out of the country and Mr. E., the group home manager, becomes very ill. There is no way to contact his doctor so we must rely on an attending psychiatrist at St. Luke's who will have no communication with his doctor.
A perfect storm indeed, with swirling clouds and threatening winds. Yet somehow, I couldn't help but rest in the fact that God is sovereign over storms. He was arranging every detail. Every seeming support was removed, and we clearly had to rely on Him.
The attending doctor was very communicative with me. He had some differing observations and wanted to prescribe a totally new regime of medications. One of the medications was one that I had always wanted our son to try, so I agreed with one objection. I had nothing more to go on than a complete trust in God.
Par for the course, the push for him to leave the hospital began. I'll spare the details, but we had no choice even though he was clearly not ready for discharge. And then...a miracle happened.
Somewhere in the discharge, a mistake was made with the prescription or a miscommunication...either way, our son received a new medication added to his regime that we had not discussed.
Within 2 days, he was responding and doing better. Back at his group home again.
Mercy in the mess.
I emerge from this experience with a new medical goal for our son in mind: No more digression. Progress = no further psychosis
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