Monday, January 26, 2009

She is Coming Home

on Wednesday. They will confirm it tomorrow but that's the plan.
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3 comments:

Crayon said...

Anything new come out of this...any new dx or confirmation on something you weren't sure on? What did they do while she was hospitalized? Did they take her off her meds, and try anything new? Were they focusing more on medical or behavioral issues?

I guess I'm curious b/c of my mentee's ["Flash"] numerous hospitalizations. She'd usually be there two weeks until insurance kicked her out. Often they'd take her off meds, watch her mental status, then decide on a new cocktail. Flash was having issues at Christmas and they changed her meds again [I don't think she was hospitalized at that time]. She's in a group home and while on Christmas break, NO ONE monitored her to see how the new meds were affecting her. This floors me b/c its a small home with maybe 10 girls. You can't tell me they couldn't keep an eye on her when she was there all week, off school?? Don't they pay staff, aka mental health professionals, to do some sort of job while they are there? She's on a freakin' psychiatric hospital's campus. Not to mention she's a new admission.

Well she jumped out a window [glass and all] after a week on the new meds. Ended up hospitalized. Was released back to the home less than a week later. While in the hospital, they took her off all meds and put her on brand new ones in less than 72 hrs - including a dose of 600mg of Valium. What the heck? I'm no doctor, but shouldn't she be weaned off old meds and weaned onto new ones?! Even she knows this. She said the nurse handed her a cup of pills and she knows everything she is taking by color/name/dose. She was like "I don't know what this is. or this, or this..." They didn't even tell her they were giving her all these new things or what they were, just sent them up to be taken.

When I last saw here, she had just been released from the hospital a day or two before. The previous day, she had broken out in some sort of rash that caused her face to swell, resulting in a trip to the ER. And that morning, she had vomited up blood on the bus ride to school. So what exactly do they do while a child is in a psychiatric hospital...?

Sorry for taking over your comment section. ;)

7:26 PM
Tudu said...

The short answer is, nothing has changed except they increased the drugs she was already on. I feel like this is what needed to happen and I hope she is on a high enough dose now to help her. He said she would be increased at a faster rate b/c he is under supervision.

A new child in a group home should be watched extremely close. The fact she was on new meds should be second. As far as weaning goes, if they are in the same family of drugs, they don't need to be weaned. I asked the same question about Patches and all her switching around.

They don;t do very much, I have found out. SHe is really enjoying herself. No therapy, no school, no accountability, and new friends. They haven't pushed her a bit so they haven't seen the behavior we see. I don't think we would send her back unless our lives or hers were in danger. As I had suspected, it was extremely hard on the kids here.

10:59 AM
Crayon said...

Well, I hope she does better when comes back. That's ridiculous that there's no therapy! I know Flash at least had group therapy and family therapy, sometimes through conference calls. She also had to wash her own clothes and such. Acording to the center's website, they have an onsite school but only for a few hours a day. They also had art & music therapy.

I'll have to ask her next time I see her what sort of responsibilities she has in the group home. She attends a special ed school on the psych hospital's other campus. It's several miles away, at least an hour bus ride in traffic.

If Patches did need to be hospitalized again, is there any facility closer? Any other choices out there? When Flash ended up in the hospital, she was usually transfered to this other place I spoke about above which is out of state [about 2 hrs away]. Her parents didn't like her treatment at the psych hospital she would be admitted to as a "default." Ironically, she's completely under their care now for school, the group home, hospitalizations as well as the RTC she was previously in. I don't think her parents have a choice now since they had to sign over some rights to put her in an RTC and her care is now decided through the state.

btw, I said Valium, but meant Lithium. Not sure what "class" medication she was on before.

1:49 PM

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