Catching up

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Sorry I've been MIA from the board lately. Things have been pretty crazy for the

past few months to say the least! I do read many of the posts and want to reply

but then time gets away from me and I have a hard time catching up with the

threads. I think of you all and pray for you and your kids often.

My son (16) has been at 's for 4 months now and is doing SO much better

than he did when he was admitted. It was pretty shaky for a while there with his

weight loss and eating and his tics going through the roof. He's to the point

now where his tics are much more controllable and thank God his weight and

eating have been stable for some time now. He's also been able to participate in

a lot of activities and excursions, which is great. Overall he is so much

stronger and they have done an amazing job with him, as he has been a VERY

challenging and complex case.

We know at this point that the days of continued insurance coverage are numbered

since there was that whole denial debacle a few months ago. I hold my breath

every time I know there is a review coming up. So far they've continued

approving him every 2 weeks, but everyone agrees that most likely won't continue

for a lot longer.

At this juncture it seems that the most viable next step will be a wilderness

therapy program. It's a long story, but due to his lack of self-motivation to

accomplish basic daily living tasks without constant prompting, among other

things, his options for a therapeutic boarding school are pretty much

non-existent. Home is definitely out of the question as he'd end up right back

at 's in no time flat. We're working with an educational consultant, who I

absolutely love, and she happens to have a lot of experience with placing kids

in the wilderness programs.

A few months ago I never would have considered this because my son was in far

too fragile a state, emotionally and physically, but he's in a much stronger

place now and I think the timing is right. Ill still be scared to death with him

being out there and worrying about him regressing due to the huge change and

adjustment he's going to encounter, but the reality is there really aren't any

other viable options.

Unfortunately wilderness therapy is not something that the school district will

consider funding, and insurance will pay very little if any at all. If anyone

has suggestions for any organizations to contact or other means of possible

funding, please let me know. The programs we're considering have all said

they're willing to work with us financially, but from what I understand it will

be a small reduction in the fee and not enough to make it affordable.

I know several of you are headed to the OCD conference next week, wish I was

able to go but just can't swing it financially. I'll look forward to hearing

about it from the list!

Hugs to all, D.

[Guest guest]

- yes, he has stayed in it though if I ask him, he still says he doesn't

like it and he liked his old room better. Last night he said he would go to

bed early and listen to Ipod for awhile - first time he's voluntarily done

anything in room besides sleep and change clothes.

He has let me unpack all his boxes and bags and put things up on walls, I

usually ask about once a week which bag he wants to unpack this time. Amazingly

he let me throw out a bunch of his pre-hospital/OCD clothes that were all too

small. He still has his stuff he made during inpatient in a bag in the corner

which he does not want unpacked. Not sure whether to push that or not.

warmly

Rhonda

Re: Catching up

Rhonda, liked what you said about choices. May have missed your saying in

other posts -- I recall son saying he wasn't going to sleep in his room since

you all cleaned/changed it. So where is he sleeping? Did he get used to the room

yet?

>

>>

> When son was released, he was still quite upset about having his room

changed while he was gone (with his knowledge and SW's support). He said he

would not sleep in the new room (bigger, better, etc but all his stuff had been

MOVED). I had learned from watching SWs and nurses how to cope with it, plus

lots of coaching here on board and with Liz Lindley. I'm now able to talk to him

firmly yet patiently and respectfully, to give two choices, rather than

open-ended, and to move closer and use physical proximity in a way that is

positive yet forceful. Jordana has been a great help in understanding what a

person with OCD is thinking in a given situation, and what kind of way out will

help them.

>

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