Wednesday, August 24 Part 2

Return calls and more nonsense.....

Well well well....so now that "Family Services" wants my son out of their TAPS group (which when Zack first heard the name of this group "Taps", he said to Courtney that  it sounds "depressing" ...haha... Taps... bugle....funeral....)  they are right on the ball and returning calls and scheduling appointments as soon as possible.  So...I will most likely be meeting with one of their psychiatrists next Thursday morning..... and she can come to the convenient conclusion that their group isn't appropriate for my son and then somebody with authority can discharge him (kick him out) with a clear clean conscience.

Abby called me earlier today because she thought she was returning a concerned call I placed this morning.  I did not call them.

She went right into the reason for returning "my call"... She thought I was the mom that called regarding suicidal texts my son was sending his girlfriend..... Not me..Not my son...  Wrong mom.   The call made me uneasy for more reasons than the obvious.  She doesn't even understand the depth of my son's disease if she thought he would have a girlfriend to text.  He has no friends... he speaks to nobody.  He only speaks when spoken to - sometimes.  When he's lucid....and if he answers, he barely answers - it's all about minimum speech, and often they are inaudible words spoken with a hand over his face...so even if what he says does make sense, you can't really hear it...can't see the expression on his face or look in his eyes when he speaks his words.  It's obvious to me that Abby is more than clueless about my kid as an individual, his disease... and what we're up against, even after meeting us for a few hours and talking to Zack one on one several times and observing him in the group....And then calling the wrong parent about something so important as suicidal texting?!  My confidence in "Family Services" is flagging fast....maybe this TAPS group is not the right fit for my son - considering she made this mistake...but if it's not, I need a new direction.

When Abby realized she had the wrong parent on the phone, she changed the topic and told me she spoke to scheduling and it looks like one of their doctors can see Zack next week.  Great...sounds like a plan.  I am interested in a second opinion.  Their psychiatrist wants his medication records... "What worked and what didn't"....Nothing worked.  Everything didn't.  That's easy.  I thought to myself, what a dumb way to request the medication history.  If anything worked we wouldn't be in this desperate position...  I just need to get the loser list from Dr. K's office - and they were closed today because it's Wednesday.  I always forget...people aren't supposed to need doctors on Wednesdays....

I ran out with Lucy and Jojo to dentist appointments(dentists do work on Wednesdays) and to buy last minute school supplies.   When I returned home there was even a call from a crabby, tired sounding case manager.  WOW imagine that - I've been waiting  two weeks for a return call and suddenly a call today.  They really do want Zack out.  Apparently he is a challenge for them that they're not up to meeting.

The woman actually sighed a few times during her message.   The girls and I were in the kitchen sorting through our purchases, listening to the answering machine messages... this one came on and we all stopped to hush and listen because there was something so ornery in her tone...it was curious that somebody in such a position - helping mentally ill people - would sound so aggrieved at doing her job. The woman actually sounded irritated to be making the call.   She didn't sound like the helpful friendly savior I was praying for.  I was slightly scared to call her back.   I did, though.... I sucked it up and figured I have to explore all angles available, and maybe I'm being judgmental.... but she really did sound annoyed.  Even Jojo and Lucy commented on it and we laughed at the irony. 

I wound up having to leave a message for her - I hate doing that - I never know what to say - try to cram as much info in a short little few sentences as possible...and as you can tell if you're reading this, that's not my forte.  But I did it with a smile on my face and sunshine in my voice... I may really need this crabby, overtired and overworked case manager on my side.

To Be Continued......

My beautiful buddies.....