Completely overwhelmed!

[Geertje]

Well, that's good, at least a short break, enyoy it, refresh yourself and who knows what more help you get now

[karleen]

2 days rest.  enjoy it.  hope some other long term solutions get worked out soon.

[momof3]

Thank God!!  Maybe this will give your family time to regroup and rest.  Take good care of yourself and that baby.

[Truebluemom]

Glad you have a break.  Hope this will start something to help ds.  Maybe the people at the crisis center will see what you are seeing....

[GoingCrazy]

I doubt they'll see much aside from his inability to coherently hold a conversation.  He always puts on the "good boy" act for new people and he's able to pull it off for a few days in a row.  He'll get sent home with a report about how well he behaved and that he was such a joy..   

[Geertje]

Yeah I know how that goes, been there, it takes at least a few months if you are lucky and then it also depent if the staff has knowledge about it

[blessingsindisguise]

The same thing happened when our son went to an emergency shelter.  He was an angel.

He charmed them, but they were a great resource, and totally believed what we told them.

And it was one more thing that we tried while we 'exhausted the resources of the community'.

Hang in there,

blessings

[GoingCrazy]

Another Update:

After several weeks of being irritated with our "local resources" not returning calls or following up on the things they claim they're going to.  I finally went above them and got immediate responses.      I'm not sure if the higher up actually made it happen or if it was a coincidence.. but I'm happy either way!

SS is being transported as I type to a hospital that is keeping him for 2-6 weeks for a full evaluation and medication.  We've been waiting for this to happen for nearly a month since we were originally told they were going to do it.  Just knowing that he's not going to be here peeing on my carpet tonight has made me feel sooooooo much better already. 

We got his report card and 2 phone calls from teachers this week.  None of it good news.

He chose not to ride the bus home and sneak into an after school program he's not supposed to be involved in, then claimed "I didn't know I wasn't allowed to go there."  BS!  I'm sitting here expecting his arrival after school and he doesn't show up.  I call the school and they say "we don't know.." eventually they contact the bus company and determine he was never on it that afternoon.  I'm annoyed, and sat waiting long enough for him to walk home before calling again.  Eventually we figured out where he was.. I was less than thrilled.. DH was pretty upset. 

It seems like he's been stepping up his bad behavior since he went to the crisis center a couple of weeks ago in hopes we'll send him again.  They had fun outings, and tons of tv time (against our wishes, and specific requests!). 

[justine]

I am so glad that he is getting a full evaluation with inpatient time to give him time to, well, "be himself".    Enjoy the peace.   When's the baby due?

[GoingCrazy]

I'm not sure if he'll really show "himself" while he's there he's pretty good at playing the game for new people.  The psychiatrist has already called to tell us that he's really not seeing much of what we've reported.  Dh flat out told him they would have to wait out the "honeymoon period".  The response back was less than encouraging for us.

They have started SS on abilify to see if that will have any effect, this guy said he's had good reactions to this medication in the past with other children.  We'll see.

Justine - our baby girl is due April 6th.   

[momof5]

Eventually they will see the behaivor. If not now then next admission. What you are doing is creating the paper trail to get him the services he needs. He may eventually need out of home services. Please take care of yourself. In our home my dh initially responded the same way "you are overeacting etc." He eventually caught on to the severity of the situation. The kind of chaos your son is creating is hurting more than you. Your dh MUST not let ds hurt the other kids and emotionally that is what he is doing. I speak from experience here and I regret that it went on so long in our home.

Also there is nothing you can do to prevent the peeing on the floor and you are right if you strip the rug etc. he will just destroy the bed. Let the psych folks know just how destructive he is. Ultimately there is nothing you can do to prevent him from doing these things and he knows it. Coming home he will continue to up the ante. At least that is what happened in our case. Then we resorted to calling the police. Not fun. But eventually our son learned what behaivors he had to learn to control if he indeed wanted to return home again. So far he seems to have learned as his weekend passes have been great so far. Proof will be when he returns for good in Feb.

YOu have a lot on your plate. Hang in there. and TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GoingCrazy]

We got a phone call last night from the hospital telling us that they were having "difficulties" with SS not following their rules and staff instructions.  Dh just laughed at them and said "That's why you guys have him!".  Apparently SS decided that he wasn't going to go to bed at the designated time, among other things. 

They threw him in lock down (according to SS).  Who knows what they really did.. and which twisted version of the truth we got from him, but he said he didn't like it there because they were really strict.  I doubt the lesson will sink in this first time, but at least he's not having fun like the darn "crisis center".  It will probably motivate him to behave for at least a day or two when he comes home, knowing that we CAN/will send him there.

I'm just surprised that he actually started acting up after only being there 4 days.  I'm sure he still won't pee on the floor or anything quite like that, but at least they have witnessed some of what's going on and know we're not making it up.

[momof5]

It is a relief when others get even a glimpse of what you've been dealing with. Enjoy the peace while you have it.