Sunday night, we had another knock-out, drag down battle. We wound up taking Braden to the emergency room. The emergency room recommended by his doctor.
We got there around 8:00, and sat in the waiting room for 3 1/2 hours. A waiting room full of puking, coughing, injured people. By this time, of course, Braden was completely calm. He was completely calm when we left for the hospital. Finally, we were called back to triage (?).
We explained the situation, and that we were hoping there was some sort of crisis counselor there we could speak with. They took us back to the emergency psyche ward, where we waited another half an hour. Then they came and took Braden, and said he would have to change into a hospital gown. You should have seen the look on his face, it was heartbreaking.
A short time later (I say a short time, because it wasn't long, but it felt like an eternity), they came and got us. We had to lock our belongings in a locker before we were allowed to go back. They took us to a room that was completely empty except for a bed. A bed with just a white sheet on it. On the bed, sitting cross-legged, crying and rocking was Braden in a huge hospital gown, pajammas that had to be rolled ten times at the waist and these fuzzy brown socks. I don't know why I focused on the socks, but the image of them keeps coming back to me. I never saw a sight so sad in my life. He was petrified. We were petrified. We waited there about another half an hour. They wanted to take blood, which completely freaks Braden out. He said he didn't want them to. They said they'd wait for the doctor, because they weren't positive it would be needed.
Then they left.
A little while later, we were sitting there talking, and Keith suggested that Braden just let them go ahead and take the blood now, so if the doctor came in, it wouldn't take as long. Braden banged his hands on the mattress and said he didn't want a needle if he didn't have to have one. It wasn't loud, it wasn't violent, it was on a mattress. A nurse came charging in, "Brandon, what seems to be the problem here?" I said, "His name is Braden." She said, "Oh, Brandon, what are you doing. If you can't control yourself, your parents are going to have to leave, and you don't want that." Braden didn't say anything. "Did you hear me, Brandon? One more outburst, and they're leaving and you'll wait here by yourself. Am I understood, Brandon?" At this point, Braden and I both looked at her and yelled, "The name is Braden!" She said, "Braden, whatever" then turned around and walked away.
We sat there, and my immediate reaction was that there was no way I'd leave him there.
About twenty minutes later, a doctor came in. A resident, actually. She asked Braden what happened, and if it happened often. He told her. She asked us if we were afraid he'd harm himself, we said no. She asked us if we were afraid for ourselves. I said, "you mean besides being punched, hit and kicked during these episodes? Are we afraid to go to sleep because he might stab us during the night?" "That's what I mean," she said. "No," we both answered. "Then I see no reason to keep him. He can go home. Call his doctor tomorrow."
Then she left. A couple of minutes later, the attending doctor came in, asked the exact same questions, and seconded her opinion. We were given our stuff back, Braden changed his clothes and we were on our way.
We got home at 2:30 in the morning. We wasted all that time. We didn't get one ounce of help. I felt worse going home than when we were driving there.
I still keep picturing him sitting there in that bed, with those tan socks on.
We've had three bad days since then, but so far today's going well.
I think I've figured out why we get several good days in a row, then all hell breaks loose again. And, it's not God playing some mean sort of trick on us, as I usually think. It must be the cycle of his bipolar. He used to cycle very quickly. Ups and downs throughout the day. Now, he must be cycling in days. Three or four good ones, and then a couple bad. Then some good, and so on and so on.
I'm supposed to take him for blood work tomorrow morning, so wish me luck. That's never an easy thing to do. He's been getting blood tests since he was about four, and it gets harder each time. I'll probably wind up bribing him.
Maybe I'll tell him I'll get him some tan socks.
12 comments:
Triage: the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors ; broadly : the assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds and resources can be best used or are most needed
Well well, look at that . Instead of spending my time researching insecticides and how best to manage certain greenhouse pests I decided to take a side trip off into the world of Bipolar problems and lo and behold I apparantly found the answer . FISH ! Yes fish . I'll post the site in a sec but from what I read a fish diet has some types of vitamins and minerals that seem to have a tremendous affect on bipolar people. I skimmed the article and it seems you have to eat fish daily . I have no idea of it's authenticity but it says it was written by a bipolar man who cured homself eating fish everyday . Might be worth reading . Of course you may want to run it by Bidet first . The cool thing is even if its bunk there are no side effects from eating fish daily and many benefits . Here's the site : http://www.truehealth.org/break02.html
Good luck , allan
Triage is supposed to occur when you arrive at a hospital.
Your experience of these medical people illustrates an old mountain saying, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Good thoughts coming your way.
R
FWIW (and I know my uneducated opinion not worth very much), I think in the long run, poor results notwithstanding, you did the right thing by taking Braden in.
You showed him that you take his problems very seriously, that you're willing to take drastic actions to try to help him, that there's an adult in control of things and he doesn't have to bear it alone, and ultimately, that you really, really love him. Just keep telling him that you're all going to keep working to find answers.
Hey Schell, i wasn't BSing you about that fish diet thing . After I posted that here I did a bit more research on it and found 90 percent of the infomation positive and 10 percent negative . Of course it still could all be BS but it's sure worth looking into. Apparantly some scientist type noticed that depression and bipolarism are rarer in certain cultures and after looking into it diet was found to be one of the factors making that society different from others . There have never been tests using a blind control to prove this but its still interesting and by the way you don't have to eat fish daily . You can substitute actual fish with pills of omega 3 fatty acid ( or whatever its called ) . At this point you would need to research it yourself and make sure you get the right pills etc ( a good brand , theres reams of trash out there ) Try it for a few months . If things improve so much for the better . If they don't . So be it . you will be in the same position you are in now except out a few bucks for some fish oil and or real fish ( personally I think real fish are better but the thought of fish daily turns me off ) .
In noway is this retracting what I originally said that the boy would probably be better off in a private school designed for kids with exactly his problem but since you probably arent going to do that maybe you should read up on the fish thing and try it out . Allan
Omega 3 Fish Oil Capsules, Calcium Citrate before every meal, a Pro-biotic and find a doctor to help introduce B-12 at the right level.
By the way, your son is mis-diagnosed.
That must be Y chiming in on omega fish oil and schell seriously do some research and get a good brand , the best brand if you will. Look Schell. i do stuff all day on the web if you want I'll find the absolute best and make sure its from ocean going fish , thats important (dont ask me why schell just trust me i spent quite a bit of time looking into this today already , I'm like a dog with a bone schell when I set my mind to it) . So if you want I'll find the best ones to buy ,, let me know , allan
Misdiagnosed? What do you think it is? I'd like to hear so I can do some research.
My bipolar student had his last day today. He's moving to another school. I'm rather upset. He can rub people the wrong way and gets himself into a lot of trouble. He was usually fine in my class, but got in trouble in the halls and lunch. We've been creating some behavior plans for him but he doesnt have an IEP so I don't know how much the new school will do for him. I'm so afraid he will get lost. I'm also going to miss him. I truly liked him. I let him sign my desk before he left with a green marker. I think I'll let them all sign at the end of the year.
I'm getting sad again thinking about it.
Do that kid a favor and tell his parents to demand an IEP. Schools love putting the ED label on difficult children so they can build a case to make them go away.
This is The Nagual speaking.
I was under the impression that the boy had ADHD? When did it change to bipolar?
He has a dual diagnosis, Nag.
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