It has been quite awhile since I have posted and much has happened. Joseph did really well with his family visiting and we were even able to enjoy his 11th birthday party but life certainly fell apart when everyone left. The week after everyone went home Joseph had some of his most violent outbursts to date. I am frustrated that his counselor didn't work with him more to prepare him to cope with this adjustment. Joseph seems incapable at this point to deal with any of life's problems in an appropriate manner, lashing out violently only to end up crying and depressed about the real problem he cant deal with. We are working very hard as a family and agency to have him get a new counselor who will be more effective for him.
We had also begun taking Joseph off the ablily in hopes to minimize the amount of medications he has to take. That did not work out so well. Joseph takes 7.5mg twice a day and with just the little adjustment to 5mg in the morning and 7.5mg at night Joseph started having hallucinations again. I fear he will never walk through life without the daily effects of psychosis unless he stays on his medications. To hear the fear in his voice when he talked of the shadows chasing him in the hallways and the vivid scenes that played out during the night where terrifying for me let alone a 11 year old boy. I can only imagine what its like to live day in and out without knowing what is reality. I made sure at the first discussion of Joseph having psychotic hallucinations we moved to put him back on his regular dosage of abilify, since than he has not expressed the daily onslaught of hallucinations but I see him at times still weary of his surroundings.
My husband and I have also had to leave our home behind us and move in with my father in law. Josephs medical bills are burying us and we took a hit when the child support order for Joseph came out to be $500 a month. We cannot afford our home and the cost of Josephs treatment and stay afloat. Hopefully with this change we will be able to save money and start chipping away at the debt we owe to the hospitals.
Josephs placement has been extended for at least another 6 months. I feel as though we have hit a hard stop again. Joseph has made little improvement in effectively being able to deal with daily life events. I worry that his life up until 18 will be institutions. Don't get me wrong I certainly have not given up hope in my son I however see this continuing to be a struggle for years to come. I pray that those helping him in this journey continue to fight for this young man who has the potential to be great. I hope that he will reach a point in maturity that someday some of his conduct issues will resolve because he will realize how much easier and more amazing life can be if you don't make it a constant battle. I hope all of you continue to pray and support us in this journey. Once life has settled I will make a better effort to update more frequently. Thank you for your support.
I seldom drop responses, however i did a few searching and wound up here "Ten steps forward.... Fifty back....".
ReplyDeleteAnd I do have some questions for you if it's allright. Is it simply me or does it look like some of these remarks appear as if they are left by brain dead folks? :-P And, if you are writing at additional sites, I'd like to keep up with anything new you
have to post. Could you make a list of every one of your public
pages like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
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