How Our Son Scored a Trip to the Hospital

  Post to Parent Support Group - Saturday, October 12

Results from Yesterday's Psychiatric Evaluation: After Thursday's trip to the Neurologist, our son was even more agitated in being forced into a trip to the Psychiatrist and went completely off the rails. After a 15-20 minute torturous car ride, he was completely raged. As with Thursday's appointment, I left my husband and son in the car and went inside to register and request a private room so not to disturb the other patients.

They just so happened to have an empty waiting room, off the main entrance. I had to help wrangle and my husband carried my son inside, who was just wearing underwear, (same procedure as the day before). While in the waiting room, my son was screaming and punching at his Dad and was the most physically combative to date.

His behavior triggered an automatic trip to the Hospital. There was no room at the Psych ward so he was taken to the Children's Hospital E.R. As there were no hospital ambulances available, 911 was called and there was a team of people involved to insure safe transport. This was not a quick process and my husband and I were ushered into the Psychiatrist's office.

In between handling frequent interruptions from staff and then the squad, we had a chance to speak with the Doctor. She is young (30's?) and had a nice manner. Within the first few minutes of meeting her she was very somber and said she had to tell us something that no parent wants to hear. "Your son is going to have to be hospitalized."

I may have surprised her with throwing my hands into the air like I was at a church revival and enthusiastically agreed. This had to happen.

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We were at the ER until close to midnight before my son was admitted into a hospital room.

While in the ER exam room, my son was assigned a constant companion, Doug. After our son was completely calm, he conversed with Doug, played cards and when the new companion came, he was watching TV. My husband and I tried to stay out of sight as to not trigger our son further.

We were visited by an ER doctor, a couple of nurses, and a social worker. The doctor was young, blonde and pretty. She seemed to get the most information out of our son. He was evasive as to why he was there, did answer some questions and did indicate a dislike/hate of his parents but didn't explain why. From what the ER doctor could tell our son does not wish to harm himself or others but would be o.k. if harm came to his parents. While everyone seemed impressed with how intelligent our son is, there was concern with how he was deflecting and avoiding questions he did not want to answer(manipulative behavior).

He is now in a cancer ward (that's where they could find a room) and will remain until a room opens up at the Psych Hospital. At this point our son is being babysat until he is to receive psychiatric treatment.

We went to bed around 1:00 ish and were woken up by the phone at 3:00 a.m.. My husband answered, "Hello....Hello.... Colin?" and our son merely said, "Dad, can you come get me?" Dad explained that he couldn't and then spoke briefly to the nurse who let our son use the phone.

This morning, at 8:00 we received a call that our son was "agitated" (standing in the corner crying to make it stop) and was asked for permission to administer Haldol to calm him. We had been prepped for this yesterday by the Psychiatrist and gave permission. I told the nurse that I believe the air conditioning/HVAC system is what is triggering him. I'm not sure what they can do.

I have asked for the nurse to call back when our son is stabilized.
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I just got off the phone with the nurse. She was only on duty at 8:00 this morning but it appears our son was "agitated" since 3:00 this morning, around the time of the phone call. From what I can tell our son has not eaten much and had been on his feet from the time he was admitted until he was drugged and put into bed. He is now sleeping and is restrained. They did shut off the vents and I made sure the nurse knew all of his triggers and what to watch for. I told her that I'd like to be updated on how long he sleeps, what he eats and what drugs he is given.

My 15 year old is at a quiz tournament and 16 year old and husband are at a cross country meet. The plan is to take turns being on call so that we can each get some
work done.

I'll update when I know more.

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snippets of  parent support group discussion / comments I made

Thanks, everyone for your prayers and support. My son needed to be hospitalized and I am relieved this has finally happened. It will be a long process. So far I do like our psychiatrist. She has clearly outlined during our meeting what to expect. My son 1st needs to learn how to manage (behavior & coping therapy) and not take his family hostage. Drugs will be needed for now. He will be taught using a system of frequent rewards. Once he gets to a point, we will learn how to work with our son. While Neurofeedback is not something the doctor uses, she is not opposed down the line. She acknowledges that NFB is harmless at worst and biofeedback also has had some benefits. I left her with my copy of Sound Rage as she seemed interested in learning more about Misophonia . It doesn't matter what name we give my son's condition according to the doctor and I tend to agree. For now, I will not look too far ahead. We need to get him stable enough to come home.
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Also for those of you who may be in our position down the line, the doctor was very impressed with our documentation. I would suggest taking a video of a triggered-attack as well as a video tour of your home environment. We also provided a timeline of events, email reports from teachers, & pertinent pictures. We also listed our goals and concerns for treatment. Doing your homework helps!