Time's Up!

Today we had a meeting with the Social Worker and the Psychiatrist who are ready to move my son along. Not much visible progress has been made. Colin is polite and behaves but is still not opening up. He did write a welcome letter to his new roommate this weekend. He wanted to let the new patient know that he would not be sleeping in the room at night. Colin explained that he had problems with certain sounds and was more comfortable in a conference room at night and that it was nothing personal.We were impressed with our son's thoughfulness.

Colin is displaying what is referred to as "Magical Thinking". His preference is to go back home, avoid Mom & Dad, and live in the basement. He would go back to his school, get his own meals and find ways to avoid certain noises. In essence, he wants to pick up where he left off. A place that no longer exists. We will not allow our house to be run by a 12 year old boy with "Select Sound Sensitivities".

The psych hospital is a short-term facility and they need to move my son out. It is clear he can not live at home in his current state. I'm not sure if he will be able to go home with my sister, after Sunday's episode. I asked that my son be apprised of our meeting and see if they could get him to come.

Upon hearing that his parents were in a conference room, our son immediately became agitated. He marched over to the room, opened the door and exploded. He wanted us to get out and punched and kicked my husband before leaving to be escorted back to his room. The psychiatrist sat with him to have a chat. The more she probed and questioned, the more enraged he became. He ended up going into a full-on rage, that involved stripping off his clothes and yelling, "Get them out!" over and over, even when we were long-gone.

The nurses ended up injecting him with Haldol, Benedryl and another drug  to calm him. Colin then quieted down, had dinner and went to sleep in his usual room, sleeping sitting up and resting his head on a cushioned chair. To this day, no one knows why he can't lay down.

I spoke at length with the psychiatrist to see if they were able to get our son to start his meds while sedated but he still refused. Despite his rage, they still want to release our son tomorrow.  I spoke with our Cognitive Behavioral Psychologist and he will help advise and assemble a team to work with our son. Everyone is in agreement that Colin's best shot for now is at my sister's house. He will need to transfer to a new middle school that is near his new home. We have a lot to try to accomplish in a very short period of time.

I am praying that this transition works and that we can start some type of therapy soon. I am also hopeful that our son is able to settle into a new routine. My sister and her family will try not to pry into Colin's triggers and will not push taking meds for now. He just needs a comfortable, stable environment with parents who don't trigger him.

It is time for us to step aside and give our son a break. We hope in time, we can reconcile.

We are a work-in-progress.