We met Kitty's new therapist at the partial day hospitalization program (gosh that's long. I'm going to call it the PDH). He seems nice, but is not as experienced as we'd hoped and has almost no experience with RAD. He is a licensed professional counselor intern!
Family therapy was about 1/2 an hour of us summarizing Kitty and how she came to be at the PDH before Kitty came in the room. At one point the therapist commented that we weren't the typical parents he usually gets. While we did seem a little stressed we were also "confident."
I told him a little about my background: Bachelors in Psychology with a focus on child abuse and neglect, Masters in Social Work with a focus on Mental Health, worked in a residential treatment center, did homestudies for a foster care agency, worked with mentally ill adults - half of whom were homeless and "self-medicating" with illegal substances, taught behavior management to teachers of 0-5 year olds... none of it really helped a bit though. With the arrival of Bear and Kitty we got a crash course in RAD, PTSD, the juvenile justice system, IEPS and lived with it 24/7, plus, our experience with Bear and the trials of getting through his dealings with the police, school, aggression, intimidation and manipulation, cutting, running away and finally residential treatment.
He asked if Hubby had the same background as I do. Hubby laughed and said he was just an engineer, but I told him Hubby was not "just" an engineer. He's an incredibly empathetic, warm man.
Basically the therapist said that we should continue with Kitty's attachment therapist since we would only have family therapy once a week and that wouldn't be long enough to really address any issues.
Kitty spoke the whole time in a soft almost babyish voice. The therapist commented on it and asked us if that was typical because that wasn't the way she'd behaved in therapy with him. We assured him it was not, unless she'd just had a major meltdown or right before bedtime. Hubby and I think it was because she didn't want the therapist to know how she really talks to us. She's been reprimanded for it before by others (school administrators, therapists...). Doesn't make any change to her behavior unless she's still trying to charm the person (pretty much everybody but therapists and of course us).
He asked Kitty why she was there. She mentioned the suicidal threats. He asked her what she wanted from family therapy, she told him, "Nothing." She says she can take care of her issues by herself. She doesn't want a family, and therefore doesn't need family therapy.
Kitty had mentioned a skit she'd done with the other kids in group. The assignment was to act out how her family acts. She put "Bear" in the garage (he does spend a lot of time there or in his bedroom - he is RAD too), she put "Bob" in her room reading a book (pretty accurate, Bob is my sedentary child), "Ponito" was playing with a friend across the street (again pretty accurate), "Hubby" was upstairs on his computer (he does tend to hide when he's stressed and stare at his computer trying to figure out how we're going to survive), and "I" was in my cubby (this was the one I disagreed with, I haven't been in my cubby in months, but I do watch TV and work on my laptop when I'm not making dinner (that's how I hide).
So that evening I focused on interaction with the family, particularly with Kitty. She spent most of the evening in the back yard. When she came into the family room Bob and Ponito were playing a game and invited her to join in, but she refused. Within minutes she was headed back outside. Hubby told her she had to stay in the room with us for at least 10 minutes. I think it was the longest 10 minutes of her life. She sure made it the longest 10 hours of our lives.
Seriously. I feel guilty that we don't spend a lot of time together, but I also have to acknowledge that these guys are teenagers and they don't want to spend a lot of time with their parents. Even the healthy ones.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Partial Day Hospitalization
Friday we finally had an appointment with the partial day hospitalization program. I'd been trying to get hold of them all week. It was a 3 hour interview with Kitty there the whole time. We discovered that evening that she hadn't taken her morning meds. Can you say hyper? Because she was referred by the hospital apparently it was a given that she'd get in (wish they'd told me that at the beginning of the week).
She started the program on Monday. There are 4 hours of school and she is in therapy for several hours (group, individual and family). Still no PE, but they have a ropes course and a gym they can play in. In the Summer they have a pool, assuming she's still there in the Summer of course. We disenrolled her from public school on Monday.
It is very far away, but they have a van that picks up the kids in the North. Big problem?! We have to have her at the van stop (20-30 minutes away) at 7am. Before she didn't have to be at school until 8:30am, and it was a 5 minute drive.
Kitty seems to be doing OK with going to bed a little earlier and getting up earlier, but no one else in the house is! Hubby is taking her to the van so he's having to get up almost an hour earlier then usual. I'm having to get up about an hour earlier and be dressed and ready to go so I can get Bob to school. The big problem is that Kitty is LOUD! She sings, talks loudly, stomps around, slams cabinet doors... She's not even aware she's doing it and doesn't seem able to stop, but no one in the house can sleep through it. The rest of the school year is going to be loooong.
Kitty seems to have many opinions about her new school. She told Bob and Grandma that it was nice, and she liked her teachers and made some friends.
In a 45 minute meltdown (luckily no physical aggression) she told Hubby and I that she hated the new school and was scared of the children (as wells as no one in the family cares about her, she's a bad person, and it's not her fault - because she has "issues" that excuse her behavior). I talked to a nurse during the day, when I'd discovered Kitty had left her lunch in our car, and she said Kitty seemed scared and upset. Usually Kitty is all smiles and super friendly to new people so this was surprising. Kitty got in trouble for talking during a quiet time, "teasing" a boy with physical threats, and not fully participating in therapy.
One thing I like about the new school is not only do they have point sheets at school, but they have them for the time at home too. With a large space for comments. Hopefully this will lead to good communication.
I've spent the last 2 days updating Kitty's timeline. Oh my goodness! It ended up being 23 pages single spaced 11 point type! It does have just about everything we know about her in it though. Cast of characters: biofamily, therapists, adoptive family, schools... and a brief description of everything we know about Kitty; moves (that took up a whole page right there), hospitalizations, meltdowns, reasons for meltdowns, consequences... I included a lot of Bear's information because Kitty was usually at the very least a witness to his issues.
I even included a description of a pre-meltdown conversation.
She started the program on Monday. There are 4 hours of school and she is in therapy for several hours (group, individual and family). Still no PE, but they have a ropes course and a gym they can play in. In the Summer they have a pool, assuming she's still there in the Summer of course. We disenrolled her from public school on Monday.
It is very far away, but they have a van that picks up the kids in the North. Big problem?! We have to have her at the van stop (20-30 minutes away) at 7am. Before she didn't have to be at school until 8:30am, and it was a 5 minute drive.
Kitty seems to be doing OK with going to bed a little earlier and getting up earlier, but no one else in the house is! Hubby is taking her to the van so he's having to get up almost an hour earlier then usual. I'm having to get up about an hour earlier and be dressed and ready to go so I can get Bob to school. The big problem is that Kitty is LOUD! She sings, talks loudly, stomps around, slams cabinet doors... She's not even aware she's doing it and doesn't seem able to stop, but no one in the house can sleep through it. The rest of the school year is going to be loooong.
Kitty seems to have many opinions about her new school. She told Bob and Grandma that it was nice, and she liked her teachers and made some friends.
In a 45 minute meltdown (luckily no physical aggression) she told Hubby and I that she hated the new school and was scared of the children (as wells as no one in the family cares about her, she's a bad person, and it's not her fault - because she has "issues" that excuse her behavior). I talked to a nurse during the day, when I'd discovered Kitty had left her lunch in our car, and she said Kitty seemed scared and upset. Usually Kitty is all smiles and super friendly to new people so this was surprising. Kitty got in trouble for talking during a quiet time, "teasing" a boy with physical threats, and not fully participating in therapy.
One thing I like about the new school is not only do they have point sheets at school, but they have them for the time at home too. With a large space for comments. Hopefully this will lead to good communication.
I've spent the last 2 days updating Kitty's timeline. Oh my goodness! It ended up being 23 pages single spaced 11 point type! It does have just about everything we know about her in it though. Cast of characters: biofamily, therapists, adoptive family, schools... and a brief description of everything we know about Kitty; moves (that took up a whole page right there), hospitalizations, meltdowns, reasons for meltdowns, consequences... I included a lot of Bear's information because Kitty was usually at the very least a witness to his issues.
I even included a description of a pre-meltdown conversation.
Happy Birthday Kitty
My girl turned 14 on Monday. We didn't end up making a big deal out of it since she'd just gotten out of the hospital the day before. Monday night we had pizza for dinner (her fav). I'm sure the birthday, first anniversary of her adoption day, teacher changes at school, visiting Grandparents, hormones and who knows what else helped contribute to her most recent meltdown.
One of her gifts was a pair of Heelys. She loves them! I am learning how very uncoordinated she is though. Shopping the other day she landed Kersplatt on her backside many times. Luckily she hasn't broken anything. I ended up holding her up and dragging her along for most of the trip. Dang I'm old and out of shape!
I forget how incredibly coordinated Ponito is. He whips around on his Heelys and never had to learn how to use them. He just knew. He's being very sweet to Kitty trying to teach her how to use them.
He's probably going through a growth spurt himself though because he actually had an accident on his Heelys last night. Said he ended up doing a flip over his hands. He scraped his left palm and all the knuckles on the back of his right hand. The worst part was a slice off the side of his ring finger. His hands (OK his whole body) was filthy so we had trouble getting him cleaned up enough to treat his injuries. 
Bear goes through medical tape faster then you can say greased lightening so of course we had none. I ended up covering Ponito's hands with a web of bandaids, which of course weren't going to stay on. We don't have any of those elastic bandages either (Bear again!) so I ended up using one of my old wrist braces to hold it all on. I'm sure the school was thinking WTF?! I did send him with a note explaining that it was just cuts and scrapes and not a wrist injury. In my spare time I need to buy some tape and elastic bandages and hide them.
My life is weird.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
It's been a long week
Monday was a school holiday so Kitty and all the children went to Grandma's house. Bear complained the whole time there was nothing to do there. Grandma has detected chewing tobacco on his breath repeatedly and he is VERY angry at her for confronting him on it. He denies it completely and called me just furious. I let him go for a walk to cool off. He ended up calling and telling me he was going to be longer then he had permission for. I let him know he needed to come home now. He still ended up being very late.
I seriously considered homeschooling Kitty for the last 6 weeks of school. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS we found an alternative. Kitty had a tiny bit of schoolwork from last week that she hadn't finished at the hospital because she didn't have the textbook she needed. She knows we are planning on enrolling her in the new school (partial day hospitalization) so of course she didn't want to do any schoolwork.
Today she sat and did a tiny bit of the work, but then hit a section she didn't understand and refused to go on. Grandma was a science teacher so I suggested Kitty work with her on the area she's having difficulty with, with me sitting right there. Kitty couldn't stop yelling at Grandma and refusing to work - very ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). I tried sending her out of the room to swing or listen to music or anything. I stayed calm and insisted that she could not speak to (yell at) Grandma that way, but she couldn't control herself. Finally Grandma left to pick up Bob from school.
Kitty ranted on and on about school and how much she hated it. She hates the classes and teachers. Not sure if it was the fact that the honeymoon is over or if this is sour grapes. Rejecting others because she feels rejected.
When Grandma and Bob came in, we ended up having Bob help Kitty with her school work (because they are in the same grade and this class is Kitty's only mainstream core class, the girls are covering the same subjects). I did tell Kitty if she even thought about giving Bob the same attitude she had with Grandma she would be in big trouble. They did beautifully. Bob is a pretty amazing kid.
Kitty was off task all day today. She started to watch several movies, but ended up leaving after about 10 minutes to play outside.
Time for bed. I forgot to take my meds this morning which I do often. This usually gives me a major headache by 5pm, and I go take my meds. This time it's not alleviating the headache.
Hugs and prayers y'all!
I seriously considered homeschooling Kitty for the last 6 weeks of school. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS we found an alternative. Kitty had a tiny bit of schoolwork from last week that she hadn't finished at the hospital because she didn't have the textbook she needed. She knows we are planning on enrolling her in the new school (partial day hospitalization) so of course she didn't want to do any schoolwork.
Today she sat and did a tiny bit of the work, but then hit a section she didn't understand and refused to go on. Grandma was a science teacher so I suggested Kitty work with her on the area she's having difficulty with, with me sitting right there. Kitty couldn't stop yelling at Grandma and refusing to work - very ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). I tried sending her out of the room to swing or listen to music or anything. I stayed calm and insisted that she could not speak to (yell at) Grandma that way, but she couldn't control herself. Finally Grandma left to pick up Bob from school.
Kitty ranted on and on about school and how much she hated it. She hates the classes and teachers. Not sure if it was the fact that the honeymoon is over or if this is sour grapes. Rejecting others because she feels rejected.
When Grandma and Bob came in, we ended up having Bob help Kitty with her school work (because they are in the same grade and this class is Kitty's only mainstream core class, the girls are covering the same subjects). I did tell Kitty if she even thought about giving Bob the same attitude she had with Grandma she would be in big trouble. They did beautifully. Bob is a pretty amazing kid.
Kitty was off task all day today. She started to watch several movies, but ended up leaving after about 10 minutes to play outside.
Time for bed. I forgot to take my meds this morning which I do often. This usually gives me a major headache by 5pm, and I go take my meds. This time it's not alleviating the headache.
Hugs and prayers y'all!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Oy Vay what a day!
Happy Easter!
Our Easter present was getting our girl home. We were told to be at the hospital at 9:30am. Luckily all the other kids were farmed out so we got to sleep in a tiny bit. I hate going to church on holidays anyway - it's so crowded and emotionally unconnected.
We met with the social worker to finish a Safety and Crisis plan form with Kitty. That was actually kind of interesting.
She had to identify her stressors:
-- someone telling me "no"
-- people getting things I don't have or I want - jealousy
-- certain movies
-- people bigger than she is, particularly men (but Bob is included in this)
She had to note how she could prepare for the stressors:
-- take deep breaths.
-- have other people remind me to stay calm and take deep breaths when the answer will probably be "no."
Some things she could do to reduce stress and help her calm down:
-- swing
-- walk around in the back yard
-- use mini tramp (we'll have to get a new one, ours broke)
-- listen to music in her room
-- have someone to help her, that is listening, being calm and helping her feel safe
One answer I thought was particularly interesting was who her support people were. At first she listed biofamily in Nebraska, but I nixed that. I told her it had to be people here. She avoided choosing Hubby or I, even though she was told she could pick us. Finally she chose me (but I was her last choice). She also chose Grandma and I told her to choose one person from school so she chose one of the behavior specialists.
Support people help her by:
-- talking to her
-- listening
-- pulling her out of the situation (class, the room... away from whatever/ whoever is triggering her)
Safe places she can go:
-- her room
-- the backyard
-- her teacher can call the behavior specialist to pull her out of the classroom.
This form took us about 15 minutes to complete. The psychiatrist was supposed to be there at 10am so we could talk to him quickly about the possibility of pulling her out of school. Kitty had also had some lab work that came back a little off so they wanted her to be assessed by the doctor before she left (she has a slight bladder infection).
The psychiatrist didn't show up until almost 11 and then had to go straight into an intake meeting with another family. When he finally finished we discussed our ideas about school being such a huge stressor for Kitty. This is the second time in 3 months she has been hospitalized. He agreed that pulling her from school sounded like a good idea. Hubby mentioned that he didn't think her staying home with me was a good idea.
The psychiatrist mentioned partial day hospitalization. We'd looked into this for Bear, but he'd been too agressive and unstable (this was just before he was admitted to residential treatment). We had talked about it, but were concerned Kitty would be exposed to kids who were very mentally ill and this would scare/stress her even more. The psychiatrist assured us that this program was designed for kids who were leaving residential treatment and that kids who were aggressive or severely ill were disenrolled. The program goes on through the Summer if needed so it sounds perfect.
The psychiatrist told Kitty that she would be pulled out of public school. I thought for sure she would pitch fits (she'd wanted to be in public school so badly when she started mid January), but once she determined she didn't have to wear a uniform she seemed fine with it. We'd known the honeymoon period was ending, but hadn't realized she had already started to flip to hating school. Today I'm trying to arrange an intake assessment. We saw the school when we were considering putting Bear there, but Kitty hasn't.
12:30pm - 3 freakin' hours after we arrived we were finally finishing up the paperwork and able to take Kitty home. Only 20 more minutes to get her suitcase "out of hock, " and we were on the road headed to my sister's house for a family lunch. Delicious!
Kitty was very huggy and came to check in with me several times. She mostly played quietly by herself. (My nephew and Ponito are 6 months apart in age and thick as thieves. My 6 year old niece adores Bob and the two are inseperable. Bear played Wii and had warned us the day before that he was going to be bored.)
I tried to fill Kitty's prescription for her antibiotic, but the pharmacy was closed for the holiday. We ended up at Wally World looking for birthday cake, cranberry juice, and Benadryl (found out the hard way that Bear is allergic to fire ants - and bee stings). Came home and watched Bedtime Stories (cute, but not as cute as I thought it would be).
Bear's current girlfriend and her sister came over and later in the evening my dad, step-mom, and sister and her crew showed up for birthday cake (which everyone was still too full from lunch to eat much of). Kitty liked her gifts (Heelys, a watch and a bag from us, a nice card from the grandparents and $20 from my sister to spend on her wardrobe).
After bedtime (8:30 for Kitty, 9 for everyone else) Bear of course tried to start a conversation. That just irritates me no end! I know he doesn't go to sleep in his room, but parents deserve some downtime. He wanted to complain about his girlfriend being jealous of the girl Bear dated while still in Nebraska 3 years ago (who has since moved to Canada). He wanted to let me know how bored he is going to Grandma's house because there's "nothing to do." He almost demanded to have Grandma watch them at our house (so he could hang out with his friends/ girlfriend).
I gave him a little relationship advice (which was mostly - you're only 15, remind the girl that neither of you are ready to get married to each other) , and told him tough toenails on the Grandma thing. She is wonderful for watching them all day for free (and has been doing so for years) and I am not going to make her do anything.
Our Easter present was getting our girl home. We were told to be at the hospital at 9:30am. Luckily all the other kids were farmed out so we got to sleep in a tiny bit. I hate going to church on holidays anyway - it's so crowded and emotionally unconnected.
We met with the social worker to finish a Safety and Crisis plan form with Kitty. That was actually kind of interesting.
She had to identify her stressors:
-- someone telling me "no"
-- people getting things I don't have or I want - jealousy
-- certain movies
-- people bigger than she is, particularly men (but Bob is included in this)
She had to note how she could prepare for the stressors:
-- take deep breaths.
-- have other people remind me to stay calm and take deep breaths when the answer will probably be "no."
Some things she could do to reduce stress and help her calm down:
-- swing
-- walk around in the back yard
-- use mini tramp (we'll have to get a new one, ours broke)
-- listen to music in her room
-- have someone to help her, that is listening, being calm and helping her feel safe
One answer I thought was particularly interesting was who her support people were. At first she listed biofamily in Nebraska, but I nixed that. I told her it had to be people here. She avoided choosing Hubby or I, even though she was told she could pick us. Finally she chose me (but I was her last choice). She also chose Grandma and I told her to choose one person from school so she chose one of the behavior specialists.
Support people help her by:
-- talking to her
-- listening
-- pulling her out of the situation (class, the room... away from whatever/ whoever is triggering her)
Safe places she can go:
-- her room
-- the backyard
-- her teacher can call the behavior specialist to pull her out of the classroom.
This form took us about 15 minutes to complete. The psychiatrist was supposed to be there at 10am so we could talk to him quickly about the possibility of pulling her out of school. Kitty had also had some lab work that came back a little off so they wanted her to be assessed by the doctor before she left (she has a slight bladder infection).
The psychiatrist didn't show up until almost 11 and then had to go straight into an intake meeting with another family. When he finally finished we discussed our ideas about school being such a huge stressor for Kitty. This is the second time in 3 months she has been hospitalized. He agreed that pulling her from school sounded like a good idea. Hubby mentioned that he didn't think her staying home with me was a good idea.
The psychiatrist mentioned partial day hospitalization. We'd looked into this for Bear, but he'd been too agressive and unstable (this was just before he was admitted to residential treatment). We had talked about it, but were concerned Kitty would be exposed to kids who were very mentally ill and this would scare/stress her even more. The psychiatrist assured us that this program was designed for kids who were leaving residential treatment and that kids who were aggressive or severely ill were disenrolled. The program goes on through the Summer if needed so it sounds perfect.
The psychiatrist told Kitty that she would be pulled out of public school. I thought for sure she would pitch fits (she'd wanted to be in public school so badly when she started mid January), but once she determined she didn't have to wear a uniform she seemed fine with it. We'd known the honeymoon period was ending, but hadn't realized she had already started to flip to hating school. Today I'm trying to arrange an intake assessment. We saw the school when we were considering putting Bear there, but Kitty hasn't.
12:30pm - 3 freakin' hours after we arrived we were finally finishing up the paperwork and able to take Kitty home. Only 20 more minutes to get her suitcase "out of hock, " and we were on the road headed to my sister's house for a family lunch. Delicious!
Kitty was very huggy and came to check in with me several times. She mostly played quietly by herself. (My nephew and Ponito are 6 months apart in age and thick as thieves. My 6 year old niece adores Bob and the two are inseperable. Bear played Wii and had warned us the day before that he was going to be bored.)
I tried to fill Kitty's prescription for her antibiotic, but the pharmacy was closed for the holiday. We ended up at Wally World looking for birthday cake, cranberry juice, and Benadryl (found out the hard way that Bear is allergic to fire ants - and bee stings). Came home and watched Bedtime Stories (cute, but not as cute as I thought it would be).
Bear's current girlfriend and her sister came over and later in the evening my dad, step-mom, and sister and her crew showed up for birthday cake (which everyone was still too full from lunch to eat much of). Kitty liked her gifts (Heelys, a watch and a bag from us, a nice card from the grandparents and $20 from my sister to spend on her wardrobe).
After bedtime (8:30 for Kitty, 9 for everyone else) Bear of course tried to start a conversation. That just irritates me no end! I know he doesn't go to sleep in his room, but parents deserve some downtime. He wanted to complain about his girlfriend being jealous of the girl Bear dated while still in Nebraska 3 years ago (who has since moved to Canada). He wanted to let me know how bored he is going to Grandma's house because there's "nothing to do." He almost demanded to have Grandma watch them at our house (so he could hang out with his friends/ girlfriend).
I gave him a little relationship advice (which was mostly - you're only 15, remind the girl that neither of you are ready to get married to each other) , and told him tough toenails on the Grandma thing. She is wonderful for watching them all day for free (and has been doing so for years) and I am not going to make her do anything.
Friday - more therapy
We had no school on Friday so the kids spent the day with Grandma. When it came time for Bear to go to therapy we couldn't reach them. We decided to "take" Bear's visit with the therapist. Bear did get hold of us just before the session started, but we decided we needed the visit more then he did.
The visit ended up being mostly about me. I am not dealing with the overwhelming stress well. The increase in anti-depressant has helped though. Hubby is extremely unhappy about my considering doing the homebound tutoring with Kitty. He thinks she'll drive me over the edge.
We did discuss Bear and my relationship with him. He is doing amazingly well, but I find myself still angry and dissociating from him. Hubby and EMDR therapist see him as connecting/ attaching to the family and I just don't see it. There is a strong possibility that MY issues with men and attachment are coming into play here. This was suggested by both hubby and the therapist.
Saturday I tried to focus on looking at Bear through loving eyes. He really has grown (emotionally) and matured a lot. I'm trying hard to lighten up and connect with him. I've been giving him more freedom and less direct supervision. He's been attending mainstream classes outside of his special school for 3 months now with no major problems that we know of. I didn't think he'd make it 2 weeks.
Kitty called Friday while we were at therapy and talked to Bear. I don't know what she said to him, but he was highly agitated by it. He says she asked a lot of questions he couldn't answer, and was very upset that we didn't see her or talk to her all day (we were in therapy during both visiting times). Bear insisted repeatedly that she was not ready to come home. I think he was feeling very frustrated that we were not listening to him. Of course the reality is that we have no control over when she comes home. That is entirely at the discretion of the hospital.
The visit ended up being mostly about me. I am not dealing with the overwhelming stress well. The increase in anti-depressant has helped though. Hubby is extremely unhappy about my considering doing the homebound tutoring with Kitty. He thinks she'll drive me over the edge.
We did discuss Bear and my relationship with him. He is doing amazingly well, but I find myself still angry and dissociating from him. Hubby and EMDR therapist see him as connecting/ attaching to the family and I just don't see it. There is a strong possibility that MY issues with men and attachment are coming into play here. This was suggested by both hubby and the therapist.
Saturday I tried to focus on looking at Bear through loving eyes. He really has grown (emotionally) and matured a lot. I'm trying hard to lighten up and connect with him. I've been giving him more freedom and less direct supervision. He's been attending mainstream classes outside of his special school for 3 months now with no major problems that we know of. I didn't think he'd make it 2 weeks.
Kitty called Friday while we were at therapy and talked to Bear. I don't know what she said to him, but he was highly agitated by it. He says she asked a lot of questions he couldn't answer, and was very upset that we didn't see her or talk to her all day (we were in therapy during both visiting times). Bear insisted repeatedly that she was not ready to come home. I think he was feeling very frustrated that we were not listening to him. Of course the reality is that we have no control over when she comes home. That is entirely at the discretion of the hospital.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Economic woes
After meeting with the attachment therapist on Friday Hubby and I had some downtime. The littles were all at Grandma's (school holiday) and we had no major appointments for awhile. We'd spent a little time at work in the morning and sent most of the staff home (we hadn't given them Good Friday off, but they had very little work so we told them to go home when they were done). We still haven't been able to pay them for the first of the month, but we've been meeting with banks, brokers, and factoring agencies trying to get some funding to tide us over. We have 2 huge contracts coming up if we can just make it through the next month.
Wednesday we ended up temporarily laying off half the staff. We can't afford to pay them their back salaries and don't have enough work right now to keep paying their salaries. In less then a month we'll be busy again, but for now we're just digging ourselves in deeper.
It's been such a long year.
Wednesday we ended up temporarily laying off half the staff. We can't afford to pay them their back salaries and don't have enough work right now to keep paying their salaries. In less then a month we'll be busy again, but for now we're just digging ourselves in deeper.
It's been such a long year.
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