Puddle Girl

Letter to Kitty's therapists and psychiatrist case management staff:

Kitty was released today at 6pm. She was agitated and manic, but the nurse at the psych hospital thought she looked “normal” considering she was anxious about release. Kitty has alternated between being a puddle (which you guys have all seen) and irritable - pushing us away and ranting about how we love the biokids more than her and don’t treat her like a teenager. This was the first time I had seen her manic though. I was nervous about bringing her home. She seemed OK, but I was afraid that if there were any stresses/upsets that she would be too emotionally fragile to handle it. She did make it through the evening OK, although she got a little belligerent at bed time.

Kitty had apparently gotten upset a few hours before discharge because another girl had told her to shut up. Kitty told the nurse that she felt like hitting the girl and was given a Klon*pin (her first during hospitalization as far as I know). The discharge nurse couldn’t tell me if Klon*pin was still prescribed for Kitty. It wasn’t included on her med list.

Med list
Tril*ptal –900mg am and pm. Unchanged.
Abil*fy – 40mg. Removed!
Trazod*ne – 100mg. Removed.
Conc*rta - 54mg. Unchanged.
Clonod*ne- .05mg am and .1mg pm. Added.

Will let you know how tomorrow goes. Will probably try her at school if she continues to be up and seems stable. She is meeting with her therapist right after school.

No one at the hospital mentioned residential treatment, but they didn’t see much of her behaviors. Kitty was under a greatly reduced/ changed amount of stress so was able to hold it together (plus of course their expectations are based on the kids they have there, not Kitty). I think this is definitely something we need to discuss. Possibly look into whether or not {Residential Treatment Center over an hour away, but that takes Medic*id} would be a good option. Most of the people I know who’ve had kids there, liked it but said their kids were more severe/ aggressive. Kitty is so emotionally young it worries me to put her in places where she doesn’t feel physically safe and she is surrounded by kids with mega issues and behaviors that Kitty can’t handle.

School: We still have to get it approved in the IEP meeting, WEDNESDAY at 1PM!! but we have tentatively decided:

1. Kitty will only go to school her last period of the day (4th and 7th) for rest of the school year. This is her double blocked math class. The teacher is also her case manager, and is willing to let Kitty do work on other classes. I will take her to school, probably do volunteer work during the 1 ½ hours and then take her home again – no bus.





2. If Kitty seems to be OK with the one class then we’ll add a 3rd period study skills class. Obviously we can add more if she’s capable of handling it.





3. We will be adding 4 hours of homebound schooling.





4. We are suspending the FIE (school psych evals) for now. Testing her academic levels at this point would not be accurate.





5. We are looking at getting {Bear's special school} to come out and evaluate her for possibly attending there next year.





6. I will continue to look into Charter schools to see if we can find something that works with Kitty's emotional needs and learning disabilities/ special ed needs. Would love some help.