I have been absent in the forum lately, as we have been navigating our recent guardianship (December 9th), getting all of my son’s records and having access to his hospitalizations, previous evaluations, etc., because we were unafforded that information through him refusing it to us, and HIPPA. Currently, we are working with our County Attorney on an involuntary hospitalization of my son. He was hospitalized in Jul’16 during what we now understand to be possibly his second break psychosis (sophomore year college). This was police initiated, but I flew there at the request of some of his friends, and initiated the call to the police. His first break was in the year prior (self-described activities to a therapist he saw when he had insight and sought counseling at school without our knowledge). He is now gravely disabled by this illness, has never taken medication (refuses), and he has no insight into his illness what-so-ever. We petitioned the court for guardianship in December, were able to get all of his records, and last week, he had 3 nights during a week where he was out of hand and the third night, we called the County Sheriff and told him he can no longer stay in our home. This behavior is not unusual. Although it had been escalating, he is manageable 75% of the time, and scary 25% of the time. We stated we were fearful of our own safety, and his (he was punching walls, smashed his guitar…and in the nights prior, he was banging his head on the wall, destroyed various electronics in his room…in the most recent prior incident, he put 30 dents in our refrigerator). We are 1.5 hrs from any ER, so by the time they could get him in the vehicle he made it to the ER, he was mellow. The ER doc said he was certainly mentally ill, but he did not meet the criteria and wanted us to take him home. I refused, insisted on a CRT evaluation, and although he was completely delusional, grandiose, and visibly mentally ill, they too said he didn’t meet the criteria. I disagreed and I refused to take him home and made them aware that I had been working with the County Attorney for the last three weeks on our need to hospitalize our son. He cannot take care of himself, and is gravely disabled and because of that, he is an eminent danger to himself. I insisted the CRT therapist return to his ER room with me and that they listened to me tell my son that he had three choices: He gets on medication with his doctor, He voluntarily admits himself, or we were pursuing an involuntary commitment and so, he was not coming home with me. He declined to do either of the first two, and said he doesn’t want to come home anyway. I then questioned where he would go in the company of the CRT staff, “Doesn’t matter”. Where will you sleep, “under a tree”, how will you eat, “I don’t need food,” and as it was snowing and blowing outside, the questions continued, his answers were equally bizarre, and I walked out of the ER and told them all he was there problem. I also told them that if they let him leave the ER he would be dead. Well, today, he is in psychiatric detention and has not unraveled. I was wishing he would unravel, but he can pull it together like this. I think we have enough. His psychiatrist will be in the hearing, and I will be testifying about my 6 months with him (he has been living with us since discharge in July), of which 100% is delusional. As I said above, the hard part is that 75% is manageable due his core behaviors kind and gentle. 25% of the time he is destructive, sometimes violent, suicidal, and completely unpredictable. His psychiatrist’s testimony is if he was left to his own devices, he would be dead, and the public defender told me Thursday that it was likely he will be admitted.
Either way, I am nervous and stressed about having to testify against my son. I have visited him twice in psychiatric detention, and he is mad. He believes I am part of the evil ploy to steal his life. He believes he is there because I called the sheriff. What is so hard is I am who he will be discharged to, and what I have done to this relationship ?? I suppose, all I can do is honestly represent my life with him. Although I believe he will be admitted, I am nervous that there is a possibility that he won’t be. If he is admitted, I am simultaneously having our attorney who filed the guardianship/conservatorship amend that petition to include medication within our authority.
I am wondering if anyone has any additional suggestions? The psychiatrist said, although he will be admitted with their typical 90 day time-frame, he will likely get on medication, gain some insight, and be discharged within the month because the bed availability is so poor where he is going.
If anyone has anything to share, advice on additional ways/areas for us to push related to services during/after his hospitalization, etc., I welcome them. This is all so new to us…and it is completely awful to have to take this action. I feel blind.
