As I sit here and plan out today's blog, I do it with a smile on my face and the feeling of how easy it is to breathe these days. As most of you know, on 9/30 Jake was admitted into the Stress Center's Inpatient Youth Unit for 5 days. I blogged about his time there in my last blog and now it's time to update you about his time in Partial Inpatient Therapy (PIT). He started that on 10/1 and gets to graduate to Intensive Out Patient (IOP) TOMORROW :).
During his time at PIT, he has learned more about how to use coping skills and when to apply them. He is in this program with a few other boys and it intermingles with the IOP kids as well. PIT was every day from 1-5. So he went to school half day then spent the rest of his day in PIT. PIT also involved 3 days of Family therapy sessions a week. The family therapy sessions have gone really well. Jake was always the first one to speak up when asked "Who wants to go first?" Jake NEVER used to talk about his problems especially with strangers and most of the time even me! He always answered their questions with good answers. He has been great at home as well. He's been pleasant, helpful and respectful. He has even offered a few times to do things that he was not asked to do. Things like this used to get a big refusal or a "No way in Hell" out of him. and asking him to help out around the house was like asking him to comb the desert with a comb based on the way he would react to the request. ( Yes I now know that my problem was that I was asking!!!) However.... We created a behavior plan and a contract and it's posted in the kitchen and he earns points by doing things each day to earn privileges now (things which before he thought were just OWED to him!) He doesn't fight me when he doesn't have enough points for something or only has to choose 1 thing instead of 3 at a time.
The past 2 mornings he got up early, got himself up and dressed and ready. He did all his chores WITHOUT being asked and today chose toys over TV time and didn't get upset when I turned on the news and he wasn't able to have toys and TV at the same time.
ALSO for the past 3 days he has only had homework on one of them. He is doing his work IN SCHOOL!!! His teacher commented today how pleasant it was to have him like this in class. I am so proud of his progress and I know he's working really hard. By no means do I feel like this is over or that he is "fixed." But for now, we will take what we can get and hope it lasts longer this time. He was hospitalized once before through a different hospital but they didn't do any thing as extensive as this program with the stepping down through the programs. I really like that he was given this gradual decrease but still had the access to the staff and meetings and groups. He is so happy with himself to and that in itself makes me a very happy mom! I can't tell him enough how proud I am of him but I sure keep trying to!!
We have met some pretty amazing people while we have been involved in these programs and hearing the stories and struggles from other parents in different stages of their child's "issues" has been heartwarming, sad, aggravating and promising all at the same time. There is a wide variety of kids by age, anger/behavior issues, diagnoses and the length of time the symptoms have been present. There are people who divorced because of their child's issues, and a few people who are on the brink of that. We all share stories and advice and talk to each other and offer support and encouragement and both Jake and I leave there feeling good every time. There are people out there with answers. People who live this every day, people who struggle with the same things I do. I felt so alone for so many years in all of this. I don't feel that way anymore. I also think that Jake doesn't either and again that makes me very proud of him.
We are getting close to the teen years so I hope he's able to keep with him what he has learned during this time and that the teenage hormones don't kick him into overdrive and set him backwards in his fight to control this. There are some really sad stories about kids out there, it breaks my heart each time I see one but in the back if my mind I always have to quietly say to myself, "Please God, don't let that be my child someday." In my mind I like to think that my kid will beat the odds and be one of those people who suffer from Bipolar/mood disorders and go on to become someone famous or discover the cure for something or a new theory to help us determine xxxx... It's amazing to read about actors, artists, entrepreneurs, musicians, politicians, scientists, and sports figures have all overcame this and moved on to do great things. I can want that for my child too. Right??
No comments:
Post a Comment