Months of unsettled, mental illness, would plague Teale… Months of abuse, violence, fear for myself and Mark. Teale would control every decision and move we made in life. She would struggle in herself. Her sleep would be sporadic, exhausting both her and us as her caregivers. She would wake anytime between 1:00 AM and 4:00 AM. I would start to look at 4:00 AM as sleeping in. With her sleep so off, her moods just became more and more sporadic. The antipsychotic she was on, was no longer working to stabilize her mental illness. Her doctor knew nothing about how to help stabilize her. We were stuck in a horrible position. The psychiatrist we had been working with, in Teale’s doctor’s office, had moved on, and nobody had been hired. We were alone. Her doctor tried to support us, and tweak medication, but, because we had exhausted her current antipsychotic medication, there wasn’t anywhere to go. She had failed at many antipsychotics over the years. We needed, what they were referring to, as a last resort, antipsychotic. This medication was strictly controlled, and only certain psychiatrist had certifications to administer it. It could be deadly to people, because it would drop their white blood cell count very low. Blood draws would be required every week for six months, after she was at a therapeutic level. If her body was affected by the medication negatively, we could not continue. First, we need to get in with the psychiatrist that could prescribe it. That would take many months…
As we waited for paperwork to go through, Teale would become more and more unstable. She would be violent towards us, if something set her off. Her rage, intense and scary. I would be at risk constantly. There was no telling what would set her off, something simple, or unknown to Mark and I. The rages could result in hours of lost time, trying to get her back, or waiting her out. She not only would try to hurt us and cause damage anyway she could, but she also was biting and hitting herself. It was a heartbreaking, and terrifying, eight months. The psychiatrist had not gotten back to us, and we were stuck in a holding pattern. We sadly assumed, she wasn’t getting back to us because she did not have room for another patient. We would find out Teale’s Care Manager, who was supposed to submit specific documentation, had not done it. All of us endured months of agony, only to find out, after the Care Manager quit her job, that the application had not been submitted at all. Let me reiterate this, the Care Manager had done nothing! We would also find out she had not submitted the paperwork she needed to do for Teale to go to camp. Camp Haccamo is something Teale looks forward to every year! Us as a couple, and a family, look forward to the break from Teale’s care. For five nights, Teale goes to a rotary camp nearby, free of cost, thanks to donations. The camp was developed for children and adults with special needs, to have a typical overnight camp experience with peers of “like abilities.” The paperwork was long overdue, and I was devastated to learn she might not be able to go. How could somebody who acted like they cared about us, do such heinous things? The Care Manager knew we were suffering greatly, and needed to get in with the psychiatrist, to possibly, hopefully, stabilize Teale. I talked with her constantly about the agonizing wait, not knowing, that it was her, that was causing the delay. When our care manager quit, they had nobody to replace her, so the supervisor would contact me. This is how I found out, that the paperwork was not done. Apparently, she hadn’t done her job for many people. I would have to jump through hoops to catch up on the paperwork that Camp Haccamo would need, for Teale to go. I would beg for a spot for Teale at camp, even though the deadline had passed. Explaining how I thought our care manager had submitted the paperwork, I asked her to, they would take Teale. One hurdle cleared, but we would still need to submit paperwork to the Arc of Monroe. Teale desperately, needed to get an appointment with the psychiatrist, that was housed there.
The wait would be months…
