Sunday, January 31, 2010
All I want to know . . .
is how does Julie's little hamster get ahold of a feather boa on a nearby surface & shred it up INSIDE his cage? At least it got her to clean out the cage!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Medical/Mental Health Updates
In September & October of 2009, Raj was in mania, but I wasn't sure until I stumbled upon the stolen credit card & purchases. He got into all kinds of trouble, scared my mom and the kids, and left a trail of destruction that I'm getting used to cleaning up. During this time period, he took on management of his own meds at Sunrise (the assisted living facility he's been at since July), and his cognitive functioning seemed much better/quicker. He laughed and made jokes, attended meals out with friends, used a PC at Sunrise to play an online game with the kids; This cluster of symptoms also includes passive/aggressive behavior, lack of remorse, lying, threats, and distractibility.
Throughout November & December, his psychiatrist made various med changes to "bring him back down" and Raj switched to a new therapist. The frequency of the threats and other manic behavior lessened, as his mental abilities dramatically slowed again. The Social Security Disability claim was approved, and I hosted the whole family for Christmas Eve (Raj's first trip home since all the latest chaos).
January brought SS Disability retro-payments (back to June 2009), and various paperwork to submit for insurance/LTD. Raj also finished with Coumadin from the July blood clot. He says he feels depressed, but depends on the meds to take care of it for him. He's unable to follow directions with more than 1 step, perform simple math, or determine cause & effect; He doesn't recognize any limitations to his cognitive abilities, so he asks for some pretty weird stuff, given his circumstances.
Throughout November & December, his psychiatrist made various med changes to "bring him back down" and Raj switched to a new therapist. The frequency of the threats and other manic behavior lessened, as his mental abilities dramatically slowed again. The Social Security Disability claim was approved, and I hosted the whole family for Christmas Eve (Raj's first trip home since all the latest chaos).
January brought SS Disability retro-payments (back to June 2009), and various paperwork to submit for insurance/LTD. Raj also finished with Coumadin from the July blood clot. He says he feels depressed, but depends on the meds to take care of it for him. He's unable to follow directions with more than 1 step, perform simple math, or determine cause & effect; He doesn't recognize any limitations to his cognitive abilities, so he asks for some pretty weird stuff, given his circumstances.
Random Thoughts
OK, so I've been posting to this blog for more than a year. I wasn't sure what it would evolve into, but it appears to be more of a "venting" spot for me than anything else. I haven't heard from any followers for quite a while, so I'm assuming this to be one-sided communication. If you visit, you want to know how we're doing.
Throughout 2008 & 2009, I tried to include information under various sub-headings: health concerns, prayer requests, etc. But I don't think that's really benefitting anyone, so for 2010, I'm just going to type stuff, and the blog will date/timestamp it; Hopefully, this simplified approach means I can provide more frequent updates, just not as concise as before.
Throughout 2008 & 2009, I tried to include information under various sub-headings: health concerns, prayer requests, etc. But I don't think that's really benefitting anyone, so for 2010, I'm just going to type stuff, and the blog will date/timestamp it; Hopefully, this simplified approach means I can provide more frequent updates, just not as concise as before.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)