Tina's Daily Blog: Thanksgiving Day With Julie

Friday, November 24, 2006

Thanksgiving Day With Julie

Thanksgiving day was a pretty good day. Evie had a TON of food... and of course spending time with family is always wonderful. Chris sprung Doug from the ALF for the afternoon and Doug did VERY well all day.

I only had a couple of issues with Julie. First of all, I didn't really feel like I could do anything as I had to sit with Julie the whole time. This of course isn't Julie's fault - but I think knowing this sets you up to understand my frame of mind. Julie came a little late and we had all just sat down to dinner. Julie had bought all her kids a gift for Christmas - gold necklaces with their names on them (really big and quite expensive). Julie had decided that, since Thanksgiving was Ron's favorite holiday and she had just picked up the necklaces a day or so ago, she would give it to them on Thanksgiving.

Julie walked in and - as I said - we were all eating. She called each kid into a side room one at a time. Finding this odd, I - of course - had to go see what she was doing. She told each kid that the present was "from their daddy". This made all of them emotional and Kayla cried hysterically. For the rest of the day, when they were asked about the necklaces, they had to respond with 'my daddy gave it to me'.

There are a few things about this that I find odd. First - her timing. We were all eating and Julie had to make it all about what she wanted to do right then. Then saying that it was from Ron. Neither the money nor the gold nor the thought of the gift was at ALL from Ron. If it were melted gold from something that belonged to Ron it might be different. But it wasn't. Julie also went on and on about Ron's birthday being 12/22 and how she was going to throw him a 40th Birthday Party. The kids stated that they didn't really want that, that their dad wasn't really HERE turning 40. Julie just said 'well, he would be 40'. The whole thing was just.... weird.

One other thing happened yesterday that caught me off guard. I saw Kayla and Kayte in the kitchen talking to Julie. They looked stressed so I asked what was going on. Julie pulled me outside with the girls. Apparently, weeks ago - Kayte had overheard parts of my conversation with the lady from the Children's home. She was pissed that I talked so badly about her mother. I asked her what she meant... and she said that I told the woman that when Julie was younger she'd have sex with anyone. I explained to Kayte that - I didn't say anything MEAN, I said the truth. Then I looked to Julie, explained exactly what I said to the lady, and asked if any of what I said was inaccurate. Julie said no - it was truthful. I explained to Kayte, Julie and Kayla that at that session I was required to give a history. A long detailed history. And that was exactly what I did. I also told her that I was VERY sorry that she had to overhear any of that. I thought we were in a room where she couldn't hear, but apparently she did.

The other thing I noticed about Julie at Evie's house was that she really had no 'social' skills. She couldn't sit with someone and find out about them... everything was all about her. If the other person said something, Julie would end up turning the conversation towards her and continue talking. It wasn't blatant or rude or anything. Just an obeservation I made. You could also tell where Julie sat by the mess on the table cloth. She ate regular food then had a whole plate full of sweets (mind you she's been to the ER 2 times in 2 days at this point in which her blood sugar was sky-high and 'out of control'). But she just spilled food everywhere, even turning her plate over entirely once. It was just gross.

I didn't touch on the ER thing... but she had been to the ER twice in 2 days looking for something for her headache. The night before Thanksgiving they even did a spinal tap and CT scan which proved normal. She was given another mixture of toradol and phenergan and given a prescription of Fioricet for her headaches. Again... I"m going to have to find out about how this plays into her treatment plan with her other doctors.

I'm going to call the girls' therapist and schedule an appointment for them - and at that time I'm going to ask her if what Julie did with the necklaces and saying they were from Ron was a good thing or a bad thing. I want to be sure that if Julie isn't handling Ron's death with the kids appropriately or in a healthy manner, it's dealt with now. Since Ron died Julie's dealt with it her own way... her car having "in memory of Ron" on it with his birthday and date of death, and HUGE angels on the back of it.... her HUGE tattoo on her arm (and the one she was going to put on Kayte).... her myspace being totally about Ron. Yet... she doesn't always mourn him - she's dating a LOT of men. She's constantly seeking approval and love from men. And... Julie is a grown woman and I feel that she should be able to deal with this on her own (with the help of her therapist she sees once a WEEK and her psychiatrist she sees once a month). But when she throws the KIDS into her plans... then I want to make sure it's handled in a healthy manner.

We had a little episode at the house last night with the oven. It's kind of hard to explain.... but with all 4 teenagers here, the house is falling apart much faster than it probably should. The cabinet doors are falling off the hinges - we've already totally lost one where we can't hang it any more. Last night the oven door broke. It was as if someone stood or pushed hard on it while it was open... maybe someone slipped and hit it? I dunno... but it broke and nobody told us. Chris went to use the oven last night and it's when he noticed it was broken. It infuriates us when they know something is broken (toilet, door, oven, whatever) and choose NOT to tell us and let us find out on our own. So this morning we had to run to Sears parts shop and find the hinge/spring unit we needed. Lucky for us it was in stock. It just saddens me to see things at the house falling apart like this though. I mean... we are truly going to have to replace our entire kitchen cabinets after the kids leave. Not because they abuse them (although often times we'll see them pulling on them with their body weight or slamming them shut or forcing them shut while pots/pans are still in the way) - but mostly I think from just the CONSTANT use they get now. It's an expense I never thought of when they moved in. Sigh..............

I feel like there is so much more I should tell you about Thanksgiving... the food and the family was totally awesome. We were able to spend a little time with Amanda and her boyfriend Gene. But I'm in a rush... we have to sing at Church tonight and still have stuff to do before then. So for now... I'm outta here. I promise to fill you in on all the fun later. For now, I wanted to 'get out' what I experienced with Julie.

PLEASE keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

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In A Nutshell:

Here is a letter I sent to Dr. Phil which really sums everything up:
I am married to my high-school sweetheart (20 years this August), with two wonderful children (Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13). I have two sisters, both younger – I call them “my good sister” and “my bad sister”. My good sister is – well, good! Normal in every way. The bad one, Julie, has been in trouble since she was a kid. As a baby she cried all of the time. As a teenager she was in trouble all of the time. At the age of 14 or so I remember that she had run away from home to live with a grown man in Atlanta. This was one of many run a ways. As a teenager, she provided sexual favors to boys in school, as well as teachers. As a young adult she was arrested for prostitution. She’s done drugs ranging from marijuana to crack. She was diagnosed early on as bi-polar with personality disorder. She’s also a serious cutter to the point where she no longer hid the cuts. She’s cut things like “Ronald Cecchinni” into her arm… and “Fuck you Dr. XXX” on her stomach, in large letters. Julie is also a diagnosed sex-addict. She’s also recently (in the past year) begun ‘huffing’. (I honestly believe that this huffing has caused some permanent damage) She is currently 36yo.
Julie lost her husband Ron a year and a half ago as a result of Leukemia and Kidney Disease which the military attributed to his serving in the Gulf War. He left behind three children – Kayla who is now 15, Justin who is now 14 and Kayte who is now 13. Even when Julie was married, her psychiatric problems persisted. She has been hospitalized literally hundreds of times over the years. However, when her husband was alive, he would take care of the kids when Julie was mentally out of control. After Ron died, Julie lost control of the kids and her life. She began to spiral out of control, having pot parties at her home (to the point where the kids said a door would open and a cloud of smoke would come bellowing out of the room), smoking weed with her own kids, having sex all over the house with different men all the time, allowing young men (19 yo) to sleep over with her oldest daughter (only 14 at the time), and allowing Gang members to live in her home (she said she felt ‘safe’ with them there). In addition, she was attempting suicide daily, overdosing on medications hoping to not wake up the next morning. Mind you all of this while she was seeing her Psychologist every week and Psychiatrist once a month. Both of these Doctors knew what was going on at home, neither of them reported it to the proper authorities. I have even been told by one of them that he was told, by Julie, that she ‘heard voices telling her to hurt the children’ but that she was proud that she could ignore the voices. Still, these Doctors reported nothing.
I should add here that it was at some point in this period of time in Julie’s life when her children began suicide watches over their mom… each one taking turns to sit in a room with her at all hours (night and day) because their mom was less-likely to hurt herself while they were here. However, it didn’t always work – Julie constantly took pills in front of them trying to either dope herself up or overdose, and she would even cut herself in front of the kids.
Finally one day, she woke up furious that her last suicide attempt didn’t work. She got violent with her oldest daughter, police were called, and finally DCF was called. (I would like to add that we (other family members) had called DCF in the past to report things, but some of the cases were ‘unfounded’ and one other time the fled the state knowing CF only had jurisdiction in Florida.) DCF removed the children from the home in November 2005 and I gained custody of the Children shortly thereafter.
There are lots of things I could add here about my sister, DCF, and the horrible Foster Care or Custodial Care program we are involved with. However, that is not my main reason for writing to you.
Kayte, the youngest, seems to be adjusting pretty well. She has a tendency to trivialize what her mom has done and the seriousness of it, but I think that is normal given that it is her mom. Kayte was in counseling, but she feels it’s ‘a waste of time’.
Justin, the middle child, is okay. As a young boy I'm told he was a terror. He used to hit his mother and at one point (only 6yo) tried to jump off a building to kill himself. Since then, his anger has turned in to an endless smothering of love and caring. He does everything for his mom… from getting her whatever she needs to rubbing her feet and back. Justin has seen a psychiatrist since moving in with me who felt that his issues were brought on by trauma. It was also at that visit with the psychiatrist that he confided in myself and the Doctor that he had suicidal thoughts often while living at home with his mom in her ‘state of being’ after his dad died. However, since he moved in with me he has done so much better (and continues to improve daily) that she didn’t feel he even needed counseling at this time. He would, however, need counseling before he was reunited with his mom.
Kayla, the oldest, has serious issues. She is also currently in counseling but feels that it is ‘a waste of time’. Kayla has always lied and stolen things. Family members feel sorry for her because you can tell that she doesn’t really mean any ill will by it, but it’s been ‘the way she is’ for a very long time. By far her biggest problems are lying and her need for approval by men (young and old).
Since the kids have moved in with us, my husband and I have set up rules. The kids already had myspace accounts, so we set ground rules for it. 1) We needed the login names and passwords. 2) Profiles must be set to private. 3) The only people they were allowed to have on their friends list was people that they actually knew. When Kayla’s list climbed over 300, and she was found to have inappropriate conversations (wanting to sneak out and ‘hook up’ with young men), we made everyone cut their list down to 30 friends, which included myself. 4) All vulgar language and inappropriate photos would come off immediately and would be monitored by myself at any given time. At times, they try to put up ‘sexy’ pictures which immediately need to come down.
However recently I have found that she has multiple website things going on in an attempt to pick up young men. I'll outline a few here so that you understand the gravity of the situation: 1) I found her 'normal' myspace account set to 'public view'. She has over 11,000 profile views(meaning people looking at her pictures and wanting to know more about her). I had reset it to private many times, but she keeps going back and resetting it to public. 2) I have found another myspace account which she went by the name 'Shannon' and used it to pick up young men, tease them, then later tell them that she was 'taken' but refer them to her 'cousin, Kayla'. She'd then give them all of Kayla's information. Of course thiswas also set to public. 3) I have found another social network website that was like myspace in which she had ONLY men (mostly from other states) as her 'friends' whom she corresponded with. The emails back and forth basically said the same thing as all of the others... more on that in #4 - only these were guys that not only did she not know, but they were not even in the area! 4) All accounts that I have found had basically the same thing... her emailing guys wanting to know if she was pretty, if they wanted to 'hook up', talking about going to their 'crib' or meeting up with them somewhere, and constantly seeking approval and affirmation from these guys.
I believe she gets this from her mom. And the sad thing is, if you met her, you would love her. She is truly a GREAT kid… but she has serious issues. I’ve described to you Julie’s behavior and Kayla’s seems to be the same way. Neither can make decisions on their own that are ‘the right thing to do’, and both lack the understanding of simple values, morals and ethics. I could go into so many examples. How do I describe the utterly amazing difference between Julie’s parenting style and my own?
I know... Both Julie and I have myspace accounts set up to ‘monitor’ the kids. To illustrate the difference between Julie and myself, here is something that Julie and I both put on our myspace accounts. You are supposed to put something 'about yourself' by your picture. Here is mine: "I'm 38 years old. I have two amazing kids, Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13. I have great husband, Chris. I love to sing - and have been singing in Toast of Tampa Show Chorus for 10 years. I'm raising my nieces and nephew (12, 13 and 14). I love God and my family."And here is Julie's: "I am who I am and if you dont like me for me........FUCK YOU........ Plus if you dont like me for me....... Im gunna tell my kids and there gunna kick yer ass!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Here’s the other dilemma we are having; the two girls are in counseling that is costing me $25 EACH in co-payments every time they go. The State of Florida provides NO financial support to me as a relative caregiver, other than providing the three kids with Medicaid. They received small SSI checks because of their dad’s death, but it barely covers the food they consume. The DCF worker, having spoke with the girls and being told that therapy is ‘a waste of time’, has referred me to a clinic that DCF uses for cases such as this to seek mental care for Kayla (aswell as the others). However, the kids have TriCare as their primary insurance because their dad died from Military causes. TriCare requires the co-payment, regardless of the Medicaid secondary. Having said that, please understand that I worked in referrals in a primary care physician’s office for 16 years… I totally ‘get’ what is required for primary and secondary insurances and all the red tape. But because of the uniqueness of this situation, the kids are suffering!
I should also point out here that I have the kids for an indefinite period of time. Right now Julie is doing things that she has been told to do to get the kids back. However, she is still awaiting a court ordered detailed Psychiatric exam to determine if she can EVER parent again. Even if that Psychiatrist feels she can parent again, she’ll most likely need to be ‘clean’ and ‘episode-free’ for 6 months to a year minimum. In addition, Julie is only allowed supervised visits and one phone call a day. This came about because of her inappropriate behavior when she was with the kids and because when she was allowed to call any time she’d call 10 + times a day.
The other problem with Julie ever getting her children back is that… she doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She parents as if she were 15-years old herself. If anyone has ever done something bad and been able to ‘keep’ their kids, she sees no reason she can’t do it. She brought her daughter at the age of 13 in for a HUGE tattoo on the small of her back. It’s Tigger flipping ‘the bird’ with her gang name under it. She was also planning on getting a large tattoo on her 12yo before the kids were taken. Again, she sees nothing wrong with any of her past behavior.
So, you see, I could have these children for the rest of their teenage years. I honestly don’t know where to turn to get them the help they need.
I feel as if I am in a psychiatric nightmare and I just can’t wake up. Eight months ago I was at home, my biggest ‘kid worry’ was if my son was going to get good grades on his report card. Now I find myself in a crux worried about whether or not the lessons I teach them, this late in their young life, are going to be enough to turn these kids around and help them to be productive adults in the near future.

Tina's Daily Blog

Friday, November 24, 2006

Thanksgiving Day With Julie

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