Tina's Daily Blog: Whew

Monday, December 11, 2006

Whew - What a Week!

Has it really been almost a week since I last posted?? It was just that kind of a week, I'm telling ya - just C-R-A-Z-Y.

Last week was filled with what I now call "J.D." which is for "Julie Drama". Julie ate herself into either the doctors office or the emergency room many times last week. Her doctor finally put her on injectible insulin, which Julie actually TOLD me meant that she could now eat whatever she wanted to (as if she didn't do that already) and just adjust the amount of insulin she shot into herself accordingly. Well, that - of course - isn't working so well for her. Yesterday she gave herself (as of the last time I talked to her) 7 shots in one day and her blood sugar was still just under 500. A couple of days before that she told me her blood sugar was high and she didn't know why. It was mid-afternoon and so I asked her what she had eaten all day, and she told me "the only thing I've had today is M&M's". Just lovely Julie.... just lovely.

The more and more I think about Julie and what she is doing to herself, the more confident I am that the reason she is doing this is because of her mental health issues. What normal person with Diabetes would have a blood sugar level of over 400 and think about eating more M&M's?

Our next court date is next week and I am SUPER nervous about it. Mainly I'm nervous because I can't ever really communicate with Jay (the DCF guy). After leaving multiple messages last week, he called me back this morning. The only thing he really told me was that they were going to request her medical records from the hospitals where she had been treated. They will be looking into her treatment while there... was she treated just for the diabetes or did she get pain medications and/or other types of medications while there? I already know the answer to that, but they need to see it for themselves.

But the thing is this... Julie and her attorney are going to ask for unsupervised visits to begin, and I'm not really comfortable with that. Julie is NOT acting rationally right now about a lot of things, and can't event take care of herself; How will she take care of her three kids? Not to mention that a person with a blood sugar of over 300, nevermind 400 or 500, shouldn't be driving anyone around in a vehicle, the person could easily slip into a coma at any time. And - the really awful part is that I am unable to verbalize ANY of this at the court hearing. I just have to sit and be quiet... and allow everyone else in the room a chance to talk. It's just not fair! My only opportunity to speak is at a staffing; I would get to voice my opinion and they would note the records accordingly. But I'm now told they are NOT going to have before this court date... they will have one before her next court date in May or June (I forget when it's scheduled). It just makes me sick to think that our system works like this...

The other thing I was thinking about was this.... On my WORST day parenting, I am a far better role model and parent than Julie would ever be on her BEST day.

So, let me tell you quickly about our weekend. Chris and I had our church Christmas performance and it was really special. Chris and I got to sing a duet together... and it was really fun to do. I was terrified, as was Chris at times I'm sure... but we pulled it off and I think it went pretty well.

Also, on Sunday Julie and Katie (both of my sisters) came to watch us. It was pretty amazing to see both sisters there. Katie with her husband Tony and their beautiful daughter Tatiana (with Tatiana waving at us every time we got up there to sing out front - too cute!) Julie sat in the second row with her arms crossed and her face all 'angry' looking pretty much the whole time. I prayed the whole time she was there that God would speak to her... but I'll tell you, it was distracting as a performer to see her there like that. Then after the service, Julie talked to the woman who runs the Children's Minestry who has been AWESOME to us, taking care of our kids and making sure that they can do things other kids do, even if we don't have the money to do it. She walked up to Julie and told her what AWESOME kids Julie had... that they were a true blessing and just great/awesome kids to be around. Julie's response?? "Well, they ain't gonn be here much longer!" What a WITCH she was to say such a thing. It upset this woman so much that she came to talk to Chris about it later, trying to explain what Julie had said and - worse - HOW she had said it. I mean... how is it that she can't even go to a Church for one hour and behave herself?

Good news.... good news.... let me think. Oh... I have a really sad story to share with you.

Kayla is dating this young man, he goes by the name Pito. He's a very nice guy, and I really like him a lot. She's dated him before and he treats her with TREMENDOUS respect, and he is also very nice and respectful to us as well. I remember once when they first dated I took him home -- and he lives in the GHETTO. Public housing... and I'd have to say a very SCARY housing complex. In the front, on a wall at the entrance it's spray painted "good stuff around back". What kind of good stuff? Drugs I'm positive. I had forgotten that he lived like this. I went to pick him up the other day - he works down the street from us at a Burger King (about 3 miles away). Usually he walks to our house whenever he comes over to visit, but on Friday it was SO cold, I told him I'd pick him up. We had just come from picking out our Christmas Tree and were going to sit down to dinner then trim the tree. After picking him up, I asked him if he'd done his own tree yet at home. He said that they don't do Christmas trees at his house. I asked why not (thinking maybe it was a religous preference) and he reminded me of how poor they are. He said that they've just always been that poor - mom works but for very little money. They moved here from the Brooklyn and only made enough money to live in the projects. He hopes to go to college and be the first one in his family to get a real education. He went on to explain that his mom always bought him what she could... but that they didn't do any of the festivities - no tree or decoration, no christmas stocking, no 'Santa', nothing like that.

And all at once my heart wept for this young man. He was SUCH a good kid and he works so hard (in addition to going to high school full time). He's got a GREAT heart and he's so mature and respectful... you'd NEVER guess he lives the life he lives if you met him. Ever.

So... I'm thinking I want to do something special for Pito this year. I mean... here I am all worried about MY kids who might not get a 'lot' for Christmas... and here is this young man who NEVER has a Christmas. Never has a tree. Never experiences that joy....

I've decided to do what I can to help him. I'm going to make him a Christmas stocking and hopefully stuff it with some things. Anything I'm sure would be appreciated by him since it'll be his first stocking from Santa. Then I'm going to email the Church and see if he can be one of the kids that they 'help'. Even just a gift card or something.... I'm sure he'd be BLOWN away.

It's late and I've got to get home.

Please say a prayer for Julie, for her kids, and for Pito.

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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

Monday, December 11, 2006

Whew - What a Week!

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