I haven't updated in awhile. It's been a crazy month. Here's the latest:
For one thing, we just received the bill for Amelia's inpatient stay last month. The total bill was $4,800.00. Our portion is $2,640.00. Ouch. I'll need to check my benefits for inpatient psych coverage....but the bottom line is...we don't have $2,640.00. Period.
For the past month, Amelia has been either coming to work with me, staying with a dear friend (Thank you Mimi), staying with my mother-in-law (Thank you, Nancy) or she's been at home. I've only left her alone once. I'm not comfortable with that, but on that day, it was a necessity.
We are hoping to have her in a school called "Center Academy" at the beginning of the year. We spent a significant amount of time there a few weeks ago. She seems to like it and I was very impressed with the program, the teacher and the director. However, it's about $14,000 per year. Guess what....we don't have it.
We were able to move up her neuro-psych evaluation from the end of November to the end of this month. Once this comprehensive testing is done, we will know more about what kind of limitations we are dealing with. She had this same eval done back in 2013...which showed a reading disorder, a mood disorder, a behavioral disorder as well as an executive function disorder. Of course, ADD/ADHD was also diagnosed.
Recently, I have been asked by two different mental health professionals, whether or not anyone has ever said the term "Asperger's" to us. Up until that point, no one had. However, the neuro psychologist is going to look into that for us and has some special tests that she will do with Amelia. If, in fact, she finds that diagnosis present, this will open up some funding options for us. There is one particular scholarship that would be available to us if she does have Asperger's. We shall see.
We've contacted and spoken with an attorney. We are waiting for all documentation to be sent to us and once that's done, we will be able to decide how to move forward. A part of me wants to just leave it all alone and move past it....but another part (the bigger part) wants justice for my daughter. There was no reason for her to have been treated the way she was. Every single new document that is sent to us...including the entire medical record from her stay at the Mental Health Resource Center, confirms our belief that there was NO NEED for her to be involuntarily committed. There are inconsistencies in the accounts of what the school said, versus what the counselor said, versus what is written in the medical record. It's all very disheartening...and disappointing.
It is still very hard for me to think about that day. I've had to relive it several times and it is truly a nightmare to do so. I get nauseous and shaky when I drive to the school every afternoon to pick up Nathan and Olivia. Amelia gets agitated too. It's strange to realize that a place can have that kind of effect on me. Amelia and I are both trying to find a place of acceptance about what happened. We will get there.
In addition to all of this, we were hit by Hurricane Matthew last week! We did not sustain any major damage...but our roof took a beating. We have at least 4 leaks in our house at the moment. An insurance adjuster will be out Monday to take a look. Our deductible is rather high so there's no telling how much we'll be responsible for. Only time will tell and the truth of the matter is....you can't get blood out of a turnip. It is what it is and we'll do our best to figure it all out.....unless of course, Jesus comes back soon, in which case...none of this will matter one iota!
I will update again soon. In the meantime, we are trying to enjoy the fall season....such as it is here in Florida.
