Update February 4, 2023

News

Ok, now that I have had time to process, I’m ready to say what is going on with my friend in the ICU. On Monday evening, I Ubered him to the ER for psychiatric problems. He voluntarily entered, but they put a hold on him, and kept him in the ER till Wednesday morning.

At that point, he became unruly and they sedated him with something that required him to be intubated. They wake him every morning, and if he’s pissed when he wakes up, then they sedate him again. Of course, he’s pissed at what they’re doing to him, so this may go on for a bit.

I feel that they are doing this out of convenience because they view him as a friendless addict. Couldn’t they transport him somewhere safe while intubated? Or physically restrain him while he’s unconscious and transport him to a psychiatric ward that way?

I am concerned this will last longer than 2 weeks – and he shouldn’t be intubated beyond that. I’m concerned he will get PTSD from this experience (intubation can give PTSD, and he already suffers from PTSD.) I am concerned about damage to his lungs from the intubation.

I have contacted some lawyers, but I’m pretty sure they won’t do anything until Todd has actually been injured or suffered from PTSD.

Saturday

Saturday was a good day. I went to Olive Garden with my friend Liz to discuss our mini-bookclub book Akata Witch. We both enjoyed it. Our next pick is Sixteen Scandals.

Afterwards, we watched an episode of Doctor Who with Aaron and M10. Then Aaron went to a puzzle competition and Liz, M10, and I watched Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Maybe too much for a 10yo, but we all enjoyed it. After Liz left, we watched Clue.

IL4 had a hard day, though. He ran around all day holding his butt saying “ow ow ow.” Later, he voided on the floor. I suspect he’s been withholding stool for at least 3 weeks, as this is the third time this has happened. I sent a message to his doctor about it.

Sunday

On Sunday I ran errands and checked things off my to-do list.

Monday

Monday was a good day. There were a couple of appointments, I ate lunch with Aaron, then visited Todd in the ICU. He’s awake! Had another unfinished project fiasco – this time with D13. She insisted that she wasn’t going to do an assigned project, and got pretty upset when I lay on her the same consequences I gave M10 last Thursday when he refused to do his homework.

Tuesday

Tuesday I spent a couple hours trying to read a book (Defensive Baking) that D13 wanted me to read in order to help her with her book report. Then she did the book report on her own. Lol.

I picked up M10 early because he wasn’t feeling well, but we got to go through his school-year-long reading assignment. He’s supposed to read 4 books a month (including graphic novels), but he has to read at least one of each genre. He had forgotten this assignment by mid October, but luckily I have been mentioning the kids’ books in my blog since December. So we had December and January filled in yesterday, and I sat down with him and gave him some choices for the upcoming genres.

I also visited Todd in the hospital. In another jerk mood by the hospital, the doctors decided to let him stay as long as he was willing (in this case 2 days after waking up) and then slap a 72 hour hold on him the moment he asked if he could leave. Not that it’ll do them any good, they’ll not find a psychiatric ward by Friday, and need a court order for an extended hold. The mental health system sucks so much.

Wednesday

Wednesday I visited Todd in the hospital and rested.

Thursday

So…on Wednesday evening, I started getting a minor sore throat. I wore a mask at work, thinking I probably had a cold. That night, I had a sore throat which tied with mono as the worst sore throat of my life. I figured maybe I had strep, since I’d had contact with someone whose daughter had it.

On Thursday, I went to urgent care. The doctor looked in my mouth and decided I had strep. She was certain. She wrote me a prescription and told me to start it immediately, before the results came back. The results came back negative, but I decided to treat it like strep anyway.

Friday

Friday I decided I definitely did not have strep. I started coming down with a massive head cold. I cancelled two appointments for IL4, and switched his doctor appointment to virtual. Even that much was exhausting. I called in sick to work, and got some relaxing done.

Reading to IL4