Please say a prayer...any advice is welcome!!

[Kristie]

My dad is in the hospital.. I think he finally hit rock bottom with his mental instability and made us aware that he wanted to go to the hospital and get some help by attempting his life... I was over in ireland when i got the call from both him and my sister that something wasn't right and at least he waited till doug and I were there to make his *point* (he didn't hurt himself too badly)...it was more of a sign for help than it was a sign that he really wanted to hurt himself but nonetheless, we heard it and got him into some care. he's doing ok, but my life is going to be changing quite a bit as we figure out where to go from here cuz it'll be a long - term change in trying to get his mental aspects under control...the hardest part is that we have no family in virginia (where he lives) to take care of him after he gets out of the hospital...and the family he used to live with offered to take him in again, but i'm not sure that's a good thing to do cuz he's done all sorts of really bad stuff to them - they've been so patient and kind - my dad is like family to them and they only want to help him since he helped them years ago with medical problems but all the mental instability started with them & their family... and i'm afraid it might help to keep him more unstable by keeping him in that type of environment...i dunno what to do about that yet!

if anyone knows or understands how to do a temporary power of attorney (someone - me - needs to keep taking care of his bills/financial status while he's in the hospital getting treatment), let me know...I need to find a good family attorney for all this stuff now.

things don't look good right now but we know it's a turning point and we know it's workable and that he'll live. he's under good care right now (which is what he needed over a year ago) but i'm still kinda freaking out a bit cuz i don't know my *path* yet & i have to keep my life going too... doug's a trooper though, much more with it/unemotional than i am and is doing an excellent job of keeping me breathing one breath at a time taking one day at a time esp with the lack of sleep lately!! hahahha

Things are gonna be sporadic and I can't work on NJC right now...luckily, i have some time on that still and at least we know the weekend - October 21-23...

so far.. so good...

[SteveC]

Prayers can help more than most people suspect. We'll say some for you and your family.

Just know that you have all the support that we can give.

[Doug Taylor]

Anyone want to drop by the Taylor house and clean the catbox?

[MQAAord]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone want to drop by the Taylor house and clean the catbox?

[/ QUOTE ]

If I didn't have two little ones to take care of, I'd non-rev out there and clean your whole house for you!

So sorry about your situation. If there's anything at all I/we can do, please let us know. If you need help with NJC, I'll do anything I can to help y'all out.

[I_Money]

Kristie sorry to hear about your father. Working in the ER, I have seen the whole gambit of mental illness, and it is very scary too.

I think the hardest step has been taken; going to get help! Now doctors will help you and your father out, and let you know exactly what you need to do to get him back to his former self.

I always think having someone to prevent you from a nervous breakdown is very important - I could not imagine a better candidate then Doug! Doug really is the man.

[Derek_S]

Sorry to hear about that. I know I don't know anyone personally but I'll still be keep your whole family in my prayers.

[JEP]

Kristie,

I am sorry to hear about your father. I will say a prayer for both of you and the rest of your family. Don't worry about Network JC right now. Like Amber said, let me or any of us know what we can do to help out with NW JC. It's the least we can do.

[kellwolf]

Sorry to hear about that, Kristie. I hope things work out. As far as power of attorney, are there any law firms there that give free consultations? That might be something to look into. Like Amber, if I could, I'd non-rev out there to help out as well. Don't worry about JC, you've got the regulars to police the now overdue PFT thread that should be coming up any day now, and the grammar stuff can wait until you get back.

[EatSleepFly]

Sorry to hear that Kristie. I can't offer any advice, but I'll certainly keep you and your family in my thoughts. Take care, and all the best.

-Marshall

[cargopusher]

Sorry to hear about your dad - you might want to give the local mental health association a call - see if they can offer any advice -

[Silverhawk]

Keep ya head up and lean on the support of all those great friends and family.. You'll find your way thru !!

This year already two of my best friends have lost their mom's .. one from cancer and another from a "routine" surgery.. but ya keep on moving somehow .. someway !!


Hope all is well

[mpenguin1]

Kristie

My prayers are with you, I am asking a pilot about the Power of Attorney, I think that he has the same thing for his mother-n-law...

Mike

[ready2fly]

Prayers = said.

Having grown up with a father who has MS thus in and out of the hospital my whole life - and a mother who has had her own bouts with various addictions/mental breakdowns, thus in and out of treatment centers my whole life - I can empathize.

It's hard and it doesn't always get easier. BUT, the good part is he WANTS help, so (as is said) it's a step in the right direction.

Please feel free to drop me a PM if you have an questions or just need to bend an ear.

Stan

[Doug Taylor]

Here's a little update. Friday was kind of #####ty for obvious reasons, fully wacked-out on Saturday, but Sunday was good and he was completely coherent, 'normal' and realizes that he's going to need some therapy. Today, was better than yesterday so we were afraid he was going to refuse therapy, however he agreed to psychiatric treatment.

But all in all, this is kind of weird, but the event was a 'net positive' because before he'd wouldn't go in to see a doctor about his delusions. But now he finally realizes that he needs help, is going to get it and has realized that we're not trying to hurt, but help him.

The hard part was that Al was very good at masking emotion. If you saw him, you'd see a 6'3, silver-haired 59 year old, good-looking, very socially smooth and engaging, extraordinarily intelligent gentleman with a Doctorate in engineering. But occasionally, he'd start talking about how the people he was living with in Virginia were CIA operatives (one actually was a long time ago), how there's this international crime ring that involves some German mafia alongside some secret Finnish (the family was from Finland) "illuminati" syndicate and stuff.

The hard part was when he was normal, he'd never talk about this stuff. But when he'd have an episode, enough of what he was saying actually had some truth to it (CIA, wife was from Finland, husband was from Germany) but the connections he was drawing were outlandish and he was making crazy extrapolations on reality.

Anyway, thanks for the support! I'm back in PHX taking care of stuff, Kristie's flying back from IAD this evening and Al's starting voluntary psychiatric therapy as we speak.

[mpenguin1]

Kristie / Doug

I contacted one of my instructors who has a limited Power of Attorney for his mother-n-law. What he did was to contact the Department of Health & they assisted him, for him, the situation is different than yours. Pretty much he ended up receiving a pamphelt that was about "3" pages and somebody came to his house to witness the signatures...

Mike

[Ice_Hawk]

Kristie, sorry to hear about your dad. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[Budroe]

Kristie,

Sorry to hear about your dad. My prayers go out to you and your family. In which state will the POA be needed? My dad is an attorney here in Tennessee. If it is not for TN (which im pretty sure its not) let me know what state it is for. Depending on where it is, Im sure he may could pull a few strings to get you one. Alternatively, you can type in 'legal forms' on a Google search and you will get tons of websites that offer state specific forms of various legal documents. Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

[Kristie]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and support.. having extended family is ALL GOOD!

things are a lot better right now...my dad's in a treatment program up at Virginia Hospital Center in the psych center and will probably be there for the weekend - they might let him go on sunday cuz he said the docs want you out of there and back into society as soon as possible... but the transfer from hospital to hospital went well and he's listening to his doctors which is really good for him. he doesn't always listen and is the type that will help someone else before he helps himself - which got him into this mess in the first place... he had his first "talk" session and he said he couldn't believe the things he was talking about or the words that were coming out of his mouth about all the disappointments he'd had and about them happening all at once (within a 4 yr period) and he said one of the girls in the group started crying and the doctor just sat there in disbelief wondering why he hadn't seeked help well before this...he still doesn't remember a lot of friday or why he tried to hurt himself with a CD-ROM...

but so far, he likes his doctor and the nurses and that pleases me a lot because i know it means he will really get the help he needs and he'll listen and start taking better care of himself...so today's a MUCH better day, which means i can get back to the "me" things without having to worry so much about him!

what a relief!

on the funny side of this: on saturday morning, he tried to leave the hospital and was quite successful - said something about wanting to take a nice spring walk outside...being that he's such a smarty, he unplugged his IV's while his "24/7 suicide watch" sitter was taking a smoke break(?), walked out of the room with nothing but a hospital gown on (not even undies), walked down the hall and out of hte hospital with no one even noticing... walked around to a residential area, got some shorts off of a clothesline, somehow found some shoes and found a shirt on the ground (WAY stinky too - some transiet is probably looking for his clothes) and put those on and headed to the bus stop... the cops found him before the bus came and he surrendered peacefully (even the firemen were there cuz you know they have to be where the cops are)... but the nurses couldn't stop laffing as they saw him come in with clothes that weren't his...apparently, he'd been scoping the exits and knew EXACTLY what he was doing! makes it extremely interesting to watch how the mind works, esp since he still wasn't in the right frame of mind...

[Doug Taylor]

That's why I told him that we're going to have to get a cat collar for him! So next time he tries to wander off, the nurses will hear *jingle* *jingle* *jingle* *jingle* as he trots down the hallway.

[Kristie]

luckily, there was no need for that!

[Doug Taylor]

Check yo email, woman!

[Doug Taylor]

Whoops, nevermind!

[mpenguin1]

OH hell, get the modern version of the collar, when you go out of bounds, the collar will emitt a low electrical current.

http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=howT.../rightNavHowTo

[I_Money]

[ QUOTE ]
OH hell, get the modern version of the collar, when you go out of bounds, the collar will emitt a low electrical current.

[/ QUOTE ]

Modern, I remember those when I was very small! Not something you put on you dad though!

[Seggy]

I am sorry to hear about the situation your family is in.

It must be very difficult to see your father go through this. My prayers are with you and your family.