navigating new waters

1 minute read

calling all resources

As the days in hospital #2 went by John kept getting more and more quiet and depressed. He participated in the numerous types of therapy sessions but other than for the torturous physical sessions in the gym he was playing along just to get the specialists out of his room so he could go back to sleep. His leg muscles were causing him so much pain the doctor finally relented to giving him some Robaxin at night so he could rest. The days were long and grueling and very, very boring. The most unnerving and frustrating part was not knowing how long John would need to be there - some days it seemed like he would make big improvements and then others nothing.

I was personally thrilled with the fact that John was safe and sound and getting medical attention - I knew his priority was getting out but that very thought struck fear through me and filled me with dread because we didn’t have a plan for what was coming next. We realized we weren’t getting anywhere asking the team at the hospital for help so I started calling everyone we’d worked with or encountered in the past 5 years along this horrific journey.

I called other parents who had been through our same nightmare, therapists, counselors, wilderness staff, you name it, I called. I also got a quick PhD in insurance coverage/not coverage trying to find out what scenarios might look like if John would agree to go to a program somewhere. There was a small nurses station right outside John’s door where I set up office with my laptop, phone and notebook and went to work. I’m pretty sure the nurses were not thrilled with my intrusion but they knew I was a determined momma and left me alone. (I may have also done things like bring donuts to the staff to help our family’s position on the floor - between my office and John’s negative and sometimes rude behavior we needed all the points we could get.)

One of the contacts I made yielded an incredibly helpful attorney (more on that side of the story later) and another put me in touch with an addiction specialist who ran a program locally that sounded like a potential place to start once John was discharged from the hospital. The problem we really faced though was finding a place away from Seattle - away from the people and places that were waiting with open arms and we knew would suck John back into the lifestyle that landed him here. Finding resources outside of our home city and state took the frustration and confusion to a whole new level, but in the end we were blessed with a miracle that provided a situation for John that was better than anything the insurance company had to offer.