Turning Down an Opportunity

With the death of one of Daughter's friends, there will most likely be an opening in a supported living home. Case Manager called me about it today. I pondered it, and made an appointment for Daughter with Therapist so we could talk about it. Then this afternoon we saw Psychiatrist. Daughter still isn't stable. She is experiencing a great deal of anxiety. She is still hearing voices. Psychiatrist thinks that the voices she hears are flashbacks, and what we are dealing with is severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I agree. Right now we are dealing with layers of triggers: anniversary issues; the death of both of her grandparents; the death of a friend; even NG and physical closeness with a man.

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To try to move Daughter to a new home away from me at this point in time would add a whole new layer stress and another huge trigger. Psychiatrist confirmed my gut feeling that now is not the time to look at making this kind of move. So with some regret and some relief (that I won't have to deal with the fall out), I am going to tell Case Manager that now is not a good time, and we will wait for another opening. Therapist will continue working with Daughter on finding security in the knowledge that she is safe and has a voice to keep herself safe, even in threatening situations.

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Hopefully the next time there is an opportunity, Daughter will be stable and have enough confidence in her ability to keep herself safe to make a successful move into a more independent living situation. For now, I have an as needed prescription for xanax for her. We'll try it the next time she's too anxious to sleep in her own bed. If the xanax helps and she begins to need it on a regular basis, Psychiatrist will reevaluate her base meds and adjust them to provide more help for anxiety. While I'm not happy about adding another med, I'm hopeful that if we can identify the base problem as anxiety, we will be able to cut back on some of her other meds and find a balance that will enable her to be successful. I still await the day when they can measure out of whack brain chemicals and adjust them the way we do blood sugar and insulin.