I had something close to a "function" day today - the kind of day the rest of the world has and thinks nothing of, but that we with mental health issues delight in and feel incredibly grateful for. Nothing extra wonderful happened today. It was just a normal day - and to be able to experience that was extra wonderful.
The day started with an intense session with my high calibre pdoc. It then moved to an hour with my state of the art chiropractor. I then went and picked up my delightful son and we grabbed some Subway which we took to the beach and then we went off and did some other things. I noticed his father drive past on his way home after work, so I dropped our son back off to him in case my afternoon appt with the chiropractor went over time. Over time it did and I was 5mins late to our son's psychologists appt.
The psychologist diagnosed him with depression but admitted she was not qualified enough to differentiate between ADD and early onset bipolar symptoms to get a correct diagnosis. I appreciated her awareness and honesty around her capabilities. It was a positive session where she indicated she would be very interested to support us with any of the non-medical, no-biological aspects of things; and that is a vital part of any treatment. She agreed correct diagnosis and medication had to be the starting point though. I felt good that we were on the same page. My ex-husband also contributed to the discussion. We saw things really differently but we both were happy not fo hold too tightly to our positions - and met each other in the middle...funnily enough, it happened to be the same place where the person who this is all about, was positioned - our 14 year old son. My pdoc had given me good list of child pdocs, and my ex-hubby agreed for me to take on that side of things; sourcing the most effective doctor and orchestrating the referral etc. (On a side note, it was so cute - on the way to the car, he showed me a photo of the blonde bombshell he has been dating for the past three month... and I went "Whoa! How did you do that good?" And he said with a smirk "Yeah, I reckon!").
After the appointment was fun as we went back to my ex-husband's place to meet my father who was waiting to take our son away on a road trip for a week. My father would be bipolar for sure but there is much more wrong with him than that. He is the type that doesn't wear shoes and has his testicles hanging out of his shorts. I lay down the law; no drugs, no alcohol, keep your balls tucked in and your pants on (your grandson is still having nightmares!) etc. I managed to make a joke out of it; which would have more effect than a hostile approach. (Honey rather than vinegar). Our son has his mobile on him fully charged with emergency numbers on speed dial. We are not overprotective. My dad is extremely erratic and we have given our teenager everything he may need to help manage anything untoward. Neither his father and I trust my dad, but we really trust our son. Hopefully our boy will enjoy the few days of adventure with the only grandad he has and rarely sees. The lines of communication are open and his father and I will sort out anything that arises.
There was sooo much in today in a deeper subconscious level and I'm pretty exhausted. Really glad to feel that it was a day I "lived" through rather than dragged myself though. I feel functional just atm. . Thanks for reading