Some good news, some not so much...

First the good news... and it is actually very good. After a truly awful week of advocating for our son with the hospital, the insurance company, and everyone else I could think of and getting pretty much nowhere, we finally made a human connection with a REAL LIVE PERSON. I know...it's shocking, but it really happened. To our insurance company's credit, they offered us the services of an "Intensive Care Case Manager" to help us coordinate services for our son. This woman listened to my tale of woe and quickly became my new best friend. In spite of the fact that she is based in California, knows nothing about services here in New England, and has a hefty time zone deficit to overcome, she got us what we needed. She found him a bed at a CBAT just 40 minutes away, negotiated a contract between the facility and the insurance company, and even got him inpatient coverage at the hospital until the CBAT bed opened up on Monday. OMG...what a gift...a weekend of peace and hope for our son as we move forward. Our boy was transferred on Monday to a very good CBAT. He has spent the past 2 days being evaluated and getting settled. We have attended his intake meeting and our first family therapy session. The insurance has pre-approved 7 days initially and has left the door open for an extension which has everyone at the CBAT exclaiming in awe...seems it's not usual to authorize that much time up front. Thanks to my new BFF in CA, we have a little breathing room. That's the good news...Now for the not so good. Our boy isn't as thrilled as we are with this move. He doesn't like the changes, the rules, the expectation that he will participate in therapy and activities and goal setting. He is acting out, refusing to participate in activities, questioning any direction given him. He seems more withdrawn each day, more hostile. He is unrepentant re: his attacks on others, says if everyone else would lighten up and stop annoying him, everything would be fine. The therapist and other professionals are asking us if we have considered long term residential care. Hmmm...well, if we had an extra $100,000 a year laying around, we could do just that...but we don't. Ah well...one day at a time. Repeating the Serenity Prayer, trying to breathe and ignore the chest pains I'm having. It's just anxiety...or the feeling of a mother's heart breaking for the son she can't quite seem to heal...but I'll just keep trying.