Posted by ghost on May 14, 2004, at 10:58:31
In reply to Re: The stigma of mental illness... « gardenergirl, posted by Dr. Bob on May 14, 2004, at 8:10:57
since this is the social board now, i can go into detail, right? (another Long Post by Ghost (tm) here we come!)
i called my mom first, thinking she'd be the most understanding-- she's a certified nursing assistant and her own mother is bipolar and schitzo. i spent most of my childhood visits with her in institutions. i left a voicemail msg telling her where i was, that i was okay, and the numbers she could call.
i called the house phone on a whim, thinking my dad was working, and my mom answered. she sounded frozen. she couldn't say anything. she started asking questions that just started upsetting me (why was in there, why didn't i call, when was i coming home (i was still on suicide watch at that point), what do the doctors say (nothing, they never say anything), etc). i just got flustered. she was silent for awhile. i only had 5 minutes to talk since it was long distance. she said "i'm silent because i'm in shock." finally she said, "let me call your dad and give him the numbers and have him call you."
she pawned me off on him.
he called and went off on how money wasn't that important, that bill collectors aren't that hard to deal with. he thought it was all about money. i just gently said that my illness is not caused by problems like that but sometimes those problems don't help. i said that a lot of what i was feeling was the result of a chemical imbalance and they had to fix that before we could fix anything else.
he decided the cure to my illness would be to take a mini family vacation, so at the end of the month, he's flying us to orlando for three days. not sure that being with them is going to help matters (they're going to fuss over me way too much) but i hope that going someplace new will be fun and i hope to get some good photos. (i want to get back into photography.)
poster:ghost
thread:346727
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040507/msgs/346784.html