I had two good visits with Gage; one yesterday and one today. This is what we know:

- He was interactive with me. Both days we did nothing that we wouldn’t do with him living on the outside; we read a book, did a small puzzle, played a card game, played with a magnet board and read a couple of cards and notes together.

- He is on “One-to-One” orders right now and has been since he arrived on Wednesday. He said he can’t leave the unit or go to the gym or outside because of the order. The order includes 24 hours a day. So someone watches him sleep, too. He found it hard to sleep while someone was staring at him. The weekend person said she is going to give the doctor a good report for the weekend. He’s been compliant, participating and calm.

- Gage looked shaky yesterday but today I didn’t notice any of it. He also SAT with me FOR A WHOLE HOUR, which might not mean much to you folks with kids not living in a mental hospital, but for me? Pretty shocking. I know we were playing , but usually he’d rather take apart a chair than interact for an hour doing anything.

- I am so relieved that he is safe. Those first two days were rough for him, but on the outside? Unbearable. Parents shouldn’t have to hold their child and keep them in a “safe room” and watch them for 24+ hours. I mean we would have but I’m glad I don’t have the memory of it, even if I know it occurred. I’m so thankful there was a place for him. I understand it is the only place in Atlanta.

- I am not sure what Gage remembers from the episode. So far I know he remembers the safe room. Not sure he has a concrete memory of the spiraling out of control, and I hope he doesn’t.

- I get to see him tomorrow for an hour as well so I asked him if he wanted me to bring anything special. He mentioned a specific coloring book of his. He also enjoyed the notes and pictures I brought. His BFF, Laura sent a note and picture and as I left he and his STALKER were going to hang it up in his room.

- Things are very calm in the house without him here. I hope when he comes back some of that calmness remains. We’ve been in the war so long, I forgot what calmness felt like. I so badly want this to be a new beginning for him; a stepping stone to a better life for himself. And one that involves a better life for the other three in the family.

We will know more tomorrow when his doc is back on duty. We might get an idea of when he will be coming home. In the meantime I need to have an IEP meeting with the school so we can talk about reentry. The social worker told me Friday that the average stay is 5-7 days for stabilization. Wednesday will be one week.

If we are going to focus on anything it would be that Gage is out of crisis.

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