Avoiding the hospital... for now

We had a really good visit with Mary's pdoc (psychiatrist) this afternoon. I think that Mary spent more one-on-one time with the doctor today than she has in all of her visits over the past 4 years combined. This is a good thing. She was able to really communicate what she is thinking and feeling without getting upset or shutting down. That is HUGE for her! The bottom line is that she is in danger, but not imminent danger. Right now it is all thoughts and no actions. However if we let it continue it will escalate to actions, and then we would have to admit her to the hospital again. That is all the good news.

Now the not so good news... it will take weeks or months to get her back to where she is comfortable enough to attend school for a full day. As of right now we are working on a plan for the next few months that will hopefully include some homebound services, attending school for a part of the day, maybe some home-school co-op groups, and slowly adjusting from there as she gets more comfortable.

A funny note from today, Mary had told her pdoc that she wanted to start a club that is called "Give the Earth a Break for Pete's Sake". She described in detail what the club would do like go to a park, do some type of litter pick up and then have a picnic. The pdoc thought that Mary meant that she knew of such a club at school and wanted to start going to it... No, this is a club that Mary has thought up herself. So, we are going to see what it takes to start a club at a school, or somewhere else? I've never been ambitious enough to want to start a club, much less been inclined to be a "tree-hugger". But our sweet Mary has such a heart for every living thing that this would be a dream come true for her. If anyone has any ideas how to get this going, please let us know.