My Family
By Madeleine Graham
Thank you Lord for my family
We may have disabilities
But with your guidance
Lord I pray
We will be okay
You’ve shone me the sun
But I’ve seen darkness too
Please keep my family
Close to you
It may rain
And it may pour
But I know with you
We are safe Lord
And future generations
May have the illness too
But with prayer
All will survive
None of us will have to hide
You’ll embrace us with your love
And set the course where we will prevail
No more crying
We can exhale.
I am a proponent of teaching American Sign Language (ASL) to all students as a second language. I advocate ALS because there are students in regular classrooms who are not diagnosed until later years with some type of mental illness or disability. Many of these students don't like to be touched. Many special needs students learn the basics of ALS in school, but I am also an advocate for teaching the language in regular classrooms as many officers and future firefighters will have a skill which can be used to calm down these individuals, so things don't escalate. Additionally, those with mental illness or other special needs individuals can be peacefully guided through a situation.
I am broken hearted at the moment not because of my son, Huck Finn, but now my daughter Anne, loosely portrayed from Anne of Green Gables. My daughter has two children, one of which is autistic. The other is only ten months old. I have no idea where my daughter is at, but she pulled my autistic grandson out of programming by going before his time to leave was up. I am concerned about her mental health and now my grandson as well. The baby is being cared for by his dad. I will be babysitting starting tomorrow.
update:
This situation is so close to the cuff that I can barely talk about it. Maybe it is better I don't. I had to put Anne in the hospital. She created a situation that was dangerous for herself and my autistic grandson. My son Huck is doing what he is supposed to do. I have petitioned her before, but she always managed to change her status to voluntary. I am pleased this hospital is not allowing that. I won't go into details, but I am glad my grandkids are safe, and she is now safe.
My Huck Finn is adjusting to living temporarily with me. He is an independent soul and has been going to work in construction every day. Tomorrow, he has an appointment with his psychiatrist to renew his medication.
He is industrious and he has a good social network. As of right now, he knows how important the medication is to his wellbeing. He is sleeping in my spare bedroom. I don't want him to burn himself out, so I am trying to let him run his own show.
My daughter, Anne based loosely on Anne of Green Gables, is having what I would say is the opposite effect from her medication and appears to be manic. I may have to babysit my grandchildren, but I don't know.
As for me, I am working part-time and have the ability to put my work on the backburner. I am used to being a caretaker, as I have done it all my life. Sadly, there were many times, I did not take the medication, so I was hospitalized several times. There were times I did take medication and still wound up in the hospital, but not for long. So, the medication sometimes has to be adjusted.
I am working very hard to stay well for my children and grandchildren. I am keeping in contact with those who help me handling things. That doesn't mean it is not a rocky road.
Having the ability to reduce stress by not working is a wonderful benefit to my mental health as I am a senior citizen. I am working on my autobiography a little bit at a time so I hope it will inspire a movie. I am writing it as a book, but I plan to pitch it later as a movie. I intend to keep the characters anonymous in the book.
My Huck Finn has not lived with me since he was eighteen years old. He works in construction and has a job lined up here in Michigan. I am praying he gets the insurance that he needs and that it is excellent enough to cover his medication. The scary thing is, I am not sure how much the medication is going to cost if we have to pay out of pocket initially.
We are going to make a trip to the behavioral center so he can get his meds renewed. I have a twin bed; however, my grandson, who has special needs, was jumping up and down on the bed and I couldn't get him to stop. When I sat down on the bed it went kerplunk, so Huck will have to sleep with mattresses on the floor until I get a frame.
For those of you who have an adult child or adult children, that have a mental illness, I am sure you can sympathize with me about the very real struggle to keep them on the straight and narrow especially boys. The journey my son is on also happens to be mine as well. We have to be a pillar of strength in order to stay healthy and continue to work. I have to be aware if he has difficulties while also watching myself for problems.
Two things have happened since I began this expose. First, we were able to get his medication. Second my Huck Finn was able to repair the frame. Lastly, he is working. We still need to learn if his insurance will be decent.
On another note, he is making progress in his move. He has to go to the Secretary of State to get a new license. He also has to do a change of address at the Post Office and finally he has to temporarily seek Medicaid.
All in all, it has been very productive.
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I have been contemplating what an appropriate argument would be to change Brian Kilmeade's voiced opinion on national television that lethal injection would be appropriate for the mentally ill and the homeless.
My thought is that those words were the first thing out of his mouth and as such have to be a part of his beliefs. How do you educate someone like that? The other hosts stood idly by.
As someone who has been homeless and has a mental illness is it possible for me to alter his views or will my words fall on deaf ears? Society seems in such chaos now. The divisions have created a widening chasm and there is no in-between as extremism on both sides is creating no room for dialogue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19VPMzajark You can skip the ads when the icon appears. I chose this video because the speaker accidentally called one of the host an airhead and it may have been a Freudian slip. but I found it funny. I hope you can appreciate my laughter on that because I am human. I don't want to diminish the topic; however.
My parents both had mental illness, my children have it, but as a mother I cannot just walk away. I believe through education (life and college) both my children will thrive despite their difficulties. I also have two grandchildren that I pray will not face the horrors of a broken mental health system.
In the State of Michigan, there is a push to privatize the mental health system, but at what cost? Look at what has happened to our jail system when they privatized. I have been a part of the mental health system since 1981. I have worked part-time most of my life and I have done a lot of volunteering. My family remains my focus.
More to come.
