Wednesday, September 10, 2008

To the ER...and back

I finally took Gabriel to the psychiatric ER yesterday. After 48 hours of constant hysterical laughing, I figured it was time. After four hours in the waiting room, we got to see the doctor. As I expected, he said they couldn’t keep Gabriel there, because he wasn’t a danger to himself or others. Gabriel did agree to take his medication, which we now have to build up gradually again, along with weekly blood work.

And once again, I have the worry of missing work. I was just released by the cardiologist to return to work this week, but I’ve stayed home because I don’t think it’s safe to leave Gabriel unsupervised in his current state. I’m taking it as unpaid FMLA. But, in spite of the HR director’s assurance to me a few months ago that time missed due to FMLA doesn’t count against me, when I talked with the owner of the company last week, he brought up the visit quota required to maintain eligibility for benefits. Oh, great! Now I have the additional stress of worrying about whether I’ll lose my health insurance!

1 comments:

said...

Galen, does Gabriel qualify for any benefits from the state? Other than insurance. Like, does he have a caseworker that can check on him while you're at work? What about respite care so you can get a break without worrying?

I know you've been doing this longer than I have and I'm probably not asking anything you've not already thought of yourself. I just wanted to put that out there just in case.
I'm sorry he's had a setback. Everything you write about is so relevant to me.