Couch 236: NY PS Langston Hughes

Hey everyone....

HUGS @@ if wanted

and HUGS Scarlet if wanted

Sorry I've been away. I had a week off work, then I had too much work to catch up on. Then I had catatonia after some really intense emotions. Now I am back at work and doing okay-ish. I have a lot of stress this weekend so I hope it is going to be okay and not bring on the catatonia again. That was difficult.

Music therapy was fun this last week. I've been enjoying it. Much more so than regular T. HUGS to anyone who wants one, Kit

Glad to see you, Kit. I'm sorry you've been going through all that.
Take care, and HUGS...

Lost

Thank you Lost. I missed all of you!

Hi Kit, good to see you on here. Sorry you've been dealing with so much. Hugs back to you!

Lucid afaik but sleeping a lot. I think the dialysis window may be past.

I am not actually there right now, I had to come back for the last week of classes and some in-person obligations. Heading back Friday night. My sister is there.

We were going to move her nearer my sister, but I doubt she will last more than a couple weeks, or if she does I doubt she will be up to the journey.

So so sorry @@

So very sorry, @@. hugs if wanted.

Hugs to all who want/need. And/or headnods as appropriate.

HUGS to you Artie.

I'm extremely anxious today. I already took two rounds of anti-anxiety medication so I am considering a Lybalvi chaser. I don't want to end up feeling over medicated though but the anxiety hasn't lessened. I'm afraid it will go into full blown anxiety.

I just tested Negative for COVID, glad to see I got through it.

Great news!

Hugs, Kit, I hope you feel calmer soon.

Thank you LT!

Apparently dropping your little tv on its head countless times (on the kitchen linoleum) will mess with its performance. I finally got a new little one, 11 inches. Looks great! I have NBC again! And a remote that works, ch down AND ch up! Oh, i gotta see if there is a two channel switch function.

Eta - yep! And closed caption.

I just talked to the vet about my dad's dog...

I recommend this vet to my dad. He's going to hate me! But I agree with the vet...

Hugs if wanted, Scarlet. That sounds difficult, I'm sorry.

Hugs, Scarlet. Sounds like you're trying to do the right thing for the dog.

Got my D's full assessment results from the school psychologist tonight, and they're really depressing. Like "significant intellectual deficits" and "extremely low" for many score.

To my credit, I managed to avoid looking at them until after I had my anniversary dinner tonight with H (14 years somehow). So that I didn't ruin that.

Feeling really sad right now though. I'm glad I see Dr. T tomorrow (I emailed him as a heads up, but I'm sure we'll just discuss in session). Then H and I talk to the school psychologist Thursday, and we have a meeting with her full team on the results next Tuesday. Unsure if we need to consider a non-public school placement for her?

Info fashion report: lightweight yellow hoodie.

Zoom limits fashion reports, but I do have an Info feng shui report: she was in a room with dark red painted walls, featuring huge George-Catlin-style Native portraits on two walls and a chandelier made of stag antlers. A sign over the door said “-g room” (couldn’t see the first part).

LT, is mainstreaming helping your daughter at all? It’s absolutely terrible for d/Deaf and HOH children, but generally works better with other disabilities. Is she happy in the school, have friends, etc.? It really comes down to what the purpose of school is for her—learning or socialization.

"Stag room"? (guess on the missing letters.) That sounds like the opposite of a calming environment, between the colors and the chandelier. I hope Info was helpful in some way.

I'm unsure about whether the mainstreaming is helping D. That's interesting regarding deaf and HOH children, but it makes sense. Our county's policy is the whole least restrictive environment thing, so that's what they'd been doing, with having her in regular classrooms with pullouts for small groups (with special educator) half the time for math and English language arts, speech, psychology, and occupational therapy. But maybe she needs something else, a different environment? She tends to do better when she has a teacher/special educator/paraeducator right next to her, but our county unfortunately does not provide one-on-ones, just "close adult supervision" (like 1:2 or 3).

She doesn't have friends that I'm aware of. I mean, there are kids she prefers. The school psych said how she especially likes when they work on social skills/playing games with this one boy, so perhaps she has a crush? And she talks about certain kids at times with us. But it's not like when I was in 4th grade and had a best friend. I have no idea what these kids think of her either. She doesn't know how to communicate on her age level, and it's only going to get worse as she gets older, I imagine (I mean, middle school is challenging in general in terms of social skills, let alone for someone neurodiverse).

The medications she's on have been helping, but I don't know if it's enough? Current mix (generic extended-release Ritalin and Intuniv, which is a non-stimulant ADHD med) has only been for about a month, so too soon to tell (though hey, at least we aren't getting reports of her hitting or kicking a kid, so, progress? And they've said she's been much more attentive.)

Anyway, I'm rambling. I hope you're managing OK. I'm sure it's difficult being away from your mom right now and having to deal with other life and work stuff.

LT, I'm not sure if this is relevant (to you or anymore) but my wife did a deep dive on generic Concerta a few years ago and found out that it's not nearly as effective as the name brand stuff. She's had her doctor write her prescriptions specifically for Concerta ever since.

Oh that's really interesting, thanks! Will check into that. I have read about how generics only have to hit a certain threshold for potency (or effectiveness?). And they may not be as consistent. Not prescription, but I've found a difference for myself with brand-name vs. generic OTC Zyrtec.

The psychiatrist has also suggested trying a second low dose of the generic Concerta around 1 pm at school, as we think the initial dose is wearing off (the extended is really only 5-6 hours or so).

Definitely appreciated. I managed to claw some money back via the property agent but still lost a good amount.

I had to pause my food aid when I was newly moved in and caught covid. I returned and she found an excuse to give me notice to evict me.

Then I chose to leave early into my new place and she gaslighted me about my balance rent (I'm supposed to get it back, pro rated) and found incredible excuses to deduct money from my 1 month deposit.

No tenant should be expected to risk their LIFE to clean the dang windows and the grooves when we're on the 8th floor, sweet baby jesus. She unlocked the window grilles and wanted me to clean the top grooves and I refused. She kept even more of my deposit.

Plus she definitely didn't clean the windows or the wall mounted fan grilles or the tiny freezer vents (I literally used a toothbrush) so extremely ridiculously thoroughly before I moved in.

But a reasonable person would have had no expectation to take close up photos and videos!

I tried to assert myself and she got really angry, really angry.

I literally have audio recordings (laws in my country permit this) proving she gaslit me.

And no, I literally have no legal recourse unless I hired a lawyer.

The property agent sent me the balance rent and he will absorb the cost if she won't repay him. I told him wtf happened and also warned him that she was going on about how property agents cheat her. He told me he'd only contact her after I was safely away on the mover's van.

Ugh, the van driver kept hitting on me and talking about sex.

Ugh, I'm sorry you deal with all that QM. I wish you had more legal protection (I imagine lawyers are very expensive).