Okay, holy fuck (can I say that here?) this thread EXPLODED, people. I'm a night shift Kiwi and logged on to read 20 new pages since my last visit. It was an emotional rollercoaster to say the absolute least. A few thoughts:
KeepHopeAlive: You're the (w0?)man for battling chronic pain to make it to the taping and report back to us like a champ. I wish I lived in the area so I could have seen Susan be eviscerated in person, it must have been amazing. Thank you for your service.
Reading about Susan's public evisceration and Dr. Phil's analysis of Bodhi's situation and needs was the first time I've had a glimmer of hope for these kids in years. They have a chance. Not a huge obvious guaranteed chance. But Michael's action in contacting the show and getting their help may make some positive changes in Jani and Bodhi's lives and eventually lead to their removal from Susan's 'care'. The only thing I wish is that Dr. Phil had extended the offer of an extensive professional evaluation of adolescent Jani as well, but we can't always get everything we want. The mental image of scrawny potato headed, horse toothed Cory chasing after Dr. Phil who is built like a freaking Texan linebacker in a suit is hysterical. Are you..are you gonna throw a punch? He'll flatten you without wrinkling his suit.
I moved from joy to terror reading about Susan's admission of defying the order to med wash Bodhi by dosing him with Benadryl and Ativan and Vistaril and then taking it a horrific step further by administering unprescribed and unallowed Thorazine as a sleep aid. Not only do I work in a close clinical capacity with kids who take meds to help them sleep, but I've been taking medication for insomnia since I was barely older than Bodhi. Vistaril is a barely stronger than Benadryl old antihistamine, yet rarely prescribed to kids, but if he were *not in a medwash* wouldn't be objectionable. Ativan is abominable for use in children as an addictive schedule IV controlled substance. Thorazine is not even prescribed anymore to adults with psychosis because it's a nightmare and it's never used clinically as a sleep aid, ever, because somnolence is a side effect, not an indicated use. Aside from shit like melatonin, the only real appropriate prescription med to use in a kid is a low dose of Desyrel/trazodone, which has no crazy connotations and thus isn't interesting for her. Infodump aside, Bodhi sleeps when he is with his father, in a goddamn bed in a quiet, dark room sleeping at an appropriate time. Michael also used to engage him in sensory activity to soothe him to sleep by covering him in a blanket and spinning him in his chair, spinning being a common sensory activity preferred by children with autism. Susan and Cory would never deign to try this. The first person to read that email with the proximity and authority should have immediately contacted police and forcibly removed both kids. If Susan is bold enough to blatantly admit to DCFS that she has not been following a direct order to not medicate him and that she is going to administer more potent unprescribed medication...who knows what will come next.
It would have been so nice and beneficial if Michael could have extended his stay to oversee the aftermath of this taping, but as people have said he didn't schedule his flight and Amy is close to the end of her pregnancy. If, god forbid, something were to go awry and Amy or their son had a medical crisis with Michael states away, it wouldn't be fair to any of them, even though Michael has a responsibility to Jani and Bodhi as he also has a responsibility to Amy and his new child. Honestly Michael's willingness and Amy's acceptance of his departure this late in the game of her pregnancy is indicative of their understanding of the gravity of the situation and her compassion. A lot of women would take issue with their husband going out of state, even during a 2nd pregnancy. He's done a good job working to shape up and grow and begin to make amends here. I'm cautiously impressed, as someone who has been critical of him.
="KeepHopeAlive, post: 4314137, member: 32063"]Another memory of today crops up. Susan mentioned a couple times about Bodhi's self-harming behavior--He was yanking on his genitals to try and pull them off. She said on tv.
This is more evidence of Susan's assumptions, stupidity, cluelessness about her own son, and complete unawareness of kids with autism. Unless he's verbalizing dysphoric thoughts/a blatant sexual trauma history and a deliberate desire to no longer have a penis (such as very young early gender dysphoric kids), it's not an SIB behavior for a severely autistic or autistic-like kid to tug on their junk or play with it inappropriately, male or female as long as the behavior doesn't result in, like, broken or bruised skin or tearing/bleeding in girls. Kids and adults with mental challenges or brain damage very often have an inappropriate sense of propriety re: self stimulation in the first place and don't accomplish the task in an orthodox way. I worked with a boy who would whip his junk out and either yank it around like a fleshy video game joystick or bat at it like a frustrated kitten. He wasn't 'psychotic and self harming'. Succinctly, he was playing with his junk.
It's awesome that Bodhi is going to Texas, for absolute certain, though sucks that Batshit gets to go and potentially 'reeeeeee' at people. I know Amy and Michael read our posts, so I'd like to be totally out of line and implore them to find it in their hearts, even with a new baby and young daughter, to invite Jani to take a break from her useless classes at school and come for a vacation in Minnesota while Bodhi is in Texas instead of staying alone with Cory. Letting her be with her dad for a while and get to know Amy and her step and half siblings, eat family meals that have been cooked in a kitchen, at a table, watch movies on a couch and sleep in a bed not surrounded by clutter and trash would be such a valuable experience for her, and she's not the challenge she was as a kid. Plus with the information lovely Kelli has shared, her emotional and physical well-being alone with Cory may very well be at stake.
Sorry to be long-winded, but 20 pages leaves a girl with a lot to say.