It has been a week of setbacks. Beth and Natalie had a huge blowup again, over a boy this time, and all the who and what and history that Beth didn’t know about, and Nat saw some text messages on Beth’s phone about him that set her off. I had to leave work early on Tuesday to get home so Beth could go to her counseling, which didn’t help her much (and I think was counterproductive). Beth was a wreck again after that like she hasn’t been in a few weeks. So was Nat. So were Alex and Missy. Nat had her own counseling on Wednesday, at which time her counselor recommended she be admitted to the behavioral health clinic again. I found this out after getting Alex and Missy back from youth group Wednesday evening. Beth and I left them at home to get to bed themselves, and took Natalie to Fort Wayne to the ER to get her admitted. We got there at around 9:00, and it wasn’t until around 3:00 am that she finally got to the clinic and Beth and I could head home. The next day everybody was pretty tired. Alex and Missy did get to bed but didn’t sleep well, especially Missy. Beth went to visit Natalie for lunch Friday, didn’t get much out of her then. Later Friday, Beth and I had our own counseling session, which lasted almost 3 hours and ended with Beth feeling incredibly better about things and much less panicky. Saturday, Alex and Missy had mall derby with the youth group, and while they were away with that, Beth and I went to visit Natalie again. That was a much better visit, she just wanted to play cards with us which we did, until it was about time to go pick up Alex and Missy (we decided to pick them up at the mall instead of racing to get home) after which we went to visit Mom at her place. She was not very present. I think she knew she recognized me, but didn’t know who I was. I asked her about Laura and she didn’t know who that was. We did find her glasses, which have been missing (again) for weeks now and it made her very happy to get them back. She smiled a lot more after that and she seemed to recognize us more. The nurses are going to keep her glasses with the medicine cart at night now so she doesn’t lose them again. So that was good, anyway. There just seems to be less and less of her left every time I see her. Sunday was family counseling, so we took Alex and Missy back to the clinic for a session (we had to miss church) which was also very good, a few things got out there which will be helpful. And it came out that the gotcha day was a big disappointment for Natalie, she thought it was a special day and not much of a deal was made over it. I hadn’t realized it was as important as it is to her. So we’re going to get better, and maybe she can come home Monday or Tuesday. Late Sunday, Marve and Beth were passing through on the way home from vacation in Alabama, and they diverted to pass through Warsaw so we could meet for dinner. That was a nice visit.
Also this past week: I’m 0-for-4 on the Final Four again. I got some more work done on the storage loft in the garage (I should be done by now, but I’m not).