Court today

I don't know why I bothered putting make-up on this morning. I am not the teary type, but I was in tears in the car the entire 1/2 hr drive to the courthouse. UGH! I hate that!

Anyway, I was told by the petition intake worker a couple days ago that the plan was commitment to an inpatient chemical dependancy unit that also treats MI. That he would be held at the hospital until a bed was available to him.

So this morning I called Tyler at the hospital to let him know I would see him at court. He told me he was signing discharge papers at the moment, and that he'd be going on and then doing an outpatient treatment program.

HUH? 

This sent me into a small panic. I called the hospital social worker, and told her of my concerns about safety for the rest of the family. She was very nice, but pretty much said, "Yeah, good luck with that."

So on the way to court I kept going over what I wanted to say, and how to say it without hurting Tyler. When I got there, Tyler was meeting with the public defender. He let me sit in on that, and they were going over the court recommendations which were just what Tyler had told me earlier. He was agreeable to all of them. He's so pleasant when he's on his meds. Really, he's fun to be around when he's clear headed! I then met with the county attorney and social worker who would be following Tyler. I immediately broke into tears (seriously, I hate that feeling of not being able to hold myself together.) The county attorney told me, "Well, all the doctors who've seen him think this is the best option, blah blah blah." I was like, "Yeah, well they've spent HOW much time with him? I've been with him 20 years, and know him better than anyone, including himself." and told her of all my concerns. 

She then went over all the stipulations of the order. There are a bazillion steps he MUST follow, and if he misses even ONE, there are GOOD safeguards in place.  I won't go into the details of the order here, but I will tell you they are very stringent, and he doesn't really have any wiggle room. He did sign releases for ALL involved to have direct contact with me so I'm not in the dark anymore. I know that Tyler will read here. I hope he understands that all I want is for him to be safe. 

Since I said my piece to the county attorney, which was in private without Tyler there, I didn't feel it necessary to say anything in the courtroom. A prayer answered! The court granted the stay of commitment based on the order above. Tomorrow he'll be starting the first of many steps he has to follow. I really like his social worker, and I think we'll work well together. 

So that's my day. I came home and took a long nap!