[Magdalen] Update on Scott the Younger

[Susan Hagen]

Oh, thank God Scott!  That all sounds like great news.
Susan

On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 9:06 AM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com> wrote:
> Rather than update and rewrite the long thing I wrote on Friday that
> bounced back, here's a copy...Scott
>
> I'm giving thanks to God for miracles today. Here's why:
>
> 1. Not only did the booking of the Urgent Evaluation Clinic
> appointment at Rush U Medical Center go smoothly this morning: they
> had a cancellation and booked Scott in for TODAY at 1:30, less than 24
> hours after we even decided to take him to ER at Rush yesterday. "All
> we can do for you" at ER if you're not suicidal or homicidal, is refer
> you to the Urgent Eval Clinic, and this turned out to be a very good
> thing to be referred to. Apparently a normal wait for an Urgent Eval
> can be six months.
>
> 2. I attended his evaluation along with him. It was the thoughtful,
> intelligent, focused fresh look at Scott's situation that I've been
> hoping and praying for. The attending psychiatrist was a delight and
> even honed in on the style with which Scott answered one of her
> questions (he's a "long answer" guy...I loved that she admitted she's
> a "long answer girl"). It was the sort of slightly jump-around
> questioning that disabuses the interviewee of any standard talks they
> may have prepared. And new thinking about Scott's meds started
> happening early on, including the idea that one of his current meds
> was really prescribed to support another med that he isn't taking
> anymore...the idea that this now unpaired drug might actually be
> contributing to his trouble was a new lightbulb turned on. He's got a
> new antidepressant prescription now at "an exquisitely low dosage"
> (another of her phrases I loved), 37.5mg as opposed to a 200mg
> maximum, with any disturbing side effects to be reported via voice
> mail and with full permission to stop the drug at any time if there's
> a bad side effect.
>
> 3. The emergency protocol is the resident's voice mail, which he
> monitors Monday through Friday; there are also backup numbers to reach
> any of the Outpatient Psychiatric doctors; and of course there's ER.
> I'm going to check what all is available for weekend emergencies and
> make sure we know that.
>
> 4. The resident and the attending psychiatrist are both excellent. I
> think he'll be seeing the resident next week for the follow-up. Scott
> is very pleased, as am I, and much more hopeful. He said it's helping
> him already just to know he doesn't have another weeks-long wait
>
> It was all worth the tedious drive through construction backups and
> torrential rain and flooding (we returned the ZipCar half an hour
> late...another blessing is that ZipCar forgave the lateness and didn't
> charge me an extra $50 according to their rules), and it will be worth
> what we're billed.
>
> It's not the end of the road to Wellville, but it certainly feels like
> the right path at long last.
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA



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