Just prior to Gabriela’s introductory appointment with her new local neurologist, Dr. P. Young, I received a call from Gabriela’s case manager at Tranquility who I referred to as “the Troll”. She wanted to let me know that the “tEEEam” was prepared to discuss a phone and visitation schedule for Gabriela and me. She asked me what I would like that schedule to look like and advised me that I should ask for as much …
55: Calling Their Bluff
During the month of December I spoke with Aetna and Tranquility daily in an effort to broker a deal between the two that would guarantee the costs of Tranquility would be fully covered by insurance. Nearly ten years before, in 2002, I had been financially ready to retire; I just needed to finish raising my daughter so I passed time in lower paying, less stressful jobs waiting to hit the magic age of fifty nine …
54: Christmas
When I picked up Gabriela on Christmas Day, she looked beautiful. Her complexion was clear again and her hair was washed and combed. She was wearing a deep burgundy scarf warped loosely around her neck and simple blue jeans and heels. We had enough time to have a nice dinner and enjoy a movie in town. Gabriela was calmer than before she moved into Tranquility and I didn’t set her off so the imposed separation …
53: The First Week at Tranquility
During the first week at Tranquility Gabriela and I weren’t allowed to speak or see each other. This wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be because I stayed focused on the goal of Gabriela getting better. She was in a residential program where she was getting therapy and support daily and learning independent living skills. I knew that when Gabriela graduated from Tranquilities program she would move into one of their subsidized apartments …
52: Check-In
Helena, the clinic director of Tranquility, was ready for us when we arrived for check-in on December 14th. She greeted Gabriela warmly and escorted us to the upstairs office at the residential facility of Tranquility where she introduced us to the house manager, Phyllis, a tall, thin plain looking Brazilian woman, and Gabriela’s case manager and therapist, Cecilia. Cecilia was no taller than five feet and reminded me of Rhea Perlman in both looks and …
51: Baltimore and Johns Hopkins
Gabriela and I were both concerned about the five and a half hour flight to Baltimore knowing that once we boarded the flight the pressure would be on for Gabriela to keep it together until we arrived back home three days later. When we boarded the flight I could see that Gabriela was uncomfortable by the stiffness of her body. As we waited for take-off Gabriela’s eyes dated back and forth nervously and her smile …
50: Suicide Hold
By Saturday Gabriela had been at Huntington’s ward 400 for five days and although I had called her each evening I hadn’t visited at all until the day she was due to be released. Amongst the new patients a few characters stood out. One was a mad scientist type. He was older, tall, and on the thin side, bald in the center of his head with thin fly-away gray hair around the edges. He wore …
49: A Date for Tranquility
As soon as we finished the assessment at Tranquility and were back in the car Gabriela called Dr. Duncan at Huntington Hospital. Apparently Gabriela had a very convincing suicide plan because he assured her that he would call her back as soon as there was an approval from our insurance company for her to be re-admitted. In less than an hour the doctor called with news that insurance had approved Gabriela’s return to Ward 400. …
48: Assessment at Tranquility
Gabriela and I had made it through the weekend and were both excited for the assessment appointment at Tranquility. Unlike Paramount, the last facility which had blatantly lied about its housing, the picture on Tranquility’s website was precisely what the house looked like; a beautifully restored early 1900’s home painted a deep ocean blue with white trim. It sat forward on a very large lot with a wiry wisteria covering half of the front porch …
47: Readmitted
As Gabriela and I drove away from the apartment and Paramount Health on Friday night she was full of stories the house mother had told her. Gaberila explained that the pizza and brownies were a going away party for the house mother. The house mother had admitted that despite both the website and brochures implying that patients would be living in a beautiful beach front home there was no house on the beach at all, …