The kids certainly had some confusion over what was going on. Both are smart and sensitive and both had seen Daddy a couple of times during his psychotic episodes. They also knew that he wasn't around for a week and I'm sure they could sense that Mommy was under some stress. It took a few days for him to exert his parental control over the kids again (without them deferring to me) and for the kids to be used to him being around again.
What has been a strange thing, amongst many in this chapter whole saga, is that when someone comes home from the hospital after psychological treatment, its not like they've got some lingering illness or injury to heal. Luis had been started on medications before coming home and has basically been the same 'ole Luis since getting back. Just Luis plus a couple new prescriptions and no Claritin. As a result, there are times when it seems like what we experienced was a weird bad dream.
For the first few days, I was keeping a close eye on him, making sure that what he was saying and doing was really him and not another "episode". I'm sure it annoyed him but he also understood it. We're also still trying to understand what this bipolar diagnosis is all about.
Luis went through a few nights of poor sleep as a result of getting used to his new prescriptions and the different side effects it brings. They seem to increase his auditory senses. He hears sounds more acutely than he used to. He also had to implement a new bedtime routine.
I had insomnia of my own last Sunday after six nights of taking Ambien. Taking Ambien seemed like a good idea at the time when I was under stress and tense. After a few nights though, I couldn't get to sleep without it. After 6 nights though, I knew I was done with it. I went through the miserable night of what is known as "rebound insomnia" and another night of crappy sleep before I got back into a sleep routine. I found on the internet that many others have had this experience coming off of Ambien. I know it works well for many people but I think I'll take a pass in the future.
Here's where you can take your pick of cliches: we're taking it one day at a time, rolling with the punches, etc. We're more or less settled back into our everyday routine which I don't think I'll be taking for granted anytime soon. We're certainly mindful of this new bipolar thing that has entered our lives but are dealing with it like we do most things, together and with humor. It may seem irreverant to some but that's what works best for us.
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So unrealted to Luis going crazy, we did watch a couple of movies last week. Since I've never been known for having a shortage of opinions, I'm going to start including movie reviews on my blog, especially since our tv shows are all on hiatus for the summer and because its my blog darnit and I can. Don't worry, no spoilers.
Liam Neeson in Taken. Here's my problems with this movie: 1) Really, we're supposed to believe that 50 year old Neeson is able to take out all of the bad Albanians single-handedly?!? 2) No one in the movie seemed to care that he kept posing as a French policeman while speaking American English, and 3) It all came together a little too easily. Unbelieveably so. All in all, thumbs down.
On the other hand, I LOVED the Grand. It started a little slow but that was because they were introducing characters. Once the movie got rolling though, it was great comedy. There were a ton of great one liners, not to mention a great cast. Doesn't hurt that I love mockumentaries. This was unique and enjoyable. Thumbs up.
2 comments:
I'm going crazy????
Luis, if you change those question marks to exclamation points it's a party!
Oh, and I watched The Grand. It was OK. They were trying too hard. "Please laugh we're doing a comedy!" but in this case the exclamation denotes a pleading tone rather than a party.
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