Timing, Ladies and Gentlemen. It Sucks Right Now.

I am so frustrated, encouraged, worried, angry, disillusioned and exhausted all at the same time.  This past week and a half has been ridiculous.  Every time I would be ready to sit down after thinking through things that have transpired, something else would happen and I would delay the blog post and process the new insight. Well, I can't hold this in anymore, so I am going to break this down by associated emotion.

Frustrated:  I just found out today that in the span of a year I went from perfect reading on my blood screenings to being pre-diabetic and borderline high cholesterol.  I feel like no matter what I do to better take care of my physical health that the PTSD is slowly killing me and it frustrates the hell out of me.  What do I have to do to get these train wreck of health problem after health problem under control?  Live like a monk? Deny myself all pleasures? Develop workout anorexia? Starve?  GAH!  I want to throw things in frustration but the inanimate objects don't deserve that kind of abuse.

Worried, Exhausted:  My daughter is seriously sick for the first time.  Bronchitis and bronchiolitis.  She woke up Friday night crying and coughing, post-nasal drip, and a fever.  I didn't sleep from Friday night until Monday night when her fever finally broke.  With already being on heightened alert after the bombings in Boston, I started thinking that something was seriously wrong with my daughter's health.  I was the youngest and never was around sick kids so I had no idea that this kind of sick was normal.  I never really got sick.  I remember having the pukes once as a kid and mild fevers a few times, but that's it.  I never got strep, maybe bronchitis once, chicken pox was only three or four spots and a fever.  I had no idea it could be this bad and not be life-threatening.  I was relieved Monday night and was looking forward to catching up on some sleep on Tuesday.  The cough was resurgent Tuesday night.  My daughter didn't pass out until after 5AM Wednesday morning and didn't sleep at school either.  Needless to say, I'm worn a little thin right now.

Angry, Disillusioned:  I went to group today, looking forward to talking with them about stuff.  Very shortly into group, the new therapist told me I could not blog about what I learned in group anymore.  I got very angry as blogging about what I learn is at the core of my ability to cope.  I explained to her that I have never once violated anyone's privacy and only bring up things that I learn and have worked through as a result of going to group.  I told her that I had received express consent from the group members before I blogged about it.  My previous group doc had signed off on it and over the course of the past year, it has become an integral part of my therapeutic process.  She still refused even after directly asking the members of the group who all said they were fine with it.  When I stated if no-one has a problem with it...
She raised her hand straight above her head and said she had a problem with it.  That behavior, in and of itself, was exceptionally unprofessional.  I got really angry and told her that I would no longer be part of her group.  She professed to not understanding why it had to be that black and white for me.  New flash, moron. Everything is black and white with veterans with PTSD.  The fact that she didn't know that, combined with her extremely confrontational attitude illustrated to me that the 'new hires' at the VA are 'warm bodies'.  I continue to wonder if she got her degree out of a cracker jack box.  It took me eight years to try group therapy again after my first horrible experience.  What I have come to recognize is that aside from Doctor Casagrande, I have never had a client/doctor relationship at the VA that I felt was constructive.  When I talked about it with my father tonight over dinner, he made an incredibly astute observation:  "She doesn't care about the welfare or privacy of the veterans in the group.  She doesn't want to see herself critiqued online."  Wow.  Boy did that hit home.  Her refusal was all about her ego.

Encouraged:  I got the money into my account from the crowdfunding and started the ball rolling.  I also got all four of my first choice board members and they are a perfect fit to effectively govern the non-profit.  I have started the process of incorporating and have gotten the landing pages for the websites up and running and am incredibly proud of the landing page for Support No Stigma.  I still can't believe I have been so fortunate to be surrounded by such good people in my life.  Honestly, I think that the love for my family and the good works I do on here and now in forming my non-profit are the only things that have kept me from institutionalization.  Especially over this past week.

So there you have it.  What a ride, huh?  It's all about the timing.  Individually, any one of these issues would have been manageable.  The fact that timing crammed them all together in a seven day span almost put me under.  All I know is I am relieved and grateful that I am still here.  A year ago, things would have played out very differently.