Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Day from Hell

I awoke reluctantly yesterday. It was my first day back at my internship since Christmas break. The coffee just couldn't affect me fast enough. Obviously, because silly issues like do I wear my glasses or my contacts were just too complex for me. I decided that one when my glasses fell to the floor as I was stepping in that very spot. The lenses were intact, but the fine cord that held them to the frame was broken. Contacts apparently.

I didn't know when my first client would be, so I parked far away in the garage - in case I had to leave and return. If I returned, the chances would be better if I was parked far away that I could return to my spot and not relinquish an entire day's worth of coin to the hungry meter and an opportunist.

The day was okay. One client was beyond frustration and I sensed that she like the daughter we were trying to help her parent had given up. She seemed to shut down after a comment made by my co-therapist. "That would never work," was all she had to say about the parenting video we watched. I wished I could pull her out of her frustration and shake her, but she is worn by her oppositional child and is showing signs of negativity and opposition to anything we could throw out of our bag of tricks. This mom needs a break. Unfortunately, the situation is that her daughter will never be able to see her father again. The mother is on her own. His side of the family has disowned them, not being able to accept what the father did to force it. Guilt? Maybe. They knew. But this mom has no help. She shoulders the guilt of the child's problems and all the responsibility to raise her.

When I returned to the office, I got caught up on on my cases, reading notes and talking to co-therapists. I entered notes on the last two cases I saw and did further research on issues arising in one of the cases I share with my supervisor. The mother of two children we are working with is trying to get custody of her grandchildren. Her daughter is homeless and had the children taken away. The children were staying with their great-aunt. Her sister (our client) called IIU and reported that it was not a good home for the children. That is being investigated as well. Relative foster care is the preferred situation for the county in removing children from their parents. Not only is it less traumatizing on the children but if you follow the money (as in all government run programs) you will see it is cheaper than regular foster care. I am not sure how they will handle this, because our client has her own issues that don't make her a shining candidate. Does the county find a good home for the children in regular foster care? or someplace with family that is the lessor of two evils? What indeed is best for the children? We will never know.

I was showing my supervisor the information that I found on the case and looked up and realized that I was running late. I had 10 minutes to run through my mouse maze and drive to the next client. In city hall, I had just finished my long underground incline run and had made it to the elevators. The bell dinged and both doors were open. I took the one that was indicated to be going down. I missed the small sign indicating why I might not want to take that elevator and proceeded to trip over the bottom of the elevator that was 4 or 5 inches above floor level. Apparently the elevator was out of order. Usually when this is the case, they have the bold black and yellow "do not cross" tape across the elevator. My knees smacked hard on the bottom of the elevator and I cried, "Ouch!" instead of the profanity on the tip of my tongue. It just so happened on that day there were other people around. Two men who ran to the other elevator and held it for me, but they had already made sure that they pressed "4" before I got in. I was going to "G". Nice. I got to ride up to the 4th floor with them. Oh, by the way guys, I'm fine thanks for asking - NOT!

I wanted to call my boss and cancel so I could just go home and crawl in bed. I hit hard and could feel the knees swelling already. I was stiff. I was sore in all the once-in-awhile ache places as well. Back came the stiff neck, the lower back, the rotator cuff... I had really jarred myself. Years ago in the parking lot at HTI, I slipped on ice and fell hard onto my knees. I had to go into the dr. that time and found that I had water on the knee - Yep, the bucket in the OPERATION game. Ever since then, I haven't been able to walk on hands and knees or kneel on hard surfaces. Not that I do that alot, but you know...

I got to the client's house and my boss was already at the door. Usually I beat her there. When I got there, the door was open and apparently our client was on her way out. Cancellation, I hoped? Nope. We were to wait for her as she drove her son to his thing. great. So, as we sat there with the client, my knees continued to swell. When I stood, I could hardly bend them.

The night was not over yet. I still had to get my glasses fixed (I am blind without them), go to the grocery store, stop at the bank, and pick up prescriptions. Needless to say, none of these simple activities could be all that simple. I stood and waited at each place. After the treatment from the guys at the elevator, I wasn't feeling particularly charitable toward my fellow human being. I have to be true to myself, though, and helped the checker lift the microwave in the cart ahead of me so she could scan the bar code and pick up the grapefruit that rolled beyond the produce guys reach. Damn.