Thursday, November 29, 2007

Plans and worries

Wow. We had a great call with 'A' tonight. Katie is, for once, doing really, really well. She presented her goals for level 5 in group today, but forgot one so has to do it again. She has been on manor service, and is apparently working very well on it.

And we have our pass scheduled! Not only that, but got fairly good rates on a direct flight to vegas, so it will make the travel that much less stressful. I didn't realize that they don't tell the girls about ANY passes until the last minute, so it will be a slight challenge not to mention anything for the next three weeks. Especially when we have our phone call with her the night before we see her!

The only problem is that all our shopping will have to be done before we leave Ohio, as we won't get home until 10:30 on Christmas Eve. But that is not a bad problem to have.

It looks like we have our choice (given that Katies makes level 5) of going to PC II or PC III in February (these are the new ones - PC II is all new, and PC III replaces the old PC II (and thus PC IV is now graduation)). The weekend for PC II is better for us, but it concerns me that she wouldn't have time left to graduate if we did that (assuming things go well). We just don't have the finances to keep her there longer than 3 years total, and she does turn 18 in July. So we should probably do PCIII in Feb, which could allow her to graduate in June and allow for some slippage before she runs out of time and we run out of money.

Of course, all this assumes that she has truly turned a corner, and won't drop severely (and stay there) yet again. That is what happened the last two times we saw her (for PC I and then for a therapy visit). It is extremely hard to not get excited and get my hopes up.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Celebrations and Frustrations

We had a very good call with Katie and 'B' tonight - she made Level 4 today!!!! Great news, and she seems to be really working things now.

But I'm facing some personal frustrations - just trying to figure out when we can do a pass to see her now, with the holidays and everything - and nearly every weekend in December is already booked with things that either Diane or I can't change.

And the she is also talking about PC2, which is also great news - except for the weekend when it is scheduled is also something very big for us here. (Our band boosters are bringing in the Comedian Heywood Banks that weekend for a concert, and we are both on the board).
I'm frustrated that everything always seems to be at the last minute, and it feels like any time that cost is mentioned then I just hear about not being a +5 and that if I was then it wouldn't matter.

Part of me feels like when she was home over two years ago, and we would have to drop everything to deal with her.

I also feel frustrated because I feel it is as important for Diane to be there as it is for me, as they have so much more issues to work out between them. And I feel that Diane is apprehensive, and maybe even reluctant, about going out there, when I want her to be more enthusiastic.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Learning Patience

We had a good call with 'A' last night. Katie got into the vote up book for level 4, however she (again) got too many categories in the week to go up. but she is working harder now than she has before, and seems to be handling things much better.

So we continue to wait for that pass to come. 'A' did say that she expects her to make it to level four by the end of the month, so instead of mailing off her christmas presents we may give them to 'A' in person! But once again that is getting ahead of the game, and one thing Katie said is that she is learning patience - as are we.

One concern I have is about her long term goals, and just how viable they are. Right now she is so stubborn about being a vet, but is still struggling with 9th grade Algebra. I've been a bit worried about her school progress, though that isn't the primary goal here. She has to finish her 9th grade Algebra still, then 10th grade Geometry and she is almost done with 10th grade Biology, and is taking some 11th grade courses. Ideally she would complete all the 11th grade work by the time she left, but who knows now.

However to get into vetrinary school you need strong math skills - and she just doesn't have that. She has so much talent in art and writing, but can't seem to get the idea of working to her strengths into her head. I hate to see her set herself up for disappointment.

Friday, November 09, 2007

First the good news . . .

We had our therapy call with Katie and 'B' last night. It was a pretty good, working call. First the good news - Katie got support from the group for level 4! However she was not able to go to the high level meeting to get voted up there, apparently she just crossed the Category line (total number) about an hour before the meeting. But she is one step closer - maybe next week.
She started talking about all the feelings she had coming up, of not being worthy and suicide etc. As we explored this, she started talking a little about the basketball team.

I'm still confused about this, but apparently she didn't make the regular team, but she didn't get cut either. She is staying on as the manager, and is basically an alternate for other girls who, for whatever reason, don't have their level to play (level 3 for home games, level 4 for away). As we talked about this, it became pretty clear that she was pretty upset about not really making the team. A lot of it tied in to her weight and tying in her self acceptance to being picked on the team.

So something she was just barely mentioning was hiding a significant issue, and we worked on it a bit. I think we made some progress there.

One other interesting point - she did not know that her poem was in the newsletter! That helped to bring things into perspective - where we each have our own strengths and weaknesses, and while she will never be a star athlete (yes, unfortunately she most likely inherited my amazing *cough* athletic prowess (I was the kid in Junior High who was on the third string of the non-tournament team - and never scored a single basket all season in a game)).

What is a bit frustrating for me is that she can't seem to accept her strengths, and seems to always want to focus on her weaknesses. Things like basketball and being a vet (which requires a lot of math and science, the two subjects she struggles the most in), instead of pursuing her creative (i.e. writing) talents. We even had a discussion with A & B about this a while back, and they talked to all the girls about working on the things they are good at, rather than fighting to do the things they don't have natural aptitudes for.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Not much change

We talked with 'A' yesterday, and things are pretty much the same. Katie did not go to vote up for level 4 this past week, she says she is going to next week, but we'll see. It is all about what she does anymore, not what she says.

I just found, via the schools support BBS, that they have been putting out a newsletter for the past year - I never knew this before. On checking these - Katie was Student Leader of the Month back in June/July (they only did one that month) for her group - I didn't know that. Plus she has a poem in the October issue - I didn't know that either.

And they have changed the seminars from 3 PC (Parent / Child) seminars to 4 - so we may be eligible for another one any time now - I sent an email to 'A' to check on what was going on with this. I'm a little frustrated and not finding out more of this already, but I'm getting over it.