Thursday, February 21, 2008

Out of orange, again.

Well, for what seems to be the zillionth :-) time Katie is out of orange. I had our call with 'S', and she is still working. She is thinking she wants to make PC III in April, but June is much more doable. But at least she is working.

Unfortunately, her wisdom teeth are really bothering her now, so I guess it is time for them to go. I had been hoping that they would wait until she got home, but we can all see that my hopes lately are pretty irrelevent to the real world :-).

I sent in my load application for another six months on Wednesday, now it is just a matter of waiting. I hate the wait. *sigh*

*smack*
Thanks you sir, may I have another?
*smack*

Friday, February 15, 2008

Three steps forward, two steps back

We had our call last night (actually Diane wasn't on it, she was still in Vegas at a convention she attended after PC II). It was good. Katie is very positive about being in Orange, and seems to be willing to start working. She has been trying this week to be very diligent about her integrity - the question for me is can/will she keep it up?

I just take some comfort in that each time she slips, she doesn't seem to slip quite as far back as she did the previous time. Kind of a three steps forward, two steps back type of thing.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

PC II

Well, we did PC II this weekend. It was a very strong, powerful seminar, and I think it did a lot of good. Unfortunately Katie was back in some of her old patterns, and these definitely came out. Specifically breaking rules, and then trying to hide the fact. Most of the things were, in her words, "Stupid little stuff" - but it was more the fact that she was trying to hide it than what she was doing.

So she was given the opportunity to show everyone there what a "come clean" looks like, but didn't do it, at least not in the large group. But she is doing it - part of it will include a full letter of all the little things.

The question is how will she handle it now? How will she deal with being back in Orange? Will she turn it around and work to get back where she was? Or will she sit.

Unfortunately, to make the next PC III she would have to be voted up a level EVERY week for the next month, and I just don't think she will. She would have to be at level 5 for four weeks for the seminar. Since you are supposed to be at level 4 for PC II that isn't that hard, but since she had dropped just before the seminar to level 2, and now is back in orange, well we will just see.

It is a bit disheartening for me, to be able to see a big difference in her, yet still find her not fully working the program.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Getting Ready for PC II

Well, I talked briefly with 'S' this afternoon. Instead of going up to get off Jeopardy on Monday, Katie instead dropped to level 2. She did vote back up to level 3 today however. But that means she won't be going to the last basketball game tomorrow, so we won't be driving the extra hour up and back to go to it. But we are still on for PC II.

'S' says that Katie has a lot of things to talk with us about - oh boy! :-)

She then called me back asking about Katie's meds. We save quite a bit (though with the insurance changes every year it is less than it was) doing mail order for meds, so they have been forwarding the scripts. Unfortunately, even though the script was dated 1/4/08 we didn't get it until this weekend, and of course we haven't gotten the new pills in yet. So they will have to go and try to get a few weeks or so - that is more wonderful news.

I do get frustrated that they seem to lose track of some of these things (I don't think it took a month to get the script here in the mail). But then, it is only money, not like that is a big deal for anybody!

But I guess using sarcasm is just hiding a bit of anger and frustration on my part.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Good / Fun call

We had our call with Katie and the therapist 'B' last night, and it was both working and fun. She is still on Jeopardy, and we discussed that. We talked a bit about emotions, and Katie was saying that she would feel something then mentally yell at herself because the feelings were irrational.

I talked about that, saying myself that ALL feelings are irrational, by definition. Emotions are not rational, they simply are. That is one of the differences between thought and feeling - feelings are never rational, though is something that we do try to be rational. It is these two factors that should be in balance - and they are both part of being human.

So we processed not that her feelings were irrational, but more of why she was having these feelings come up, especially because there is a new girl in the group who strongly reminds her of one of her old, non-working friends. I think we made some good progress there.

We then got pretty far off track (the fun part actually) just discussing some of the 'facts of life' and the fact that she is quickly approaching 18, and yes is starting to notice more things in boys (and men) (such as how certain men smell good, and some of the biology about that (and the fact the teenage boys do stink - another fact of biology (and (at least for three more weeks) I have three teenage boys, so I can vouch for that fact (my oldest turns 20 on the 19th))).

It was a good call. We are really looking forward to PC II next week, and she has no idea we are coming - even better. I'll have to get my head back in seminar mode however - haven't done that in quite a while as well.