The other day a friend said to me, “Rossa, I always tell people the truth and it may not always be what they want to hear, but you know, of course, that Chris will always have problems.” She went on to say that she does know one lady in her sixties who is managing very well on her medications and even was working. The point my friend wanted to put across was that Chris will have fewer problems if I accept the fact that he needs to be on medications.
My friend’s comment speaks volumes. She knows that Chris is currently in the hospital and had been off medications for a year. She is well intentioned, as are all the other people who have come to me recently to say that Chris needs to be on medications. The problem is, to paraphrase Professor Harold Hill, “they don’t know the territory”. They have heard that medications are needed for people with schizophrenia. They haven’t heard or experienced the other side of the debate. They don’t even know there is a debate going on.
I didn’t try to argue with my friend. I know that arguing the point would make me look like I am a mother in denial. I will just continue on my chosen path.
Yes, Chris is in the hospital. Going back into the hospital automatically means medications as the price of admission. I’m not happy about that part. However, I do not view his latest hospitalization as a failure of our holistic interventions. Nor do I see the re-emergence of his problems stemming from being off the medications. This time around the hospital is getting a better product in my son. He is communicative whereas he was almost mute the first time he was hospitalized. He is rational for the most part. He is able to express anger and pain. He is no longer overweight.
The doctors and nurses are seeing a more functional person this time around. I attribute this to the therapies undertaken over the past five years and caring enough about Chris to monitor his daily regime of vitamins and activities.
When well meaning people come to me, I thank them but just sigh and think “they don’t know the territory”.