June 06, 2004
A Wild Ride
My son was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was around 16 years old. He was inpatient at several long-term psychiatric treatment centers for a total of almost 4 years. When he turned 16 we had him home for the day in order to celebrate his 16th birthday. Things went fine until it cam time for us to return him to the establishment he currently was at. As the time arrived to take him back he attempted to run away. My husband grabbed him by the throat as he attempted to run out the front door. I rushed to that area of the house to see what was happening. At the time Dan was into the gothic look and he wore several chains around his neck. These chains were cutting him due to the hold my husband had on him. I managed to get my husbands hands lowered to around the waist but Dan's neck was already cut and bruised. I was then able to get Dan to a point where he could sit down and talk about his feelings.
It broke my heart to know that he had to return to a place other than his home, but he was still too ill to be discharged. We also did not know that he had schizophrenia. I was able to calm Dan down by letting him express all of his feelings. We hugged and had a short cry together.
Mean while my husbands mood had turned surly and I was not looking forward to the ride back to Dans treatment center. At the time we had a 4-door sedan. Dan and I rode in the back seat as my husband drove us back to Dan's treatment center. Dan mood was quiet but sad. At one point he put his head on my shoulder and cried softly. I was heartbroken.
We were driving down a largely traveled road when I saw Dan open the door where he was sitting and he began to lift one leg out of the door. Horrified I quickly put one arm around Dan's waist and the other arm around the back of the drivers seat. I felt my body being stretched in half and I was being sucked out into the road myself. By time time Dan had both legs out of the car door I lost my grip on him and I saw him hit the pavement. My husband stopped the car and I jumped out running to where Dan lay. I checked for a pulse and was relieved that his was still strong. Dan was unconscious and having seizures. I was horrified when my husband lifted Dan up and carried him to the side of the road. My fear was that something may have happened to Dan's neck or spinal cord and that further injury could result from the way my husband moved him.
Within minutes EMS and the police were at the seen. By now Dan was having very strong seizures and I was very angry with my husband for moving him. The paramedics did their job and put Dan on a stretcher. I rode with them on the way to the hospital. Dan was still unconscious. I was asked about the cuts and bruises on Dans neck and I relayed to them how they got there.
When we arrived at the hospital Dan was immediately taken to the trauma area and I was offered something to drink and a chaplain made himself available to me. I was distraught, traumatized and terrified that my son would not live through this ordeal. They would not let me back to where Dan was being worked on. I made a few phone calls to let certain family members know what had happened and they very quickly arrived at the hospital.
Soon my husband arrived at the hospital. He was furious at Dan for letting this happen and proceeded to take his anger out on me. I was too distraught to care what his mood was. All I cared about was whether my son lived or died and whether he had suffered irreversible injuries to his neck or back.
Once the trauma team had finished working on Dan he was taken to ICU. He was in a neck brace as he had fractured several bones in his neck. It was not known that this time how serious his injuries were and if there would be any paralysis. I was at the hospital most of the night and only returned home for a very short time before coming back to the hospital.
By the next morning Dan had regained consciousness and was able to speak. He told me that he thought that even though the car was going at about 40 mph he thought he could just open the door and walk away from the car. Obviously this was not the case.
This same morning people from Children's Protective services paid us a visit and took pictures of Dans neck, which was badly bruised and cut. A certain code was put out on my husband and he was not able to enter the hospital. It didn’t really matter as my husband never once attempted to visit Dan in ICU.
Dan healed quite quickly and was returned to his place of residency. My husband was forced to enter in to counseling. If he did not do so our other children would be put into foster care.
This whole incident resulted in Dan now being diagnosed with schizophrenia. It was a bitter blow and one that took me months to come to terms with. Dan seemed to take things in stride. He now knew why he was experiencing such odd things in his young life.
Posted by Kathy on June 6, 2004 02:40 AM