Finally, our Appointment

We finally arrived to the day of Penelope's appointment. I was looking forward to this because I hope to get answers as to where we go from here. I didn't necessarily get any answers but the person we met with totally understood our situation and knows allll about Reactive Attachment Disorder. I gave her in chronological order Penelope's history up to when she abused her cousins - explaining why we were there. Without saying too much, she said that she has a personal experience very similar to mine. She made statements that indicated she has a daughter that has RAD and so on. After taking all this information and talking about what type of services I am looking for, she said the next step is for her to write a report and they have a team of people that track down the appropriate resources. Once they do that, I will receive a letter in the mail. She also said she has some resources in mind from her personal experiences and will be giving me a call. She wants to talk to me about our situation. It was really nice to talk to someone like the people I talk to on here but in person. I've never met anyone who is in our situation.
So even though we left that appointment without direction, it felt very productive which in turn really made me feel better about things.
I was able to get George to find out from Harriet her family mental history - to finally find out what she was diagnosed with as to why she is on disability. She says she has bi-polar disorder - even though she has denied that in the past. I don't know her well enough to know if that fits all her issues, I just know she is always looking for happiness and runs away to find it. Anyway, I guess it's possible Penelope has it as well. She definitely has started showing symptoms of it. I'm sure it will be part of our journey.
I've been talking to George a bit recently. He has his own trials and tribulations that I get pulled into. He is currently off work due to a work-related injury and is what is called "temporary" which means still healing, who knows if he can return to work in his previous position. In Ohio, its unlawful to terminate an employee who is in his situation. Well, his employer doesn't want to pay for Penelope to have insurance anymore, so they terminated George. They specifically said so. I recorded it (because I'm just that smart). Because George is only receiving WC benefits, which are pretty low, he can't afford to pay for his benefits and signed a form saying he would repay once he returned to work. But his employer didn't want to continue to pay "for nothing" meaning for a zero valued employee. I felt that this was unlawful but we researched it and was told otherwise - so my experience was more policy and practice than law. So they said they were just going to COBRA the insurance - which means George would have to pay 102% of it instead of just the employee portion or he loses coverage. But they didn't said anything about termination. But with the health plan they have, in order to COBRA the insurance, they have to terminate George. Okay, that's more than what anyone in this forum wants to know about this type of thing - but it relates to the work I do (did) and it burns my butt when employers do this kind of thing. The reason it's worth talking about here is how it affects Penelope and I. Penelope takes 4 different medications - ADHD meds, two mood stabilizers and a anti-depressant with a sedative effect. Well, all 4 meds cost over $1,400/month without coverage. Her coverage was inactivated effective 12/31/09. I filled 2 of her prescriptions a week before I needed to, on 12/31 so I'd have 5 weeks of meds. Another one that I filled at the same time I was out so I had 4 weeks of that one. The last one, the ADHD medication, you can't refill until you need it. So that one came due two weeks ago and was $180. So I paid that - holding on to the receipt so I can get a refund when the insurance is activated retroactively. Her next med, one of of the mood stabilizers ran out on 1/30. I tried to fill it and it's over $200. I can't pay it. So she is no longer on that medication. I counted her other mood stabilizer tonight and she has two days left. That one is going to be close to $1,000. We turned around the COBRA enrollment form with a check the day it showed up in the mail. Needless to say, we filed for Medicaid for Penelope but they are backlogged due to the economy. It's been almost two months and we still haven't heard anything besides "Still processing." I've spoken to the COBRA enrollment people every day for the last few business days. I keep getting the run around. They received the form and check on the 19th but they need additional information from the employer and have made multiple requests and haven't received anything yet and "give us a few more days." We don't have a few more days people! But we found out that because he should have been terminated, his insurance shouldn't have been COBRA'd and he should still be getting coverage as an employee and not having to pay all of it. UGH! I'm so anti-litigious but these people are really pushing my limits. I'm giving them until tomorrow regarding the meds, and we are giving them until the end of the week regarding the employment issue. We have an attorneys name and contact info to move forward legally. I'm just hoping it resolves without that.
Good news (for a change). I got a phone call to set up an interview for a very lucrative management position. I could possibly save my house with this job! Keep your fingers crossed! I told my mom she will happy to know that I now will get my hair cut. I haven't had my hair cut in a looooooong time. August 2008 I believe. It's looooooong.