It’s May 2017 – several days ago I tried getting in touch with mom and she wasn’t responding. No texts or calls. No activity with email or phone records. I went to her house and no answer at the door. Rang the doorbell and she finally picked up the intercom. 10 minutes later she showed up at the door and let me know. At that moment I could clearly see something was wrong.

Her eyes were beady. She was shaking. She could not walk. She could barely talk. At first I thought she had a stroke or something. She said she’s been exhausted lately. I called 911 and they sent an ambulance. Shortly before they arrived, she admitted to taking 24 xanex and 30 anti-depressants in an effort to kill herself the night before.

We went to St Lukes in Bartonsville where she stayed for 5 days while they got her back to heath. I stayed with her for part of it. She need a walker. She slept most of the time. She doesn’t have much memory of the first few days. It was very difficult to see my strong mom like this.

Because of the circumstances, they sent her to a psychiatric unit at St Lukes in Bethlehem. She didn’t want to go, but they wouldn’t give her a choice. She is currently there now as I write this. It’s been 24 hours since she arrived and I visited her. She looked better. She spoke clearer. Was able to walk again. Her spirits were better. But you could tell she had a long way to go.

She now stutters with her speech. She is thinking faster than she can get her words out. I am worried she may have done permanent damage to her body. She is also dead set on leaving within 72 hours, which is the approx window they gave her. I really hope she stays longer. She needs this time to explore herself. She is isolated from the distractions in life for the first time in probably forever. This is a chance for her to think about what happened and what, if anything, she can do to fix herself.

I really hope to see mom smile again. She deserves to be happy, and I’ll do whatever I can to help her get there. Love you mom. Stay tuned…