OK- now I'm bored

[DCJenn]

Remember how I told you guys that after about 3 weeks of the Army Man being gone, I'd hit the wall? Well, it's happened. But at least I held out until the end of week 4! I'm tired of doing everything! (Of course, we all know that I do everything anyway- but at least he's around to occasionally change the light bulb in the overhead light I can't reach!) He does NOT do good phone and I'm tired of five minute grouchy conversations! It's a good thing we met online, because if I actually had to talk to him before we met- I'm not sure Iwouldhave gone through with it.



Luckily I've had a kind of biggish situation develop at work so I'll be working all weekend. I'm going to attempt to teach common sense. We'll see. My House Manager for my house of people with Prader-Willi Syndrome resigned so - now it's recovery mode. I've arranged with all of the parents but one to send the gang home and I've brought in all of my consultants to retrain all of the staff. We'll see. Otherwise, they can just leave and I'll do the shifts myself. At least I know what I'm doing. (Like you don't feed people with Prader-Willi Syndrome Peach Cobbler. No matter how much you want to! These guys are on 1000-1500 calories a DAY!)



Anyway- help me keep it together over the next week!!



Thanks all-



Jenn

[Phoebe]

Jenn-



Ouch! Walls hurt. Just kidding. I think you have done exceptionally well to make it through 4 weeks. I think I would have made it 10 days. You have accomplished an incredible amount during your solo time (if I remember a list you posted in another post). Could I hire you to come to Ohio? You are my hero! I should belong to procrastenators anonymous.



I would say you deserve some relaxtion before your husband returns, but I am not sure you want it. Sounds like your weekend will be busy putting out fires. Therefore, I am sending you energy to make it through.



Doing the phone thing is tough. I live with a non-phoner too. You deserve a nice long conversation! Make him take you out to dinner when he gets back or maybe cook for you.



Good luck with your work situation!



Jennifer # 605 (how many are there now?)

Wow, Jenn. I'm sorry to hear about your house manager quitting! What an incredible amount of work you have ahead of you!



When is your darling spouse returning home?



I second Jenn's comments about hiring you to come up here! I need someone to kick me in the pants and get me organized and moving.



I'm going to try and give you a call this weekend....Thomas has to work all weekend





Kris

[DCJenn]

Thanks for the support, everyone.



Emailing annoys me- I guess because we've spent so much time online over the last three years. I remember how much the "You've got mail" man would excite me in the early stages!!



He'll be back soon. That's good enough.



Kris- I'm kicking rears from 9-3 both Saturday and Sunday. I'll be home after that. It's actually a good thing that my house manager quit. She was a great person but this particualr house requires a very particular skill set and it's very hard to find. We had another incident today- one of the guys lied to us and told us that he was going on the 8:15am Greyhound. Then, he told his mother he was taking the 1:15 bus. Which, yes, would have given him 5 hours to panhandle, steal food, bum cigarettes,etc. It would have worked except that he got kicked off the bus for smoking and when we called mom to say don't come get him until later- she told us that she wasn't expecting him until later!! These guys are SOOOOO smart. (this is the same guy that had 5 pizzas delivered to his bedroom window, and who stole someone's brisket off of their grill- and then tried to sneak it in through his bedroom window.!)



and you wonder why I love my job! It literally makes me laugh 90% of the time.



Jenn

OH MY GOSH, Jenn...that is both funny and touching at the same time...does that make sense? Do they know much about what exactly goes wrong in people with Prader Wili Syndrome? It sounds absolutely fascinating...what a challenge it has to be to keep up with them...I can't even stay on my own diet...I can't imagine trying to keep a house full of people on theirs..



Kris

[DCJenn]

Oh Kris- you will now officially be sorry you asked.



P-W is a chromosomal defect, passed on from the father. There are three different 'kinds' but all with the same issues. Basically- from birth to age two they are 'floppy babies'- little muscle tone and have a very difficult time feeding as a result. Once they develop a little more the eating disorder kicks in. They are quite literally never satiated. Ever. So, it makes life hellish for the parents, especially if there are other children at home.



There are other behaviors that come along with the P-W, such as skin-picking, OCD and obviously there are some psychological concerns. (I'd be pretty grouchy if I was starving every minute of my life) Their metabolism is also about 1/3 slower than ours and the muscle tone problem continues.



I have six people who live in this home and four have mild mental retardation and two don't (pizza/brisket man does not)

It's fascinating, I'll tell you that much.



We have a very innovative program (although not without it's problems obviously!) but I'm incredibly proud of the guys and my staff. The guys have all lost on average 50 pounds since I started- and that's a little over two years ago. The sleep apnea and diabetes problems have for the most part cleared up, and the skin-picking is pretty much under control. Food stealing is going to happen, especially with new staff.



These guys will admit that they will do anything to eat, they will steal from friends and family and it's really nothing personal. I have to give credit where it's due- having the pizzas delivered to the bedroom so the staff wouldn't know was utterly brilliant.



See? Sorry you asked? (can you tell I'm a little passionate about this? It's a sickness!)



Jenn

[houseelf]

Jenn,



Have you guys tried emailing each other....maybe this would be a good thing to start doing again. I, too, live with a cave man phone grunter. It does makes distance relationships difficult.



Hang in there...you're almost there.



Kelly