Sunday, April 18, 2010

Saturday night

Didn't wake up too late and actually got a lot of stuff done around here, and still had time to sit over at Starbucks and drink two cups of coffee, have a turkey & Swiss sandwich, and read. Actually, I went to Starbucks first, after 2:00, and got home at around 5:00. The weather was nice for sitting outside -- overcast, with a gentle breeze. No sweater or jacket required.

Then I came back and watered the plants on the terrace, cleaned a bathroom (some), cleaned out the cat boxes, washed a load of clothes, fed the neighbor's cat, ran the dishwasher, scoured the kitchen sink, and did online searches and got phone numbers of companies to call re: hauling away the old TV.

I also called my friend in STL/FTL and had a long talk. His schizophrenic partner is not improving. My friend said he acts normal only 20% of the time now (i.e., the percentage keeps shrinking). The rest of time time he's either withdrawn (now he even hides, in a closet or somewhere) or is in some raucous mental conflict (with himself), which often entails breaking things. A few years ago this person had a job and/or was going to law school (he almost finished). He's since been declared totally disabled by the courts and put on permanent Social Security and SSI. (He's only 42 or 43.) My friend now takes Xanax to help stay calm and not exacerbate the ongoing conflicts and also to help him sleep. (He doesn't take a lot of it and then only twice a week.)

The partner also has three personalities now (vs. two, the new one being Chico, the Caribbean Latino -- one of his doctors recently discovered him). So there's multiple personalities on top of schizophrenia.

My friend said the guy's too far gone to do volunteer work (he can't do regular work), which I'd suggested a while back. My friend said that at this stage, nobody would want him.

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