PDA

View Full Version : Lost



Charmbolt
February 5th, 2011, 12:10 PM
:sniffsnif

I am feeling lost, really not sure where I need to be or what I should be doing at this point.

For the past few years life had been different, I was married, owned a townhouse, but the marriage wasn't a good one and although he never physically hurt me I was beat down. I hid from my marriage and played World of Warcraft day in and out to get myself by. I never imagined that I would ever be free for one or that anyone else could love me. I played the game for well over a year and ended up meeting the love I had never imagined. At first we were just friends, content to see each other and joke around, then supportive as he was in a bad marriage also, a while later we both wanted more and we left our abusive spouses to be together. At first it was so fresh, beautiful and we were so happy it was like we robbed a bank and got away with it every time we could be together. The relationship itself is amazing, we have a unique acceptance of each other, a love that is undying, and all of the doting I have ever dreamt about. He is good to me in every way he can be, and my problems aren't a lack of effort for the most part.

A few months of being together and then things started to compound and become extremely challenging,... his son whom he did not have more than weekends at the time was being abused by his mother. We were together in April 2009 and then in June we got protective custody of his little one. There was a beautiful amount of time where a no contact order was in place between Robby's mother and ourselves and Robby. During that time we worked our hardest to help Robby surpass his trauma, had him in therapy, enrolled him in pre-k which i attended with him nearly every day and I fully accepted him as my own and he me. I got him potty trained at the age of 4 as this was a tough issue for him, he was well on his way to being a much more stable and happy boy. Supervised by her mother, Robby's mom had visitation on weekends starting in October. We got custody of him in February of that year, with supervised visitation from his mother every Sunday from 9-6. From October until now visitation every weekend has been absolute hell, I never know what to expect and often spend all day Sunday feeling sick with nervousness. Nearly all of the progress made in Robby was lost right away, he reverted back to acting like an early three year old, potty issues, not sleeping, constant nervousness, severe anger and aggression issues. All of which did not go away until April of 2010 when his therapist recommend we start medications for sleeping and to better focus him, they felt he may be adhd on top of the abuse. The medications seem to help him with the aggression, impulsivity, sleep issues, we have also helped him through his potty issues although he still seems to pee his pants from time to time. Robby is now 5 years old and often times after a visit from his mother he regresses and acts like an early 3. This is hard enough to deal with,... as he is on a huge roller coaster every week and his moods can change faster than someone can drop a dime. Past two weeks I am not sure if Robby was possibly abused again as the grandmother allows her daughter to have unsupervised naps, which we cannot prove or do anything about, or if Robby was re triggered to remember abuse prior and brainwashed while he was on his visit but his world was turned absolutely upside down. He began rejecting me 100% and singing praise for his abusive birth mother, acting like a 3 again, not able to function well at all, can't dress himself, can't identify or express his feelings, completely emotionally boxed in, wanting to touch sexually and get in everyones personal space and invade their boundaries, just like he was when we first got protective care of him. Therapeutically nor legally there is nothing we can do at this point until we can prove the possible abuse. Robby is also going to be getting tested for autism,...he has a few characteristic which resemble the struggles that a very high functioning autistic child may have.

Aside from this,.... we struggle financially. Allen was employed via military but had decided not to re up when his time came because of our family life needing too much attention, presently he is on unemployment making about the same as he made while employed. I am not legal to work in the states,... I am still processing my divorce from my first husband and so cannot yet marry Allen, since I have over stayed my passport chances are applying for costly visas won't do me much good. We got lucky and moved into a house which is being foreclosed upon, which has allowed us to pay off debts...which Allen had a lot of from his previous years. I didn't have any debts until I was in need of emergency surgery in August to remove my gallbladder, I had my last stone sink down into the bottom of my bile duct and cause a blockage that was killing me slowly. I incurred thousands of dollars of debt for this, as I had no health coverage what so ever. We need to move out of the house in March, but we haven't been able to set aside a dime and I have no idea how we will ever afford rent of any place we find.

The stresses are countless.....the transition of my life has been a hard one.

At the point I am feeling like I can do no more here,...I cannot bare to watch Robby suffer, can't take the roller coaster, it is making me sick to the point that I cannot function, am taking on pounds like no tomorrow and that is making things even worse.

My choice is a hard one because dear friends we have made with the attorney whom helped us fight for custody of Robby had offered something amazing, which is to 1 help with my divorce, 2 pay for me to see an immigration attorney, 3 teach me how to drive so that I can be more able to work and support myself instead of being a stay at home mom for Robby. I am completely lost on whether or not I should stick it out and continue hoping that things will become 'normal' finally or if this is yet another silly dream that I should walk away from,... go home to my parents in Canada, work and pay my debts and think about what I really want to do with my life.

The pain of leaving Robby will be unbearable, and the loss of how Allen and I first were when I got here even more so. I have been so weighed down by all of our stresses that I no longer even know how I feel about Allen anymore.

I can't stand the thought of leaving, but I don't want to stay... I am so lost and willing to listen and consider any input given.

(Sorry for the novel)

Charmbolt
February 5th, 2011, 12:27 PM
Okay,.. this was a little too rose colored with Allen, for the most part all of the pushing for better situations has been primarily done by me. Allen wasn't aware of his huge debts that had been sitting for many years, wasn't aware how life for Robby would be, but at the same time I don't feel he is active enough in setting things right.

Sharizzy
February 5th, 2011, 02:17 PM
Have you tried talking to Allen about this?

Charmbolt
February 5th, 2011, 03:37 PM
A few times,...and he in the past made a feeble attempt a fixing things but within a week or two would be back to the same old thing. This time he swears he understands now and is doing it for the right reason and that this time he is doing this for himself, im skeptical and want to believe but don't want to keep holding out for something that won't happen.

My parents made a suggestion about an hour ago and they asked if I really wanted to work it out, said they could come down here and spend some time with us, show Allen when to step up and take care of things and teach me when to let him do so. I think this solution is best because Im torn about leaving the family we have built. This way I won't feel like I am doing everything all the time or having to constantly ask him for help.

Proteus
February 5th, 2011, 04:47 PM
Wow Charmbolt what a tough spot you are in.

That attorney...how confident are you that he could deliver? You must be exhausted with all that's going on but if you feel like you could hold on long enough to fight it out with that attorney's assistance and the support of your parents it sounds like things could improve. On the other hand if regardless of assistance the problems you face are becoming overwhelming then your ability to help may be compromised. In that case the best you might be able to do is to take yourself out of the equation and heal/recover from what's happened as best you can.

I'm...disappointed that Robby's mother has been granted visitation rights. How is that possible? From your description contact with his mother is a clear detriment to his mental health and maturity so I'm also annoyed that the therapist recommended medication. Isn't it possible to stop his mother having access?

Charmbolt
February 5th, 2011, 08:56 PM
Proteus, you have no idea how disappointed we were as well and how sad we are that it continues, sadly Oregon is a state that does it's hardest to keep parents in children's lives. Even if we went back into court and filed contempt for the many things she has not followed through with, ei: child support or some of the co parenting agreements, the only thing we may have a chance of changing is the supervisor....I was horrified that she was allowed her mother vs: someone neutral! Honestly I think that if she weren't a woman she would have been dealt with in a much more severe manner, hate to say it but I feel a lot of things would be different had this been a man in the same position.

We have thought about moving away,... well more like dreamt of it, sadly it would only mean a change and she would have like two weeks in the summer or something, the absolute last thing we want at this point are over nights, she can mess him up with a phone call, which she has two times a week on top of visitation, so i can't stand to think about what an over night could do to him.

We need one of two things to happen we were advised, one either Robby verbalizes the abuse, which he can't do as he for one can't even convey how he feels from one moment to the next but also he is protective and loyal to his bio mom, or two wait till she messes up big, but that could mean her taking him and running off or damaging him even further....neither of which I want to see ever.

We were not happy about medicating Robby but at the same time he could not continue the way he was,... at least now he sleeps at night, still has the nightmares, no more bed wetting, but sleeps through the worst and gets rested, otherwise he would be anxious all the time, very angry, extremely reactive and impulsive.

Out of everything I think I am most disappointed with DHS, we had been calling them before any of the more serious damage was done to him, before the sex offenders were living there, whilst there was a lot of partying and Robby would go home to his mom from a weekend with us to clean up bottles of beer, but they refused to even go look, said drinking isn't excessive partying. Even more so disappointed that when they removed him from the home that and set up an appointment with the safe center to have a physical exam for him that it took over a month and all of his bruises were healed and gone. They found a 'highly suspicious scar' on his anus but could not say it was from sexual abuse, which i believe there was as when we got home that night from the exam he got on all fours and pointed to his bum and told my mom that someone owied him there. We later got abuse counselling from them and was even more disappointed that they could do nothing despite seeing and hearing about how much he regresses. And when she had an over night Christmas before last and he said that she touched his privates to 'feel me better' and then recanted they also did nothing.

I am incredibly exhausted,... and I have been through some bad stuff because I put my own needs on the back burner to try and make Robby and Allen's lives better, it literally almost killed me last August. On the bright side,... I have been keeping notes since I got here....nearly two years now and there are many times noted of inappropriate actions by Robby's mom and behaviors that Robby has exhibited, as well as our actions to try to help him through it all.

My parents will help a lot and are always supportive no matter whether or not they agree,... I think first things first Allen will have to file bankruptcy, which is sad as we are both only 27 years old. I think that my parents will help us determine some pretty good boundaries,. and at the worst I tried...at least then I can put the what if game to bed.

Proteus
February 8th, 2011, 04:22 PM
The situation you're in is one of the most excruciating I've heard. Robby's mother, OMG, people like that actually make me believe in evil.

Wildhope
February 9th, 2011, 02:26 AM
I'm so sorry for the situation you are in. I would definitely see if DHS would appoint a neutral party to supervise the visitations. It would also probably not hurt to have his abuse councilor write letters documenting his emotional state after visits to at least be put on file with the state.

Charmbolt
February 10th, 2011, 12:10 PM
DHS has made it clear that since we have custody they feel he is in safe hands, their resources are too limited.

For now I have decided to stay on a few conditions,. the first being that Allen really needs to work out his insecurities, as they drive me up the wall. The second being he needs to get off unemployment and go back to working, possibly needs to work two jobs so we can get his finances and previous bad choices cleared up without him having to file for bankruptcy.

Although I am staying I am going to pull back a bit, for my well being I think this would be best. Instead of always protecting everyone I am going to start letting them answer their own questions, it is unfair for me to expect myself to be able to solve everyones problems for them, and I know this now.

We had a great friends whom is really helping a lot, the attorney that helped us get custody to begin with is working hard to help me get my situation under wraps, soon I will go for my license, finish my divorce from my previous marriage, work on my citizenship so then I can work also and no longer be a stay at home mom.

Thank you guys for hearing me out in my time of need, it is really appreciated. At first things are always confusing, always want to be sure I am not being too harsh on others, but often end up putting myself aside which is no longer acceptable.

Charmbolt
February 18th, 2011, 12:36 PM
After everything,...I have decided to leave, to do what hurts but will be best for me.

While trying to give it another shot I feel my heart was perhaps already closed a bit or my mind was just tiered of trying to see the bright side of things because all I could seem to do was to continue pointing out things that aren't right to myself.

I am leaving Sunday, flying back to Quebec Canada to be with my parents until I am on my own feet again.

Thank you for the ears, opinions, and help :)

Wildhope
February 19th, 2011, 09:03 AM
BIG hugs! I wish you all the best Charmbolt. :hugz:

Charmbolt
February 20th, 2011, 09:08 PM
Thank you.

After everything, all the stress, heart breaking good byes I am still here. My flight was cancelled since Minneapolis got a blizzard, I wont be flying out till Tuesday.