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History - 1992

round February 26, 1992 Jolynne had a strange swelling around her lower lip (see other swelling).  Dr Levy told her to take 500 mg of Benadryl.  The swelling did not go down and on February 28, 1992 she was prescribed a Medrol Dosepak (Enpak).

It was in April of 1992, that the first stages became apparent. When I say apparent, I mean looking back with what we now know.

Jolynne kept complaining about de ja vu. She kept saying that we needed to do something to keep the same day from happening over and over again.  This had gone on for about two to three weeks culminating in what was later termed a psychosis.

Later, after all this first episode was over, she cried when we watched Groundhog's Day with Bill Murray because she said that was what it felt like.

The night before the "nervous breakdown" (April 25, 1992) she and I went to Garfield's in Quail Springs Mall with a friend, Jon.   After Jo and I went home that night I had to check a few things on my terminal for work. I kept hearing things from upstairs but thought only that Jo had to go to the rest room or something. When I came up to go to bed I saw the curtains moving in the guest room and went to check to see if the window had been left open. Jo jumped out from behind the bed and yelled "boo".  Then she asked when certain friends of ours were coming over for "the party".  Having no idea what she was talking about, I began to get worried.  This was around 2:00 AM on April 26, 1992.

Next a series of events happened that even I am a bit hazy on.  She kept talking about a surprise party and games that people were playing on her.  She wanted to know were I kept the bugs (listening devices) that I spied on her with.  She thought that they could be drowned out by playing all of her music boxes and ringing her bells.  She said that all men did this to their wives and that she was trying to find them and get rid of them.  At one point she locked me out of the house with the chain lock and turned on the burglar alarm.  I almost had to use a tire tool to pry the chain off the door before she let me back in.

I called her parents and they agreed to fly in and we were to pick them up at 4:00 PM. After she calmed down somewhat, we slept awhile. After they arrived and my mother came over we talked and all agreed (except Jolynne) that there was something effecting her.  I decided to take her to Presbyterian Hospital's emergency room to check her blood sugar level (she thought at the time that she was borderline hypoglycemic) to see if this could be the problem.   Her blood sugar levels seemed to be fine but while we were there her "hallucinations" worsened.  The doctors did a CAT scan and could find nothing wrong.  The doctor (Brent Rody MD) then suggested, after talking with our insurance representative, that we take her to the Oklahoma Crisis Intervention Center since we had no coverage for in-patient psychiatric care.  He filled out an initial assessment (click to view) stating that she had Acute Psychosis with Paranoid Schizophrenia.

When we arrived at the Oklahoma Crisis Intervention Center, Dr Keller examined her and said that she was suffering from a psychosis.  She was very irrational and thought that she was there for a pregnancy.  She also thought that I was going away; maybe to the military or somewhere.  Dr Keller tried to get her to take a Haldol (I am not sure of the dosage) but she refused.  She finally agreed to take it if I gave it to her; and she did.  Dr Keller said that all the beds at the Center were full and that we could take her either to St. Anthony's Hospital or to Griffin Memorial (the state hospital) in Norman.  He informed us that these two hospitals were the only ones to offer in-patient psychiatric care (which we later discovered was untrue and that most all hospitals have in-patient psychiatric care).  Due to his suggestion I opted for Griffin Memorial.  Jolynne's father asked him if his daughter was in a similar situation, would he take her to Griffin Memorial.  He said that he would take her to either place.  He stated that Griffin Memorial was just like St Anthony's but without carpet.  Since our insurance company did not provide for in-patient psychiatric care, I chose what I thought to be the best expense-wise.  I had to sign some papers stating that she was a possible threat to herself and/or others and she had to be transported in a police car.  This was due to the fact that Griffin Memorial was full and only accepting these types of patients.

We arrived at Griffin Memorial around 5:00 AM and I had to fill out the admission forms.  The next day we were able to see her at 9:00 AM. She was in worse condition than before.  Her parents and I talked with the doctors on staff (one of them being Dr Weathers).  We were able to convince the doctors that the problems could have stemmed from a fall she took when she was about five years old or possibly some neurological condition.  We were released from the thirty day holding period to take her back to Presbyterian Hospital for further tests.

I had not been fully informed of the thirty day holding period when I signed the papers stating that she was possibly harmful to herself and/or others.  I was informed that we would have to go before a judge to have them reversed.  I am not sure how we were released but I am glad that we were.

At Presbyterian Dr Abercrombie re-admitted her in the emergency room (click to view).  They ran an MRI of her head.  The MRI was normal and showed no bleeding (click view report) in the brain but Dr Abercrombie said that to make sure we could do a spinal tap.   I opted not to have this done since I had heard about bad results from spinal taps.  She has since had several.

We were moved to a private room and Dr Morgan was her doctor since Dr Levy was out of town (click to view assessment).  They did an EEG which was also normal (click view report).  During her stay here they monitored her blood sugar and no anomalies were found.  She was also visited by a psychiatrist Dr Smith and a neurologist Dr Dow (click to view) who did preliminary examinations of her.

While at Presbyterian she sang a lot of church songs and children's songs.  She wanted me there all the time and I held her hand in order to get her to go to sleep.  The whole time she was fixated on death and being pregnant.  She thought that someone she knew (mother, father, friends, etc.) had either died or was dying.  She also thought, at different times, that she was in the hospital to have a baby.  On April 29, 1992 we were discharged from Presbyterian.   Dr Levy made an assessment later based on the reports from Drs Morgan, Dow and Smith (click to view).

After we left Presbyterian I checked her into Mercy Health Center's Psychiatric Ward.  Here she saw Dr Trautman.  He called Dr Levy on May 11, 1992 to discuss the possibility that Jolynne may have cerebral palsy.  She was put on a dosage of Haldol and Zoloft (an anti-depressant) and later Cogentin (for side effects).   She could only have visitors (including family) for two hours a day.  She was agitated most of the time and several days when I went to see her she marched in place.  While at Mercy, she was psychologically evaluated by Dr Bright for which I currently have no information of the results.

She was released on May 13, 1992 and her mother came to stay with us at home.  She started seeing Dr Smith as an out-patient.

Dr Smith continued the Zoloft, Haldol and Cogentin and gradually decreased the dosage until she was completely off of everything.

Jolynne and her mother went to see the neurologist (Dr Dow) in his office on June 3, 1998 (click to view).  His findings were that she was slightly impaired in some motor skills and attributed this to the Haldol.  He also said that her slightly wide gait could very well be a mild form of cerebral palsy.

Jolynne and I went back once more to see Dr Dow on July 8, 1998 (click to view).  His finding were similar to the ones stated above.  He stated that he was leaving the Oklahoma City Clinic and that we should come back later and see Dr Matos for further evaluation and a second opinion.

On July 9, 1998, Jolynne again had some swelling on her face (see first episode).  This time around her eyes were effected.  She was again put on Benadryl.

After awhile and after finally getting off of the Haldol and Zoloft, things seemed to be more "normal."  We put off seeing Dr Matos until November 25, 1992 (click to view) because we both just wanted to put the whole thing behind us.   His findings were essentially the same as Dr Dow's but he did want to see us again about six months later to determine if there might be some significant changes.

Both of us, by the end of the year and after several consultations with Dr Smith, were under the impression that this whole episode was a psychosis brought on by stress.  I had resolved myself to not pressure Jolynne into finding a job and to not make her feel as though she needed to work.  Jolynne often had the feeling that she was not doing her part by staying at home and by now I was trying to assure her that this was okay.

We both thought, with the ordeal over with, that now would be a good time to start a family.  Jolynne stopped taking birth control pills in December.