Word: petered
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...next few years were a crazy quilt of college classes and part-time jobs from which Peter was invariably fired for erratic performance. He moved constantly, and his parents paid his overdue rent more than once to spare him from being evicted. Finally, during Christmas break in 1990, Peter's brother, James, confronted his parents and strongly suggested that Peter get a psychiatric evaluation. They were, James recalls, initially indignant--no doubt remembering the horrific treatment Emma Beale had suffered. But a few months later, the Beales brought Peter to a local hospital, where he signed himself into the psychiatric...
...Although Peter was finally getting treatment, the future seemed scarier than ever. Velma recalls one particularly poignant and lucid conversation at the hospital, in which her son wondered, "Is this it? Does this mean my life's over and I'll never do anything again?" Because Peter was an adult--and hadn't signed away his right to privacy--the hospital staff didn't tell his parents much about his condition. They had little idea what they were dealing with or what was to come...
After his release, Peter moved back home with his parents, whose vision of a blissful retirement quickly evaporated. They focused all their energy on their son, who enrolled in a day treatment center that provided him with a social outlet as well as some coping skills. Ed worked to reverse the terms of his son's discharge so that he would be eligible for veterans' health benefits and monthly disability payments. (They finally came through...
After a while, things started looking up. Ed and Velma began to see that Peter's prospects were not as bleak as they had feared. They learned to recognize the cyclical nature of schizophrenia; they noticed that Peter would have good days and bad days, and that his ups and downs were not necessarily related to how much medication he was taking. They became involved with mental-health groups, particularly the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Today Ed and Velma lead courses teaching other families how to cope when a loved one is found to have a mental illness...
...Peter went on to earn a two-year degree in computer programming. He made friends, started dating, and in May 2000 his son, Dana, was born. It quickly became clear that neither Peter nor Dana's mother was able to take care of a child, and Velma and Ed once again stepped in and agreed to raise the boy. "One never knows when the next blessing will appear, does one?" Ed wrote in a Christmas letter that year to family and friends...