Panda32
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Pennsylvania
My husband sees his kids only every other weekend. For the longest time he has been saying that one of his teens (let's call him Jimmy), doesn't eat anything but bread to Mom but Mom didn't seem to see it as an issue. Two months ago, she told my husband that she "decided" to take him to the doctor because "something is not right". The pediatrician said that, because of his weight, he should be hospitalized. For some reason the doctor decided to give Jimmy a chance and told him to see a nutritionist and go back in 2 months for a follow up. We went to the nutritionist and she just told him that he can eat what he wants (WTF!) but he has to eat more, and add some protein bars and shakes too. No vitamins, nothing. We have one section of the pantry in our house specially packed with different protein bars, protein powder, Boost Plus, nuts, cheese, etc. I added a few things the nutritionist suggested (I'm glad I was taking notes during our meeting). Jimmy refuses to eat any of that, Mom didn't take Jimmy to a follow up and I asked Jimmy 2 weeks ago how much weight he gained and he said 4 pounds after 1 month 1/2. His goal was to gain 30 lbs. Jimmy is angry all the time and he is getting worse, extremely agressive. He had a bad fight with his younger brother a while back and when the doctor asked if he had any mood change, the mother answered "no", even when my husband tried to mentioned that episode, Mom interrupted him and said that it was a one time thing, even though she called my husband because Jimmy threat his brother by saying he will "kill" him when nobody was watching. During our doctor appointment, we heard that Jimmy was diagnosed with tourettes (what!!) my husband didn't want to make a scene so he simply said he didn't know about it and Mom , of course, said she told him. I am pretty sure "your kid has tourettes sindrome" is not something you forget just like that. Mom works long hours so the kids are usually with the grandparents (mom's parents). We believe that Jimmy needs someone to talk to, and we believe therapy will help him. He does't have friends (according to the other siblings), he spends the entire day in his room in the dark. He doesn't want to drive or get his permit at all, (he is 16), he doesn't really spend time with us at all. To a point we thought it was just him being a teenager, but the other two are also teenagers and we can see now that there's something else going on. Mom has a new boyfriend (the third one in the last 4 years) and we are concern that he might not be happy at home or there's something bugging him. His health is our main concern and he is getting extremly skinny. Mom doesn't seem to see how severe his condition is. Can Dad talk directly to a doctor and have them follow up? does Mom gets to decide everything even when she seems to be exercising a poor judgement? What can Dad do to help Jimmy get the treatment he needs or to move things forward? Does Dad needs to wait for Mom to decide when to take him or when it is important? Is Mom's inaction in this case considered neglect?
