Out of the ward, down the aisle
A
WEDDING AND HOSPITALIZATIONS
Chapter 3
In early 2012, Zac stopped taking clozapine,
an antipsychotic with many unpleasant side effects. In April, he
announced, "I'm crippled," and slipped into bed in the middle of
the day. He complained of pulverized ankles, a brain tumor and a broken back.
"I'll get up when I'm healed," he told Laura.
He virtually quit eating, because he didn't
trust anyone to bring him uncontaminated food, and drinking, because the water
supply was poisoned. He used the toilet only if Laura helped him there.
He smelled. He refused to change clothes. His
dehydrated lips were crusty and cracked. "I sat by his bed, putting ice
chips in his mouth and wiping his face, begging him, 'Make a good decision for
yourself. See a doctor,'" Laura recalls. But he was 20. She couldn't make
him.
Two weeks later, she slipped out to the
courthouse to appear before a judge, who ordered Zac hospitalized for
evaluation. Police came and escorted him — shaking, weak, filthy — into a squad
car.
Laura Pogliano waits for her son, Zac, outside of
his apartment in May.
(Photo: Eileen Blass, USA TODAY)
But he was not treated for another 13 days.
There were two hearings at the hospital, one to determine if Zac was competent
to make decisions (no) and the other to determine if he was sick enough to be
forcibly treated (yes).
Zac spent three months in the hospital.
Laura's inability during that time to help plan Leah's wedding epitomized what
the mother calls "the sick kid syndrome. He gets all the attention.'' (Two
years later, on the day Leah went into labor, Laura was rushing Zac to the
hospital.)
In July, Zac was released. He was able to put
on a suit and walk his sister down the aisle. He seemed fine.
In August he moved with friends into an
apartment.
In October he stopped talking olanzapine, a
powerful antipsychotic that he said was making it hard to swallow.
In November, claiming he had spiders in his
throat and stomach, he was readmitted to the Johns Hopkins schizophrenia unit.
It was his 10th hospitalization.
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