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Journey for Mental Wellness

Julie and I started this blog hoping to chronicle our journey  either back to the farm or onto some other adventure. We hope those days will come and that we’ll have many moments of happiness and joy.  And while we will use this blog for when those things happen, I’m afraid that the first journey that needs to be taken is a journey toward mental wellness for me.

I’m not sure how “exciting” of a journey that will be for any of you to follow. I’m not even sure how much of that we’re going to be willing to share. Mental health issues are very sensitive, and there is almost always a very negative stigma associated with them.  I have many raw emotions and will have lots of shame and embarrassment to overcome.  Some of that you won’t hear about.

I know for a fact that there are things about my trauma that I won’t share.   But there are others things that I think I wouldn’t mind, like even admitting that I have PTSD, or that I’m getting mental health treatment from the VA.   Some things I think will be helpful to talk about and share because it will help me to learn to stop the pattern of avoidance and isolation.   I think I’ll need to share them in order to get better.

I also think that all of us know more people with mental health issues than we realize, and that those people are nervous to let others know.  I think that the more people learn about MH issues the more they can act with compassion toward those they know and love… maybe I’ll be able to share something that will help you understand the depression/loneliness/anxiety that your friend or family member is feeling.  Or perhaps by sharing it will give somebody else the resolve to seek help for their issues too.   Maybe some other veteran will find help instead of turning into a “22 a day” statistic (22 veterans a day commit suicide).  So I’ll share and hope for those results, as well as to show my kids that their father is doing his best to get better.

So if you are interested in that, then keep following along as we, the Jensen family, continue our journey through life, where ever that might take us.  Our first step will be to attempt to mend my broken vessel.

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Update: Insurance Meeting

Way back in December our insurance agency, USAA, told us that they wanted an ‘examination under oath’ for both Julie and I to tell them what happened.  We had already done this 2 or 3 times, but hey, whatever.   It took quite some time for USAA to find the people to facilitate this meeting here in UT.  It has been aggravating to be in limbo for so long, but that’s life I guess.

Well that meeting finally took place yesterday (April 12).   It was basically the same set of questions as we were asked after the fire in Oct by a fire investigator, and to the set we were asked by another fire investigator here in UT in early December.

The entire thing took about 4.5 hours.  About 3.5 of those were spent with me, and about an hour with Julie.   I was the last one to leave the house back in Oct and so they had all sorts of questions for me, and then only had Julie fill in holes that I didn’t know, or to verify that what I said was true.

The whole thing would have been really easy and stress free if it weren’t for the PTDS issues I have.  For months now I’ve been having major anxiety attacks and nightmares about personal safety that all center around the fire, and so trying talk about what happened was stressful because of the raw emotions that come from those attacks.  I had to excuse myself a few times to compose myself because of the emotions that come from recalling the details.   Otherwise things went fine.   Julie, as always, was a rock upon whom I could rely to help me calm my emotions and steady my thinking.   I love that woman!

One bonus of the interview this time was that the Insurance investigator (Roger) handling the claim was present.  This gave us the opportunity to talk with him in person about what their process is going to be now, and try to get an approximate time frame for a decision.  He explained to us how now they’ll go back and compare our statements, review all the information, gather more if necessary, have meetings with their legal teams, and come to some decision.

Unfortunately we couldn’t get any approximate time frame.   He wouldn’t say anything about days/weeks/months/years.   Even something as vague as “these things can take a few months” or “this almost never takes more than a year” or “hopefully we can be done quickly.”   He wouldn’t give us anything.  It will take as long as it takes, and that’s it.   So being in limbo has become a permanent status for us.

There were a disturbing revelation made to us though.   Roger led us to believe that we should brace for bad news about the decision they might make.   He said that if he had to make the decision today, he would choose to not cover the claim.   He said that that isn’t an official decision and they will obviously still go through the process, but it didn’t sound to me like there was much of a chance of them covering anything.

So we are stunned and confused.

That news makes it nearly impossible to make any plans for the future.  Not only do we not know when they’ll make a decision, but it sounds most likely that the decision will leave us impoverished, homeless,  and yet still responsible for a house debt for a house that no longer exists.   You can guess how our emotions were yesterday/last night.   I’m filled with doubt, confusion, depression, and a touch of anger AND  the emotions rubbed raw by the interview.   You’d be correct to guess I’m not doing very well.

But that’s where things stand right now.

If you have any encouragement or advice, please feel free to share below.

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Spring Break Activities

Monday

We started the week by giving the house a good cleaning. Julie then took the kids to Discovery Park in PG with her sister. They played and ran around there for about 2 hours.

When they got home and had some time to rest we headed over the the PGHS football field/track and did our Monday running exercise. Today they did 30 sets of stairs.

At 4pm, Josh and I met up with Greg Adams and went to the driving range to hit some balls. This was my first time in over 10 years to even attempt to swing a golf club. I only hit 5-6 balls. This was also Josh’s first time. He did fine.

After that we headed over to The Quarry as a family and spent 2 1/2 hours climbing their indoor rock walls. It was our first time there and I was impressed with the facilities and the family. The kids all did fantastic. Our best climbers are Kristie, Charlee, and Andrew. I was probably most impressed by Andrew, who at 5 years old, was able to go up portions of wall that gave the older kids trouble.

The kids cousin Brooklyn was dropped off to us while we were climbing and will spend the next 2 days with us.

 

Tuesday

I had three different VA appointments spread across the Salt Lake Valley, so today was Temple Square day while I did that.  We picked up Julie’s sister Jenni and her 4 kids (plus Brooklyn makes 16 of us!) as well at headed up to SLC at 8:30am.

I dropped them off and left for appointments.

 

Wednesday

Woke up early to take Josh to play a round of golf with Bro. Adams but at our tee time at 8:30 there was frost on the grass so we took a rain check for another time.  (Josh needs to play 18 holes to complete his golf merit badge.

Julie took our kids to Thanksgiving Point, along with the Watsons, Johnsons, and Grandparents.  We hit up the Curiosity Museum and boy is that place amazing.  It just went on forever.  I’m sure the kids could have happily spent several full days there instead of just the 4 or so hours we spent.  If you haven’t been there, give it a try!

 

Thursday

Julie and the kids hiked up to the “G” in Pleasant Grove.  Even Steven made this hike (and refused to be helped/carried), so what should have been about a 2 hour excursion turned into a 3.5 hour one.

It was free time after that to play with cousins or to help clean out the hot tub.

Friday

More VA appointments in SLC for me, so I dropped Julie and kids off at Temple Square again around 8:30am.   They checked out the Church History Museum and then walked down to the Gateway Mall and the Clark Planetarium.

I picked them up just a bit after noon and we stopped and had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Jensen on the way home.

Saturday

All the normal Saturday chores to do today, but maybe a bit more needed since nobody had school.

In the afternoon Julie took the two oldest to the temple while the younger kids all played with cousins.  In the evening Julie and I attended the adult session for our Stake Conference this weekend.

 

All in all it was a pretty good week.   I missed almost all the activities due to appointments or pain, but everybody else had a really good time.  There was a lot for each person to do, and none of it was very expensive, which is a big bonus for me.  I’d love to hear about what you did so I can add it to my list of options.  Share below!

 

 

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PBR riders or Rodeo clowns?

Was playing around again with some videos from last year.  Found these two gems that I remember taking.  It was a great night with good friends.  Too many people for my comfort, but I was happy to be there long enough to capture my two PBR riders in action…

So, which one is the PBR rider, and which is the rodeo clown?