A while back (years) we made a list of selves willing to be acknowledged with a brief description of their personalities, roles, likes etc. Each new T we start with gets a copy of it. After our first meeting with new T we sent it to her. Then we sent a list of things we still need to work on. Like fear (and Fear) panic and other things.
Yesterday we had our second appointment with her. Even without the special thing we really felt like she knows her stuff and will be a good match.
On Sunday we spilled a teapot we had just filled. We have no ability to rate when something is just a nuisance or needs immediate attention. At 8 o'clock on a Sunday night we had no option but to go to Emerg. We were treated like crap, especially by the b*tch that was working when we informed her that we were leaving having been unseen.
"Fine"
"Do you want to know my name in case you call me?"
"I know wh you are." All in that sh*tty attitude voice that some nurses get. Prior to that she had been talking with a paramedic. I didn't clue in that she was doing an intake and she snapped "Just a minute." She didn't know if I was having a heart attack.
I had told one of the other nurses with much need to explain that the burn triggered me and I had DID and what should happen if a little presents when we see the doctor. She was almost eye rolling but it has happened in the past.
We got home at 2ish and spent an hour writing a very angry letter to H. The next day we called because we felt the need to talk to someone so we were sure they comprehended what we were saying.
T was really understanding of this. Of how difficult it is to know how to scale an injury. She said that with trauma survivors there is often this huge scale labelled 'fine' like when I went a whole year with UTI and not knowing I had an issue. And she understood not knowing how bad the burn was. She said it was a good teaching opportunity. I did come home and email her saying I was tired of teaching opportunities and having to explain.
The big thing... a present! A PURPLE book filled with mandalas. She explained that they were for calming the littles down. And bigs. She was going to give us some pages but decided to give us the book complete with colouring pencils. Now tell me how happy your littles would be!
And a goodincidence. Over the past several years, probably 8-9 we have looked at Ts and others as candleholders. We have to walk the path but people come into our lives who hold candles so we can see to find our way.
She has named her private practice after.... something. The name means torch bearer. And she explained her feeling about T; pretty much in the way we explained it with our candle holders. How amazing is that?
So we wrote last T who we still miss and told her that while we do still miss her we think she did a good job in finding someone to guide us along the next part of our journey. That [new T name] is not [old T name} but that she makes a good [new T name]