Suffice it to say that it is a miracle that I was not arrested right there at the pharmacy. I went up to the pharmacist and explained what had just happened, she just looked puzzled.  I’m sure I looked like the ass that wouldn’t let my injured child ease her pain. They obviously did not look at their own records. I made sure that each pharmacy had notated her file about her addiction. They were supposed to confirm each prescription with the prescribing doctor PRIOR to filling it. That didn’t happen and they heard about it from me.

After I got her back to the car, we proceeded home. She was holding her prescription bottles tightly against her chest, protecting them from me, all the while screaming obscenities at the top of her lungs.

I got her home, up the stairs and into the house. She immediately went to the kitchen and got a glass of water and began fumbling with another pill bottle trying to open it.  I saw what she was doing and walked up behind her and quickly snatched the entire bag of prescription bottles out of her hand before she could get the bottle open.  She hurled more obscenities and picked up the phone to call 911 because “I had injured her” …

When she hung up the phone, I picked it back up and dialed 911  myself. I explained to the operator what was happening and that I would be staying on the phone with her until officers arrived. While waiting on the phone, my daughter started screaming like she was in pain in the background (for the benefit of the person on the other end of the phone). I made it quite clear to the operator that I was at least 15 feet away from her and was not touching her in any way.

The officers arrived and once again, explained to me that the prescriptions were legal and that there was nothing they could do to prevent her from taking medication that she was prescribed. I explained everything to them, they still couldn’t do anything. I showed them the missing persons report, the suicide note, the commitment papers, the bags full of empty pill bottles from before, the doctor’s instructions… they still couldn’t/wouldn’t do anything.

They took me outside and told me that they indeed understood what was going on, but that their hands were tied legally and the best thing I could do would be to go down to the courthouse and file Marchman Act papers on her, have her committed involuntarily and let a judge decide on her treatment.

They did talk with my daughter and explain to her that it would be in her best interest to let me dispense while she was so heavily sedated. She agreed — until the officers left.

The officers took me aside and explained about the Marchman Act, and indicated that they felt a Baker Act (which they could do on the spot) would be denied since she would probably be considered a medical liability to any institution that cared for her at this point because of the recent surgery.  I informed them that I had just filed the paperwork for the Marchman Act.

I stayed up all night, getting her up and down to the bathroom, feeding her, watching her breathing – she put the prescriptions under her pillow so I couldn’t take them. 

It had now been 48 hours since I slept and over 24 since I’d eaten. I was exhausted mentally and physically.  I had called my mom from the hospital and explained everything to her. Unbeknownst to me, she and my sister had already packed up and were driving down from Mississippi to help me.  My daughter couldn’t get up or down without help, she was not supposed to even raise her arms, so it was like having a 24-year-old newborn baby. Thank God for family.

The next day was a blur, half awake and half asleep for me. My mom and sister arrived the next night and I was able to get a few hours of sleep uninterrupted.

I woke up the next day and realized that the Marchman Act would be useless at this point, she had just had major surgery, no judge would even consider committing her until her neck healed. She would be in the neck brace for six weeks. I needed to postpone it, much to my dismay.

I frantically called the judges assistant, inquiring what to do. She explained that I needed to send a letter to the judge requesting a postponement. I did so and promptly received confirmation that it was postponed for now.

The deputy served the paperwork for her to appear anyway – as I suspected, my daughter flipped out and repeated all of her threats. I told her that it was being cancelled.

Over the next few weeks she reconciled with her boyfriend.

Things were good, for a while…