New therapist? Birthday in 2019 Amazing Stories!

Guys, this is probably going to be a long entry, but my brain is finally clear enough that I think I can make it all the way through everything I want to say without emotional disaster.

Friday, I received a bombshell from the place I was going to for therapy. They called me, I of course missed the call, and then found an e-mail from them stating that my therapist was no longer with them effective last week and that it was really sudden and unexpected and that she got a job elsewhere. They of course didn’t tell me where “elsewhere” was. She never even HINTED or DISCUSSED with me that she was looking for a job elsewhere. I was supposed to have an appointment with her today; my last appointment with her was last month and she never brought it up. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you’ll remembered I originally started seeing her at the clinic I go to for my primary healthcare needs and then “moved” with her when she started at this last place (after taking a 3 month break!)

So, that rocked my world on Friday, and thank goodness I have my own office at work with a door, so I was able to shun my emotions off from the world and suffer in privacy.

Friday night I discovered that she HAD tried reaching out via e-mail the day before (Thursday) to fill me in on her leaving/moving, but it was from a new e-mail address that Yahoo decided to send to my Spam folder. That helped a tiny bit to at least still have an open communication line with her. She stated that she knew it was an abrupt change, but it was one she needed to do “for herself and her future”. Fine, I get it, but I REALLY would have appreciated the opportunity to discuss this with her in person and get a freaking warning. I had no idea that my March appointment would probably be the last time I ever see her.

I replied to her e-mail as nicely as I possibly could because I was still interested in her new place and wanted to know if she could give me details on that (while I simultaneously wondered if it was even worth following her to a new place after this emotional turmoil). Apparently its telehealth only, so if I did want to “see” her, it would be video-conferencing appointments only. I also don’t know her exact start date and how much that costs. She said she expected to start within the next week or two and she would get back to me on pricing. She also gave me a few group practices/referrals for me to check out if that was the direction I wanted to go.

I did find one therapist from the Psychology Today website (not from her referrals list) that I called this morning. I was 100% expecting to get her voicemail, but I’m pretty sure she put her personal phone on the site because she answered with a confused sounding “Hello?” which made my anxiety go through the roof. I could barely talk at first. Legit. I finally stumbled my way through the conversation, and I have an appointment with her at 6:30 Thursday evening.

I e-mailed my therapist back and told her that I was still interested on more details about her new place, but that for now, I have an appointment on Thursday with someone else because I really need someone to talk to in person to process through this shock since I was never given the chance to do so with her. I hope she takes that to heart. I hope she’s slightly nervous about my throwing her abrupt leaving without no warning methods under the bus with this new person. I legit almost started crying while making this new appointment today.

BUT that is that. My birthday was yesterday, Monday. took the day off from work and went to my happy place: the mountains to go skiing! I could have went Saturday or Sunday, but when given the opportunity to have a reasonable excuse to take a 3 day weekend, one must grab it. Plus, Saturday & Sunday I didn’t really feel like “doing life”. I think the only reason I actually made it to the ski hill on Monday is because I had already pre-purchased my life ticket online (they are cheaper if you purchase them in advance, I saved $13 by buying it online). Once I was there though, the snow and mountain therapy did wonders and it was definitely worth taking the PTO hours off work. Pictures are on FB. I’ll add you if you want to be added. This entry is long enough.