Taggie with Susan Taney, 2004
Report from Susan Taney, Taggie's legal guardian, January 2007:
In general, Taggie is content and well--within his care plan, in his environment and with his medications. There is an overall sense of more relaxation that has been sustained for about four years and was not consistently present in the past. Taggie has had only three seizures in the past two years, and he has not attacked a staff member, even in a minor way, for six years. He frequently exhibits curiosity, initiates conversation, and is more relaxed in stores, during visits to Karmê Chöling, and in other social environments. He can stay in one place longer without becoming agitated. He "tests" his caregivers less to see who is in charge.
Taggie handles changes of environment with more ease than ever before. He has a generally stable mood as ten years sgo he suffered intense mood-cycling swings. He's sleeping more consistently, not staying up for one or two nights at a time due to agitation. He is eating very well and weighs 165 pounds. Caregivers have not had to constantly tell him to eat or feed him high-calorie, high-protein drinks to maintain his weight during the past four years, as was necessary when he weighed 104 pounds.
While by no means any indication of "a cure," these significant changes demonstrate the power on the quality of Taggie's life of a consistent, clear, personalized, slowly evolving care plan. As Jeannine Hawkins, BS, Developmental Services Supervisor, Northeast Kingdom Human Services, said in January of 2004:
I saw Taggie for the first time in many years just a few months before we met. He was walking though the parking lot of a local grocery store with one of his caretakers. I was immediately struck with how healthy he looked-at a good weight, calm and smiling. What a difference from the last time I'd seen him!
Taggie had been agitated by social stimulations back in the 1990s and yet he also responds to it positively. In more recent years, he has been brought into social situations with more delight. He may not stay long as the stimulation of large group does still cause some over stimulation, but he is always happy that he has been able to engage to some extent in these social activities.
Susan Taney, MSN, ANP, Taggie's legal guardian and his previous medical case manager, remarks about these visits:
Tag's doing well with that. The plan is to continue to bring Tag to Karmê Chöling on a regular basis, too, when the programs aren't huge. At the same time, he's a very, very sensitive person. He will respond to stimulation. He may start to get a little bit agitated. He will start to rock and show signs of the energy beginning to affect him. His caregivers will very gently bring his hand down, starting at eye level and without any words, and Tag will say, "Calm down." In the next moment, he may start again. But he can come back and stay with it. In the 1990s, Tag couldn't stay with it at all.
Ms. Taney continues:
For most of his life, Taggie could hardly hold eye contact with anyone for any amount of time, in particular women. He was very sensitive to female energy. Now I can hold eye contact with Tag for a while, which is significant. It's really interesting. It's a big change.
The psychiatric community of Vermont has also given positive feedback about how Taggie is doing. Anybody who knew Taggie when he was first in Vermont, or when he was at the Karmapa's Rumtek monastery, would recognize that there's been a marked difference in his ability to remain more relaxed.