About our Daughter

I am mother to four wonderful daughters, ages 17, 19, 21, and 23, and wife to the greatest husband on earth. God has given us a special child to raise one who was diagnosed with early-onset bipolar disorder at the age of seven, though she showed signs of it from the age of fifteen months. She also has ADHD, Sensory Integration Disorder (sensory seeking), Dyslexia, and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder-NOS, all typical comorbidities for a bipolar child. In spite of the trials, she enjoys lacrosse, running (finished her first marathon in October of 2014!), and reading and writing her own books. I will share with you the many joys and sorrows we have faced and will face in the future with the hope that you may find better understanding about this mental illness caused by both chemical and structural abnormalities in the brain. I desire that you will be encouraged by this blog if you are also dealing with a bipolar child. Thank you for reading and sharing in our journey.

How Did You Know She Was Bipolar So Young?

I wrote a long explanation of how we came to this bipolar diagnosis in a child so young under my post of March 19th of 2009. If your child or a child you know bears similarities, please seek out a good psychiatrist and don't wait for "things to get better." Often they will simply get worse, and the longer a child is unmedicated, the more damage their brain can accrue. Early diagnoses and treatment are key to providing these children with a chance at a successful life later as a teen and an adult.
Never change, start or stop a medication without the approval of your child's physician!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

A Possible Homecoming Date

We talked this morning with Brandi, Caroline's psychologist at Meridell Achievement Center. She said that she felt it was time to schedule a departure date for her, that she had really accomplished her treatment goals there. We suspected that she was going to tell us that, so it came as no surprise. However, instead of coming home at the end of August, say the last weekend, she is likely coming home in two weeks, on the 21st! The reason is that the school she will most likely be attending starts up September 1st, not September 8th, as I had thought. We feel she needs to have at least a week at home to adjust to being here again before starting up school. The school at Meridell starts back up in full swing August 20th, so we figured that my husband would fly out on the 20th and have a final meeting with Brandi, and fly back with Caroline on the 21st.

I was expecting about three or four more weeks before she came back, or more, so now we have to hustle and finish painting her room! And the other kids will need time to process this new information and prepare for her homecoming too.

I am sure when Caroline finds out on Tuesday about her impending departure, she will be over the moon.

2 comments:

domandkat said...

YEAH!!!!!!!!

Red said...

How very exciting! We're praying for the transitions.