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!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Another Camp Cancelled, Really

Today we found out that this week's teen camp at a local Christian school got canceled for lack of numbers. They do have more kids signed up for a camp in a few weeks, so we have switched Caroline to that one in July. Bummer, though. The economy must be affecting the abilities of many people to send their kids to camp this year, as it did last year. Nothing is cheap it seems. The cheapest camps often are the ones that turn out to be not so great in our own past experience. My sister told me about one that is free, but I haven't investigated yet. It isn't for kids with special needs, necessarily.

Our church runs a camp for inner city kids this coming week, and many of the middle and high school kids are volunteering, but Caroline has not done well historically with this camp environment, even with our own church kids there. Half of the camp is taken up with sports, the other half with art and dance, but she has never liked it, and frequently I have had to take her home before the end of the day because she would be close to meltdown on many occasions. My youngest two will be involved in the camp. I guess I will just have to figure out something this week for she and I to do together. My oldest had previous plans to go to NC with her best friends. Maybe we will go to the beach here a bunch, or paint a room. At least Caroline will have evening lacrosse camp to look forward to this week. So much for my week long break from all four kids. I'll try again later this summer when my oldest is gone to Scotland. Just one week with no kids at home would be amazing.

It is our anniversary and Father's Day today, and I must say that I have been under the weather, and so my husband hasn't been pampered yet today. I need to rally for the evening. No cooking out at the pool since Caroline won't show her face there. We were looking forward to lots of family bonding time at the pool this summer, but once again, we have to alter our expectations and find other venues. Manic and depressive episodes and mixed states caused by bipolar disorder have a hateful way of ruining previously enjoyed places and events for years afterwards, just one of the lovely aspects of this thorn in the flesh. I wholly believe in redemption, but sometimes redemption is slow to be fully realized, depending on the offense.

Happy Father's Day!! You deserve it!!

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