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!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that Caroline was accepted into the homeschool co-op for the fall where she will take Algebra 1, Spanish 2, and a writing class! The rest of her subjects she will do at home mostly online, except for literature, of course. Nothing like the smell of a book you can feel with your hands! I am so relieved that she will have the opportunity to make new friends but always a little nervous as usual since we have been through this cycle: school acceptances, then something goes wrong, and she is asked to leave. With this last year's school success, perhaps we are in a different phase. I know that we will be watching for the annual mood shift at the end of September/beginning of October.

The bad news is that Bill still doesn't have a solid job lead and the main place where he could have gotten easy employment has just been axed by Secretary Gates. There go 6000 jobs in our area. Neither my husband nor I understand Gates' reasoning at all on this huge cutback on joint forces planning. So we may very well be looking outside of the area. This present administration isn't favorable to the military or contractors.

3 comments:

Fighting for my Children said...

I will be praying that your husband gets a job that meets your needs (and some of your wants lol)

Mommylebron said...

I lothe set up of your blog. I am so happy to be finding more and more Mom's of children with Bipolar Disorder. Please come visit me at http://mommylebron.wordpress.com or my pet project at www.mykidsbipolarnowwhat.ning.com

Megan said...

Thanks! I look forward to reading your blog!