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, December 7, 2010

Regrouping, Happy Hanukkah!

Caroline has fallen into an academic rut, and I must say it is not entirely her fault.  This fall has been incredibly challenging for all of us, and with Bill home every day, it has been hard to maintain the homeschooling schedule with which we started in September.  In fact, there has been no schedule to speak of lately, more like, "Go do this subject, let me check that later, oh we have a doctor's appointment, we will have to finish that after dinner."  Caroline has seen her grades slip in the homeschooling co-op and we realized we needed to crack the whip again in order to catch her up by the end of this month.  I redid the schedule and we spoke with her about the need to regroup and buckle down before Christmas.  I am trying hard not to schedule morning appointments but sometimes you can't avoid it.  Having my senior in high school come home from school every day at 12:30 is also really distracting.  We are not close to being done at that point but as soon as she walks in the door it feels like the school day is over.  Now that Elizabeth can drive, maybe I can arrange to have her gone until 2:00 at least.

The Navy has "un-retired" my husband, which is the first step in putting him back on active duty so they can treat his benign tumor.   We still don't know when he will be able to draw a paycheck again.  That would be a very nice Christmas present!

I am wondering if I will continue to homeschool Caroline next year.  Part of me doesn't want to be responsible for her education, but the other part sees all the benefits of keeping her sheltered from all the temptations of being in a regular school.  We find it so challenging to keep on top of her activities and whereabouts just having her at home.  She still manages to push the boundaries constantly.  We are always having to stay a few steps ahead of her or risk disaster.

Anyway, hope you are enjoying the season!  Happy Hanukkah to all who are celebrating right now!  There is a hilarious video on You Tube of some very cute Jewish young men from New York City singing Hanukkah songs in a whole new way acappella.  They are really good!

2 comments:

Rebecca said...

Megan,

My husband retired in 1991 after 21years in. I have a lot of info for you regarding your husbands VA and USN benefits that you need to know for your family,s protection. Is there a private email address I may correspond with you on?

I found your blog recently during a down cycle of my 13yr old BP AS daughter. What a blessing you are to a lot of people. Thank you for having the courage to reach out to us all.

Megan said...

Hi Rebecca! Thanks for checking in. My email is meganbstack@yahoo.com. I would love to hear some advice about all of this. I look forward to getting to know you and your own struggles with raising a bp daughter. Thank you! Megan