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, March 6, 2012

Sisterly Love

After reading my sad post yesterday, my sisters blessed my day with sweet words of encouragement and a meal brought over and some very needed help with cleaning and organizing.  I don't what I would do without my sisters!  I spent the morning talking to my therapist about all that we are facing and how to handle different things.  She is a very wise older woman who always has fresh perspective for me to take in.  I am letting Mathnasium handle all of Caroline's Algebra and I am going to go ahead and get Rosetta stone Spanish for her too courtesy of a helpful donor so that I can truly focus on getting our house ready and not on the parts of homeschooling that take up so much of my day.  Jane homeschools herself essentially being so motivated, and I am going to have to let Caroline do the same with the right tools.  I just can't be as hands on with her and do all that needs to be done with the move.  I have to trust that God is going to get us through all of this, and Caroline through all of her subjects.  I have held on pretty tightly to her schooling and it isn't that I am letting go completely, but she is old enough to take responsibility for making sure it all gets done.  The schedule and assignments are all laid out for her in the Sonlight curriculum guide, so with the math and Spanish also covered by "tutors" , I think I can relax a bit and do what I need to do.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I prayed 3xs for you yesterday.

Megan said...

Thank you so much! I felt it!! :)