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, May 21, 2013

Not Going to Camp

Caroline took the news about her not going to the camp in Canada really well.  She was relieved actually.  Between the knee surgery and her need for sleep, she was worried that things would go wrong.  We have come up with an alternate plan, which involves the beach, which she is very happy about.  So even though we are losing some money, the peace of mind we have now is worth it.

This is the last week of school.  She is being exempted from her English and Biology final exams.  She has only a big history project to turn in, and a few English assignments and she is done.  I am feeling myself relaxing already.  Like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders now that school is almost done.  Still don't know what we are doing next year.  We need some time to think and pray about it.

Friday, May 10, 2013

The Big "Where Should She Go to School" Decision, Again

Once again, we are not sure where Caroline should go to school next year.  The big public high school hasn't been that great, even with a well-followed IEP.  She is begging me to home school her, but I don't know that I want to.  The other options are the online high school for this district, an alternative school around the corner, or a private, smaller school, likely Christian.  Just praying for direction and wisdom.  This is one of the hardest parts of raising a bp kid, the whole educational aspect.  Nothing seems to be a perfect fit, and sometimes not even a good fit.    I want to do what is best for her academically and socially, but I want it to be best for me too.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Another Crisis, Another Day

This kid is amazingly accident prone!  Two weeks ago she did something to her knee in lacrosse practice, resulting in severe pain and a trip to the ER.  She was given Norco, and a heavy duty knee brace and we waited to get in with the orthopedic doc.  Got the MRI, saw the doc and he says that she nearly dislocated her knee cap, and in doing so, broke off a piece of cartilage under her knee cap, which then moved into her knee joint, causing the severe pain.  She has to have it removed to avoid further damage to her joint.  So she has surgery scheduled May 17th.  In the meantime, she has been home from school while on the narcotic pain meds, and receiving home bound tutoring again, which she hates.  School ends May 24th, and once again she is behind.  She went back to school this morning because the is OK without the heavy duty pain meds and can get by on Tylenol.  

In the midst of this, we have decided not to let her go to the camp in Canada in three weeks that she has been looking forward to all year.  There are just too many risks, especially with her knee, so soon after surgery.  And we realized that in order to get to the camp, she has to be up all night on a red-eye flight, changing planes in the middle of the night, and then transferring to a bus in the middle of the night to connect to a ferry.  Going without sleep is a sure recipe for mania.  That would be a horrible start to a week of camp. She is going to hate us.  But we just can't let her do this.  We are going to come up with an alternate vacation, maybe to a beach.  This year has been such a bummer.   If I could afford to take her to Hawaii, I would, seriously.  She deserves it.