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, April 5, 2009

The Scarcity of Connection

One of the things I have struggled a lot with in the last few years is that fact that when we are going through a hard time with Caroline (pretty much all the time), I can always count on my sisters, my mom, my neighborhood friends, and our pastors to call us, bring us meals, ask me out to coffee, or for a glass of wine, but the people that you would think would reach out to you, don't.  My closest friends in town seem silent, but my more "fringe" buddies are the ones lending a hand, doing my laundry, calling, sending emails.  Some of them may be reading this and wondering which group they are in.  It's not that all of my closest friends avoid me, it's just that a lot of them do.   Let me just say, don't be afraid to call me, or send a note, or invite me to coffee.  I would love to spend time with you or chat briefly.  Even just knowing that my close friends at least read my blog once in a while would be comforting.  I guess this is what a lot of people experience when they have cancer or something.  No one knows what to say, or are afraid of saying the wrong thing, or they feel completely inadequate to help so they shrink back, hoping maybe that the suffering one won't notice.  I've done that to other people myself.  I have two huge regrets regarding two friends who both died of cancer, well, three actually.  I was so busy with four little ones at the time, that I felt unable to be of great help, so I kept a low profile and hated myself for doing it (still haunts me).   I know this post is kind of brutally honest, but I am speaking not only for myself, but for anyone out there who is going through the valley and feels like people fade away.  Suffering is hard, but loneliness through suffering is harder.  
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1 comment:

domandkat said...

You know, I think ALL of us need to hear that from our friends. Face it, if you aren't having a difficult time in your life, someone you know is.

I think you have written a challenge to us all - a call to arms- a kick in the butt- whatever...

But THANK YOU! You remind us of how we've been in those positions before and hope the way we've acted then isn't how our friends will act toward us when the hard stuff happens.

I know I for one needed to hear it.

April 5, 2009 at 9:35 PM

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