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!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

A Poignant Memorial Service

One of my best friend's dad just passed away from melanoma. Tonight I went to his memorial service, and it was such a beautiful celebration of a life well lived. He has three grown daughters, and leaves behind an amazing wife. Hearing from his daughters and his sons-in-law, friends, and his patients made me think that this is what I want to pass on when I am gone someday, a legacy as he has bequeathed through his character. Not just survival, but having made a true impact on this world, on people, bettering the lives of others in many different ways. And I want my kids to be able to stand up and say that I was a loving mother who made mistakes but acknowledged them and wasn't afraid to be vulnerable. I want them to say that their dad was always there for them, no matter what, and that they wanted to marry a man just like him.

I imagined myself tonight standing on this very tall piece of solid rock, granite, immovable, but that all the rock around me was crumbling, not to be trusted for even a toehold. I was standing there alone, afraid, staring down. I hate heights. It was a long way down. But this rock that I was standing on was a representation of God's hand, His sovereign control in my life when all around me things crumble. Nothing can be trusted so well as His grace. Everything else will disappoint us eventually: our spouses, our children, our jobs, our investments, our material possessions, our leaders, our friends. Nothing is permanent, solid, and unchanging but the God who made this universe. Trials will come and can shake us to the core, but our hope is in a loving God who cannot be shaken.

Peace.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank you Megan for honoring my father by your lovely words. I am so blessed to have you in my life, loving and supporting me through joyous and devastating times.