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Paranoia
Tim’s caseworker emailed today and wants to schedule a time next week when we can have a family therapy session via telephone. It’s a four hour drive round trip to ODTC, so by phone is easier to schedule, but a family therapy session rarely goes well, by phone or in person. Tim hates it when…
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Fall
Perfect Fall in Door County by D. Moultray (C) 2010 Used vis Creative Commons License I’ve been MIA, I know, and I’m sorry. I need to be better at being more regular. If for nothing else than for my mental health. I always feel better when I get things down on paper. Even virtual paper.…
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30 Things About My Son’s Invisible Illness
I read this on Melissa’s blog, and thought it was great – so here’s our 30 things, modified a bit to be from a mom’s point of view. 1. The illness my son lives with is: Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type 2. He was diagnosed with it in the year: 2008, but some mood disorder since…
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Teachable Moments
Someone praised me recently for being so understanding and patient with Tim and all of the symptoms and behavioral issues that go along with a diagnosis like Schizoaffective Disorder. I was not being modest when I replied that I’m anything but. Read the rest at CABF.
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16
Tim turns 16 years old today. There were times when I doubted he’d make it to his 16th. I know, I’m woefully behind on blog posts, and I want to spend some time this weekend writing a new one. But I didn’t want today to pass without a short note to all you other parents…
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Hope is Real
I had the immense pleasure this weekend of having dinner with several folks of BringChange2Mind. They’ve all changed my life – our family’s lives – in some way. The CABF team helped pull us out of the fear and confusion we felt when Tim was first diagnosed. Susan Resko, Executive Director of CABF – without…
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Shameless Request for Donations
Hi there – Tim and I are walking on team BringChange2Mind at NAMIWalk Milwaukee on May 15th. We’re walking to fight the stigma of mental illness. If you have the ability, I’d really appreciate if you could sponsor Tim. All funds raised are split 50/50 between NAMI and BringChange2Mind. Click here to go to Tim’s…
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If We Knew Then What We Know Now…
Every once in a while, someone asks me if we knew Tim was going to have a mental illness, would we still have adopted him? It’s an interesting question. Maybe I’m just used to being asked all kinds of questions about my two youngest children, since Tom and I are white, our oldest biological child…
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A Strange Sigh of Relief
I remember the day my mom saw Jani Schofield and her parents Michael and Susan on Oprah. Jani is a beautiful young girl who suffers from childhood onset schizophrenia. Mom called me the next day, after watching the show off her DVR. I expected my mom’s tone of voice to be one of sorrow, or…
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Gimme Some Space
We get a report every week from Tim’s caseworker at ODTC that tells us how his week went. For the past several weeks, Tim has been agitated by the voices (worse than usual), restless, has run off his floor /away from staff / out of class several times, and required physical restraint to keep him…