07/21/2022
R E F L E C T I O N
We’ve been doing a whole lot of this lately. Our lives have recently been turned upside down literally overnight. We’ve been debating whether or not to share this but I think it’s important not only to our loyal supporters & friends who may be concerned with our personal life, but also because it needs to be talked about more. Our oldest son was diagnosed with Bi Polar 1 in January. He had been dealing with depression for some time but we didn’t know the extent of it, as he struggled with exactly how to put into words what he was feeling or not feeling, to be honest. He suffers from Anhedonia as well which leaves a person unable to genuinely experience joy & cultivate interest in anything. But on Jan 1, 2022 our lives changed forever. He had woken up different that day. Very happy to be exact which was a side of him we hadn’t seen in awhile. So it definitely seemed odd. He was acting a bit weird too & then started sharing some even odder thoughts he had been having. We weren’t sure what to make of it, but long story short (plus it’s personal & traumatic to share) he had to be hospitalized & was shortly after diagnosed. We were at first relieved he had a name for what he had been experiencing but then worried when I began reading everything I could on it. But we were assured by professionals it was good they got his diagnosis early so we could get a good handle on it & he’d be able to have a normal, productive life as he had his whole life ahead of him yet. I wish this was how our story ended, but unfortunately our journey was just beginning with this illness & we were very improperly informed as to what this illness could look like if not educated & prepared for things going bad. We had no clue as to the monster this illness could morph into in a matter of minutes sometimes. It’s as if he has a switch in his mind that easily gets turned on or off without warning sometimes. Since it’s now been 6+ months we are beginning to discover warning signs & trying to sort thru his triggers as they seem to be ever changing. We’ve come to understand that this disease is 100% trial & error with meds as it’s a chemical imbalance.
Con’s in comments.
