Some Answers to Your Prayers...

A huge thank you to everyone who has been praying for us over the past few weeks regarding bloodwork for my girl. No, we have not yet been successful in getting it done, but we have made some giant steps forward towards that goal. Many of you know that even the mention of having a needle come anywhere near Mary has been enough to send her into a complete meltdown, the effects of which would last for days or weeks. She has threatened to stop taking her medications if it was going to involve having blood drawn. She has spent many hours worrying about it and getting stuck on the fears that accompany those thoughts. Previously even the mention of a needle or the sight of blood would make her close in on herself and completely shut down. Well, this past week, we have not only been able to talk calmly and (mostly) rationally about the need to have this done in the near future (and not just once, but multiple times), but she has also agreed that she would be willing to work with a cognitive-behavioral therapist to help her conquer her fears. She is still very nervous and wants to cry when we talk about it, but she doesn't cry, which is so huge! A few months ago talking about it at the p-doc's office sent her into a crying, yelling fit, resulting in her telling the p-doc that she hates her and that she thinks the p-doc is the worst doc in the whole world. This last visit, Mary actually brought up the subject. Now, it was to tell the doctor that she did not want to talk about it, but it was still a step in the right direction. And of course the p-doc took the opportunity to talk about it a little bit and pointed out to Mary how much she was maturing and how proud she was of the fact that she was talking about it without crying.

So, for all of you out there praying for my girl, please keep it up!

Another cool way that I am seeing God answer prayers involves things that I didn't even know to ask people to be praying about. I love when God does that. He has the answers all planned out in advance and it seems that almost the moment it occurs to me that I need to be praying about this, boom, the answer is there. Anyway, I have been thinking a lot about the learning issues associated with bipolar disorder. Mary also has a learning disability so I have been wondering just how much of the learning issues are a result of the learning disability, how much is from the bipolar disorder, and how much is from the medications. It is all just such a soup pot in there! As I was talking to the p-doc this week about these thoughts, she recommended that we go ahead and get a full psychological test done. She has had two of them in the past, but the last one was in 2007 so it is time to pursue that again. Now, normally this is something that the public school would do for us (if Mary was still in the public school). They will still do it for us since Mary is still considered eligible to receive services from the school, but we are going to have to jump through a few hoops and the process won't even start until school is back in session in August. However, the p-doc also recommended looking into maybe going to a local college or checking with NIMH to see if they are doing any research protocols that would involve these types of tests (which if we had to pay for out of pocket would cost thousands of dollars!). Now, here's the cool part... are you ready... NIMH just happens to be doing a study on the brain function and course of illness in pediatric bipolar patients, and they are still recruiting participants. I have had several phone conversations with them and we are in the process of seeing if Mary fits their protocol for the study, but if it works out, it would be so great! She would receive all the tests that a school or private psychologist would do plus some, and it would not cost us a thing. AND... get this... it is a long term study so it would also provide these tests probably on a yearly basis to monitor her progress as she grows up. Of course it is not a sure thing. We do not know if we fit their protocol, or if they will accept us into the study. But the possibilities just give me goose bumps!