Monday, May 6, 2013

A New Passion and Continued Success

   It has been a while since I have written. I thought I wouldn't write anything else, but I am wanting to share my daughter's success and the fact that she is still doing really well. 
   As you can see from the photos, she has a new passion. I had bought a discounted package of riding lessons for her back in December thinking it would be really good for her eventually. Not at the time, since germs and dirty animals that could spread germs would not have been an option...
   The week before I bought it, my friend had told me about Equine Therapy and it sounded pretty interesting. So when this deal popped up in my email, for a riding center that actually has equine therapy for people with disabilities, I jumped right on it. Not really for the therapy, but for the knowledge that she loves animals and especially horses. I have read about horses helping people with emotional and physical disabilities. The relationship between human and horse can be really healing. 
   She has been riding once a week now for a couple of months. She is in love. She also made the decision to quit ballet. I knew it was not her passion even though she was a beautiful dancer. I was a bit sad, since ballet has always been my life and she has danced since she was in my tummy. But, I am happy that she has found something that SHE loves.
   Another great achievement of hers is that she was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society last week. We attended a lovely night at her school where about 20 other students were inducted as well. I am so proud of her. 
   Her health has also continued to improve. She has gained 13 pounds since January! That is amazing to me that she was so unhealthily skinny. I remember seeing every bone in her body. Even putting on these 13 pounds makes her still under the 50% mark for her age!
   We are down to just once a month at the clinic with Dr. G and will probably being saying goodbye to her soon. It will be a hard goodbye for me. This woman has saved my child and ultimately our whole family and I feel a great attachment and gratitude towards her. She has seen my daughter and myself at our worst and has really been the one to turn our lives around.
   The psychiatrist will also be going down to half of her usual dosage of sertraline in the next few months or so. The plan is to have her fully off of her medicine by November which will be a year from when she started. This makes me a bit nervous for fear of any signs of her phobia or OCD coming back. Dr. G has told us in the past that there is a 50/50 chance of it coming back someday. However, we know that help is right around the corner if we ever need it again.

6 comments:

  1. Micheline! What a joy to get to know Giulia's giving nature and talent for organizing a fundraiser. She obviously has much to contribute to those around her and it is fun to see her grow into her interests. Love this progress report and pictures of her and Oreo.

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    1. Thanks Jeanne. Yes, now that Giulia is better, she can begin to concentrate on herself and her interests. So happy to help and raise money for Children of Utila!

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  2. That is great!
    Have you looked into hypnosis?
    Sunshine from Utila.

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  3. Have had a lovely long read of your blog. I was severely emetophobic as a child...and would still consider myself to be unusually anxious about vomiting/norovirus season. But it's been so nice to read of your beautiful daughter's progress. I remember 12-15 years as a particularly stressful time, as your emotions, in general, are heightened and when I was her age it was a relatively unrecognised condition, which was confusing. I would like to think I am predominantly better, as one day (after a 5 day Norovirus dose) I woke up and decided I couldn't spend any more time on this. And it was that simple. I think as an adult, your ability to logicize helps a lot. But I would have loved somebody to help me learn to control it as much as your family has done for Giulia. It's so important to get help during your formative years. Congratulations and best of luck to her -she's so gorgeous and has so much to be happy and excited about in life.

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  4. I'm a bit late in reading this, but I'm glad I did. It's wonderful to hear good news of Giulia's health and healing. Great job, mom for looking for those open doors to walk through and help her! Plus, what she is doing for the kids here in Utila is amazing!

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  5. Hi Helen.
    I am so sorry you are in this situation with your daughter as well. It's such a painful and desperate situation. Please email me so I can answer your question in detail. mishacaccia@gmail.com

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