Making a change

April 2017

The 2nd half of Sophomore year has been a huge challenge. Rachael had been struggling in the first half of the year but by Christmas depression and anxiety had gripped her. Rae stopped engaging in activities, she struggled to get up in the morning, or get to school or to do her homework. She spent a lot of time in her room sleeping, or just wrapped up in her big red blanket (Jim's old blanket). During this time her social life effectively stopped. She didn't go to any activities, and missed a number of special events. She was inducted into the Math and Foreign Language Honor Societies but didn't attend the ceremonies. None of the extras were possible and some of the necessities like eating  and showering were over-looked. It was really hard and it was incredibly difficult to watch her suffer. We had started with a therapist in the fall, but switched focus in the new year and found a psychiatrist, who worked really well with Rachael to find a good medication and a good dose. It took months and a few switches but the depression got a little less heavy.

Jim and I were very hands on and were just trying to not let her get too buried. The school morning routine required a lot of assistance. We were just trying to get her through. I'd go down a few times every morning, pick her outfit, help pack her backpack, make her lunch and breakfast and walk her up the stairs. We drove her in everyday but some days she arrived very late.   By the end of May she was finally able to regularly make it to school on time again. We prayed, we prayed so hard. God was with us through it all.

After months of barley functioning, her grades were suffering, but I got in touch with all of the teachers and they helped Rachael prioritize assignments and they waived late penalties. Rachael focused on the biggest assignments that would have the most impact and luckily she is an amazing student and had very high 1st and 2nd quarter grades. She made lists and started to check some things off. Her D's were rising and so was her mood.

I knew her energy had returned when she wanted to show off her hand-done hair cut. Rachael's bounce and excitement, that we had been missing, was back. It suited her and so did her hair cut. Some days continued to be heavy and difficult but the burden of depression was easing.