Treatment

Hey everyone, It has been awhile since I have written on here. I have been out of residential treatment as of July 26th. Right after leaving inpatient, I struggled a lot and had 3 days before starting IDP. I started IDP (the Independent Day Program) at the Emily Program on July 30th. Tomorrow I will be starting my 3rd week there. It has been a difficult transition coming from the adolescent house and having 24/7 support to going back home with less support. Following my meal plan has been difficult. I miss all my friends and the staff at the Anna Westin House- Adolescent/Young Adult. I am continuing to stay in touch with them though.
I am still struggling and some days I struggle more than others. I am starting to open up and make friends in IDP though, but working on things has been tough.

Hey everyone, so this week has been very chaotic and traumatizing for me. It started last Friday, I found out that I couldn't have any passes for that weekend and I felt really frustrated, confused and upset and meals were challenging and I ended up supplementing a lot. On Saturday in cooking group, I sliced my finger while opening a can and and had to go to the urgent care and get stitches. It was my first time getting stitches. First they checked my weight but the nurse that came with me had me stand backwards for that and had them not say the weight aloud. But when I went into the doctor's office, I saw my weight on the paper they were filling out. Before I got the stitches done, I had to get my Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (DTaP) Vaccine updated. While they were numbing my finger they gave me that vaccine but the numbing shot hurt a lot worse then the vaccine. Then when I came back my finger was really numb and sore. It was hard to eat because I found out my weight and it was hard to accept it. On Sunday I just had a rough day after finding out my weight and just felt very anxious and supplemented a lot that day. Monday morning I found out that one of my friends had passed away on Saturday and it was hard to hear that and I was just very shocked, confused, and sad. That made it even harder to eat that day. Tuesday I had a hard time dealing with everything that had happened and was having a rough day all day. Wednesday, the day before the funeral for my friend was hard with all that had happened, I had increased urges and had a tough time sleeping that night, so I didn't sleep much. Then yesterday I went to the funeral with my mom, sister, and a friend. It was hard going to the funeral and then afterwards we dropped off our friend at her house and then went somewhere to eat, it was tough to eat after that because of how I was feeling so I tried to pick something that wasn't so challenging. After we ate and were on the way to bring me back here, we were turning on the highway to make a left turn, and all of a sudden we saw a car coming and by then it was too late and it hit the driver side of the car, my mom was driving but she didn't get any serious injuries, just lots of soreness. Luckily no one was sitting behind the driver seat because that part got crushed in more so than the driver side. I was sitting in the front passenger seat and my twin sister was sitting directly behind me. The car that hit us was probably going about 50 mph. We all got pushed towards the passenger side of the car and I hit my head against the side window, everything went flying, my glasses flew off my head, my sister hit her arm and got a sore back but neither her or my mom hit their head, they just got lots of soreness. I thought I was fine, so we told them that we didn't need an ambulance. There was a witness. Both cars got totaled but the other person was fine. I came back here thinking I was fine, I was just really shaken up, traumatized, overwhelmed and had a lot of mixed emotions. My head still hurt after a couple of hours but I thought it was just a little headache, but it didn't go away and continued to get worse to the point of me feeling nauseous, really warm, it was hard to stand up and walk and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I got checked out by the nurses here and they decided that I should go to the ER. Right before that the nauseous got worse and I ended up vomiting. Once I got to the ER, I got assessed, I was there for a couple hours. They tried giving me Tylenol but I couldn't keep that down so then they gave me something to help with nausea and then they had me wait 15 minutes, try eating some crackers and drinking something and then tried giving me the Tylenol again, and I was okay then, my head started to feel better by the time I got back. They said that I have a head contusion which is basically bruising and swelling of the head and I need to just take it easy and watch for any worsening symptoms. I had to supplement dinner when I got back but they spread it out so I didn't have to do so much at once. I just feel very exhausted and have had a really rough week and will need to get some rest. Luckily there are always nurses around to make sure I'm doing alright and in 3 days I get my stitches out.

I also found out that in 2 to 3 weeks I am possibly getting discharged and going back home, but I would start doing the Intensive Day Program (IDP) which is 5 days a week and a majority of the day. So I would have to just work weekends when I start that.

Also tomorrow marks 2 months that I'd be here.

I'm hoping this week will go better for me because I've had enough bad things happening in one week. Today is Friday the 13th, and I'm hoping it won't bring more bad luck, not that I'm superstitious or anything, I just hope today is a better day for me and that I can get some rest and sleep better.

~Heather

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't written in awhile... kinda have been putting it off. Anyways, I have been in residential treatment for a month now, the 14th marked a month. This is my 5th week here and Monday marks 6 weeks. Since first arriving here, I have adjusted a lot, connected with other residents and opened up more, I still have a lot to work on though. Last weekend I got to go on pass during a meal for the first time which was sorta challenging. Tuesday we went on an outing to Build-A-Bear and I made a monkey stuffed animal, that was fun.  Meals have been a challenge but I don't think I have had to have the Boost supplement for a week or two. But since being here, I have had my meal plan increased not once but twice so far and that really frustrates me. I have to have Boost or Boost Breeze with my afternoon snack now which sucks. We have had some severe thunderstorm warnings and had to go downstairs to the Purple Room and sleep until the warning passed, the first night it was most of the night and the second night for like an hour or so at 4 in the morning, so we ended up not getting a lot of sleep for a couple days. Last Tuesday I got a new roommate, she is the same age as me and is from Michigan. I have had quite a few rough times here, my anxiety and depression have been really high at times but I got my medication increased a lot since being here. Despite the negative things going on, I have had some positives as well: I am starting to feel less depressed at times and able to enjoy myself but there are still times where I get into a down mood and feel very depressed and anxious. I have learned to try new things, crocheting, making friendship bracelets, I learned some new games (Bananagrams, the celebrity game, etc.) and I now drink coffee, and I even did some karaoke. This weekend I get to see some old friends from Buffalo and Orlando, I haven't seen them in a long time so I am excited to see them again. Feel free to email or write to me whenever and I will make sure to get back to you! ~Heather Rose

Yesterday was a long day for me, lots of appt's and I found out at my dietitian appt. that my meal plan had to get increased which just made me more anxious and frustrated. Hopefully tonight will be better for me though, we are going on an outing to the humane society tonight. It will be my first time going to a humane society and I think it will be a fun experience.

I am working on having better body image, counter-thinking negative thoughts, and having more confidence in myself as well as other things as well.

This Saturday we are having family programming during the afternoon, so hopefully all goes well with that.

hey everyone, it's now been 3 weeks since I've been in treatment... and a lot has happened in those 3 weeks. This weekend I went on a pass on Saturday with 3 other residents and went to Target and Plato's Closet, it was a lot of fun and I've been getting to know the other girls better. After my pass on Saturday, things went sorta downhill... I felt really anxious and depressed and seemed to just be stuck in that... Saturday night, I didn't sleep much at all.. then on Sunday I had a rough time at lunch and had to supplement most of it... luckily yesterday was a little bit better, still had some depression and anxiety but not as bad as this weekend, and also was really fatigue and just napped most of the day in between appt's and groups. So it was a pretty tough weekend for me, and my week was up and down, some good times but lots of tough times as well. My medication got increased again, it increased a couple weeks ago also, so hopefully that wasn't causing things to get worse. Well I will update you guys more later.

~Heather