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

Today was a more difficult day. I had some good parts and some bad parts to the day. The good part is that I'm connecting with the other residents more and will be spending some time on my pass with a couple of them during part of the weekend, and I got some mail from some relatives and an order from online that I bought and those helped me feel a little better, and this evening I got to see my parents for the parent night we have every week. The not so good parts about today was that lunch was challenging and I had to take Boost for some of it.. and that made me more anxious.... and I've been feeling down and anxious and overwhelmed a lot. I have been here for 2 and a half weeks now and have adjusted more each day and starting to open up more and connect with others more too, but there are usually some challenges to most days and sometimes some good times as well. I am definitely learning better ways to cope and trying to learn more about myself. I appreciate the mail, emails, and prayers people have been sending my way. I am grateful for all the support that I am getting. Thanks! Love, Heather Rose

Hey everyone, I have been in treatment for almost 2 weeks now. I have been adjusting pretty well, have had a few rough days, but also had some fun times as well.  My expected time being here is 6-10 weeks, so by the beginning to the end of July is the expected discharge date depending on how things go, could be longer if needed though. I feel like I am gaining a lot of weight and feel uncomfortable when I get full which gives me anxiety. I have been trying to learn better ways to cope with the anxiety and depression. I am also learning to figure out ways to challenge the eating disorder and working on having better body-image which is tough and will take some time. Today I got to go on a pass for the first time, I get to have three 3 hour passes today, tomorrow, and Monday. Today I went to the Mall of America with my mom and sisters. We didn't have a lot of time to shop but we went to the Disney store and Becca bought me a couple of stuffed animals and then we went to Build-A-Bear and me and Becca made a stuffed animal. I made a puppy and Becca made a bear. When I go on my passes I have to make sure I get my meal plan in, and so far I can just go on a pass during snack times, so I had to make sure I got my snack in. I have been getting to know the other residents here and they are very nice. We have played some games together which was a lot of fun. I have been writing in a journal which has helped me put my thoughts on paper. I have also talked with the EDT's which has helped. During my free time, I enjoy watching tv, playing games, listening to music, writing, coloring, painting my nails, and just hanging out. My appt's have been going alright. I am starting to feel more at home here now and have lots of support but it's hard at meals sometimes. ~Heather Rose