Great Weekend

It was a great weekend. Maybe the sunlight and warm weather had something to do with it. Moods change just as fast as the weather. It is nice to not have any meltdowns for a couple of days at least. I have been searching through Facebook and finding some neat pages of parents with children with mood disorders. This is going to be a slow process to educate people so we can get rid of the stigma associated with mood disorders. It will change significantly when they see what they think is a perfectly normal ten year old girl walking around with a service dog and we tell them she suffers from a hidden disability. This I know for sure. I think I am going to get some t-shirts made that simply say "Faith's Story"....this will get people to start asking questions.....anyhow ....we had a great weekend in the Forchione house and we are grateful for that. KrisandRenae

Sunday morning coffee

Well as I set her this morning and have my coffee while everyone is asleep I feel like it is a great time to ponder the last week. Faith seems to have settled down a little. Her rapid cycling has slowed a little. We did for sure get an appointment in a few weeks with a child psychologist who was recommended by the many doctors who were unable to help us while I was calling every know doctor in Tennessee and Kentucky. A few of these doctors, to Renae's surprise, even called me from their personal cell phones. It seems that Faith's Story touches even their hearts. Everyone, and I mean everyone, down to a temporary receptionist that was filling in for the day took time to help and say supporting things to me. It was amazing. There is just not enough help out there for children. Very few doctors it seems specialize or even deal with children. It has only added fuel to my fire. This weekend I spent all day yesterday and until lunchtime today getting the last of my mom's stuff moved down here to Clarksville. She will be closer to us to help and also for us to help her. We are all excited. Then this afternoon we are going over to my former boss's house for a Halloween and pumpkin carving party. It will be fun. The girls, thanks to their mom, absolutely love any and every holiday. It is amazing to watch them. Thank you to everyone this week for your kind words. This is only the beginning. It will only get harder, but I believe that will make us more determined to help others, to share more, and to make a difference. Everything does happen for a reason and I think I may have found my calling. ~KrisandRenae~

New doctor????

Yesterday was a better day. I received a call from a psychiatrist who does not see children, however he still took the time to talk to me and hear Faith's story. He was able to recommend a children's psychologist for her to work with that he really thinks can help us narrow down or figure our her exact diagnosis. From looking at other blogs and talking to other parents Renae has learned of scans they do of the brain and monitoring of the brain while the child is going through a normal day. Maybe we can have this done of Faith one day???? She had a good day yesterday. She was so excited about our neighbor's husband coming home that she could not stand it. We are currently looking for places to put a aluminum recycling bin to help raise money. They are 10$ apiece. If anyone knows of a location, maybe at work that they could help collect cans and recycle them for money please let us know. We could send you a box and it would help tremendously. Hope everyone is having a great day and welcome home Robert Holland!!!!! Thanks for what you do!!!! KrisandRenae

"Donation Link" is up

Today Faith slept most of the day. Right now she is running through the house really happy for a few minutes then screaming at the top of her lungs mad about something, thus the cycle continues. The last few days have been really angry and mad. I think we finally may have our foot in the door to get an appointment with a child psychiatrist at the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. We have been trying since August and today the lady from one department said we would be on a wait list for approximately one year before she could see a neuro-psychiatrist. After hearing our story she made some calls and after me calling different doctors in different cities I got back to Vanderbilt. Keep your fingers crossed that we can get her in there. It is one of the best children's hospitals in the country.
One of my friends today at work asked what was going on with this blog. I put it to him simply, "I am tired of trying to explain what my family and daughter are going through on a daily basis when people just don't get it or don't believe me." So we decided to put it all out there for people who are curious or care to see how the life of a child with a mood disorder and their family get by day to day. Again remember that is our ultimate goal. I got an email from a lady at Operation Homefront explaining that they only assist soldiers and their family of currently deployed soldiers. I wrote back "no problem, but please refer me to an organization who can help spread our message by something as little as posting a link on  their website or a poster at their work. We will see how she replies.
Today we got an email from Katie at Little Angels Service Dogs, Faith's information is now on their website for people or organizations to make donations. Please remember that they are a charitable corporation that reaches across the United States partnering service dogs with the disabled. Donations will be used for the dogs and each person or organization who donates will receive documentation of their donation for tax purposes. The Little Angels Service Dogs organization is currently in the process of becoming a not for profit   organization, however this does take a while to complete. Her is a link to her page for making donations. Please post or share it with as many people or organizations as you can.

http://www.littleangelsdogtraining.net/donate.html

Thanks, Kris and Renae

Psychiatric Service Dogs

One of the reasons we want to bring awareness to Mood Disorders is that for some people psychiatric service dogs have become a tremendous tool to assist those people with their everyday life tasks that we take for granted. The following link is to the site of the organization who is going to be providing Faith with her Psychiatric Service Dog. Once we have raised enough money they will choose a dog for Faith and begin specific training for her and the dog. Please read this link and also go through the other pages. You may know of someone who could use a canine partner like Faith does. http://www.littleangelsdogtraining.net/psychiatricservicedogs.html Have a great day and please don't forget to tell FAITH'S STORY. kris and renae

Mobile testing

Monday Blues

It was a beautiful weekend here in Kentucky. The kids played outside from sunup to sundown, all in perfect fall weather. Today started a new week, the kids went back to school. Faith was unable to go. She was terrified that she would have these "demon feelings" while at school like she has had the last week. Well she knew something was coming that we did not. I got a call from Renae around 3pm at work and she asked me to come home. Faith had locked her and the girls out of the house and was running around inside screaming and throwing stuff. Her screaming and rage continued until around 6:30 pm until she was so exhausted she decided to go to bed. These are normally things that we do not share. These episodes are scary for us and very embarrassing for Faith. All three of us have decided that it is necessary to share these things as they happen so that people who do not live with these "hidden disabilities" can try to understand why our kids do not go to school, or why we might come to work with a huge bite mark on us, or why we cannot make it to the barn in the evening because I cannot leave Renae alone at home for fear of her getting hurt. It is also important that people understand the impact it can and does have on the other family members. A long forgotten rule of life is that family is there for you no matter what through thick and thin. I guess with today's society, just like in divorce, it is easier to just turn the other way and walk away. We have made a promise to Faith that we will never do that, although sometimes it can be the hardest thing in the world to keep this promise. And at what extent do you keep it? What happens when she grows up more and me nor Renae can protect her from herself. One thing I found ironic today was again she showed me her love of animals. She was definitely throwing and kicking things through one of her venting sessions, and one of the dogs came towards her.....she looked and it and calmed just for a second to allow it to pass...and then carried on. She can be so angry at the world for this stuff that goes on in her mind and yet she won't even kill an ant. Well we will keep you posted. We are hoping to take a tour of The Brook, a hospital in Louisville, KY. They have the opening for Faith next month, we just hope we can help her hold out long enough for that opening.

It has been a very long week for our family. The girls are their "Fall break" and staying at home and enjoying playing outside. Faith has had an extremely hard time, thus the reason for not writing in a while. It got so bad we drove to Louisville, KY Wednesday to get her assessed in hopes of being admitted. They have a program that will work for her, a partial hospitalization, however they do not have a bed open for another few weeks. Hopefully she can hold out. The people here at Fort Campbell, EFMP and CAPSj have been tremendous in helping us find a suitable hospital. There is also a retired gentleman who works for a hospital out of Virginia who is also trying to find us one closer to home. We will keep you posted on how this is going. At the same time Katie with Little Angels is making a little story of Faith on her website that will allow friends and families to make donations towards the dog. I will post a link when it is up. Our neighbor is putting a benefit ride together with his motorcycle club here for a fundraiser also. This should be really exciting for Faith, she just loves Harley Davidsons!!

mobile blogging?

This is a test...to see if this mobile blogging works. It will truely allow us to tell Faith's story and share more pictures.

Cheerleading and Yard Sales

This morning Faith had a game to attend with her cheerleader squad. It was freezing!! She did not make it through the entire game, I believe mainly because of the cold. Today was a post wide garage sale so we drove through some neighborhoods and then the girls decided to have their own yard sale. They made beaded bracelets to sale in hopes of raising money for Faith's dog. It was a great day.

We are also getting the information from Katie at Little Angels Service Dogs on exactly how to donate to Faith's dog. You will recieve paperwork from them to submit when filing taxes. I know a few of our friends have asked already however I will get the specifics and post as soon as possible.  Kris and Renae