Dailies #15

Sorry it has been so long since I checked in - between the weather, stomach flu, work and travel to visit David, this last month has passed in a wind swept fog. David is doing better than he was over the holidays - after Christmas I could tell that he was still struggling - holing up in his apartment and showing little interest in doing much else - I tried to visit at least once a week -sometimes twice a week - but things slowly improved - he started back to class the first week of January and just having some reason to get up, dressed, and out the door seemed to work miracles. He has had some problems sleeping and we have upped his seroquel to 100mg. I finally got him into a psyciatrist at OSU - the appointment is the 27th - so I am hopeful that this will turn out to be someone he can call when he is experiencing changes in symtoms. On a different note - I have been accepted into a Phd program from Walden University in clinical psychology - though I will have to attend a couple of residencies a year and complete a year long internship locally towards the end of the program, most of the courses I will complete online which will give me greater flexibility - a bonus I don't have to emphasize is crucial in caring for David.

Also in the last two weeks I have been wading through The Noonday Demon - though this description might suggest a boring read, this book is in fact a thought provoking look at depression. The author weaves the painful experience of his own illness through a comprehensive discussion of depression as a medical, philisophical, social, and political issue. The book is slow reading due to the depth of discussion, but is well worth the effort. The author does not shy away from controversial topics, such as his own homosexuality and his views on suicide as an option when someone is in a terminal or hopeless condition. Though I did not agree with all of his ehical conclusions, I was intriqued by the questions he raises, particularly about the relation between personal identity and mental illness, and about the idea that depression is possibly an evolutionary positive trait.