Welcome to Sophie McCreary’s website
Sophie was diagnosed with Early Onset Bipolar Disorder when she was five years old. The purpose of this site is to raise money to fund her current residential treatment program and to raise awareness of this illness. Sophie is about one month into a possible two year program, which is extremely expensive, but offers her the hope of a future. We also hope this site will be used as an information source for any of you who are interested in learning more about Bipolar Disorder. Thank you for entering.
Steve and Felice McCreary
November 15, 2010
Update - Valentine’s Day 2012
First, we would like to thank the hundreds of people who have donated so generously to help us with Sophie’s care. As we have said many times, we simply do not know what would happen without such support. It has been a very humbling experience.
It’s been sixteen months since Sophie was admitted to Devereux and we’d like to offer a brief update.
This second placement was, again, quite a transition for all of us, especially Sophie. For the first few weeks, she wasn’t even allowed to wear shoes. This practice is to discourage new clients from trying to run away. Soon, she got the hang of the place and, though she wasn’t always happy about it, she managed to adjust. She has had a very structured schedule, a few medication changes and a wonderful therapist. We are very thankful for that. This therapist has been really important to Sophie’s treatment because she seems to totally understand Sophie's and her illness(es).
For the first eight months of her stay, we made nine trips to see Sophie. We would get a hotel room for a night or two and she would be allowed to stay with us, most of the time. Sometimes, we would have to take her back to the Unit at night, depending on her “earned” privilege level. There were not many “relaxed” times, however, as we all knew that on Sunday we would be going home and Sophie would not. This was very difficult for all of us, but especially for her.
In an attempt to prepare for her future transition back home, we started having “home passes” in late June. There have been six of these passes so far. These visits have all gone pretty well, though there were some inevitable rough spots. During the first several visits, we were all guilty of falling back into old patterns and behaviors. There was also the ever-present realization that, again, on Sundays, she would be going back to Devereux. Returning there, after spending time at home, is even harder for Sophie than having to return to the Unit after our earlier family visits to see her at Devereux. She sees our lives and remembers what it’s like not to live in a treatment center. This is not to say that she is medically ready to return home, but that she wants to. The “scenes” at home, prior to her leaving to return to Devereux, and the phone calls and therapy sessions, following her return there, were challenging. Many were filled with anger, resentment and even some remorse for her behaviors while at home. This usually tapered off after the first few days following a home visit. The last visit, in January, had none of this and, overall, things are moving in the right direction. She definitely seems to be improving. She is working really hard at learning to regulate her emotions and she is catching up in school. She has won a couple of literary awards, recently placed First in Unit in a Science Fair and even has an early morning job in the cafeteria! This would not have been possible a year ago and makes us feel that Devereux was the right choice for us.
Thanks to some extremely generous assistance, a reputable law firm has been helping with us deal with Blue Cross for the past year. We received an additional denial in July to which we have responded with thousands of pages of medical records, including a favorable opinion from a former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. We still do not understand, and cannot accept, Blue Cross’ position on Sophie’s treatment. We submitted the final appeal, that is available to us through them, in January. The next step will be an independent review. We should hear from them any day now....
Thank you for hanging in there with us and for visiting Sophie’s site.
Steve and Felice McCreary