July 2012 Update

Is it possible for N to continue to improve?  I continue to see his anxiety and depression reduce.  He still has hiccups, but they come less and less frequently.  He got his driver's license last month.  His first trip in the car afterwards was to visit a cute girl (so brave of him!).  And last night there were two cute girls sitting on our porch with him.  Even N's younger, 14 year-old brother said, "I'm so proud!"  Both of these things, while they might seem silly, are actually demonstrations of N's reduced anxiety. 

We've had two suicides here recently.  One was a close friend of N's brother.  We held our breath through both, but N seemed to be fine. 

I mentioned a long time ago about some struggles that N's brother, J, was having.  He ended up getting worse before he got better, but now he just seems so normal  We must have a tendency towards some OCD behaviors in our family.  But I feel like we dodged a bullet with J because of our extensive education on all things eating-disorders and OCD.

We have another little boy in our home.  IB is 6 years old.  He was born right before N got sick.  N and IB are so similar.  I can already see immense amounts of anxiety in this little brother.  I've learned how to handle it better, but it doesn't necessarily fix it.   Strangely, I find some relief in knowing that.  If I could have a do-over with N, there are a million things I would do differently.  But this just shows me that doing those things differently still may not have changed the outcome. 

N just started his first full-time job today.  He'll be doing hard physical work.  My new challenge is to help him to apply regular eating appropriate to his workday.  I'll also need to help him adjust his breakfasts and lunches in order to provide him the energy he needs (and so that he won't lose weight).