without boring you to tears.
The night before class, she prepares her Condon Bleu uniform which has to be spotless with a necktie scarf tied to code. Her hair hidden under a white spotless cap. No jewelry or cologne.
She has to remember to take her electronic parking lot key, her culinary tools to name a few continuing mental exercises that she has methodically written down and gone over in her mind. She is completely focused on the tasks at hand. Doing her homework of reading and writing essays. Remembering to fill her car with gas before her long drive down the freeway for an hour or two, depending on traffic. She takes her medication 3 times a day.
She finished her first week of classes from 2 PM - 5:30 PM daily, successfully. She may have cut her finger slicing and dicing. She may have made her first slices too large, and felt discouraged when she could not make a swan out of an apple; but she expected to be perfect the first time around. No wonder she gets anxiety. I always encourage her to practice like everyone else has to do.
July 24, 2010, Kristine came home permanently from Gould Farm, Massachusetts http://www.gouldfarm.org/ so she could enter society as a functioning individual in a profession she desires. But it was at Appleton House, Belmont, MA http://www.mclean.harvard.edu/tour/hitech/appleton_more.html in May of 2007, where she received her first successful drug management care that got her where she is today at Condon Bleu Culinary school in Pasadena, CA.
When she first went to Appleton House, she was completely other worldly. Having suffered from professional drug mismanagement from 2003 until 2007, my husband found Appleton House, after reading about it in an introductory to a thriller novel. Dr. Irvin introduced a drug to Kristine called Clozapine because she was not responding well to other drugs.
The great thing about Clozapine is that it repairs the brain. It is unlikely that any abnormality in a single brain chemical, including dopamine, will explain all the features of a disorder as complex as schizophrenia. Many other neurotransmitters and networks of neurons are under active investigation.
My husband and I know it was the constant care and brilliant staff at Appleton that got her on her feet, Kristine won't admit it, because she was too sick at the time; although, she remembers the terrible things that happened before she entered Appleton; from a combination of prescription drugs from psychiatrists; that drove her to suicide; and that, sent her into numerous mental wards. Of course, most doctors would say it was her illness, not the drug, that drove her to suicide.
My own theory. They don't know. Observation is paramount in psychology and it was not until she was given the drugs that she wanted to kill herself; and it wasn't until, after, she was off those particular drugs that she no longer had that tendency. I am sure Tinker Bell with her magic dust would agree.
Although, I don't deny she is mentally ill with some disorder that the psychiatrists think is a schizo-affective disorder. We have been told that people suffering from schizophrenia symptoms who hear voices in their head, usually hear voices of gloom and doom; not friendly encouraging voices, like Kristine's. She hears voices that make her laugh or encourages her to think positive when she has anxiety. Maybe she is on a higher frequency with her guardian angels. I would like to think so.
When Kristine left home for Appleton, she was starting to gain weight from her 120 pounds to 220 lbs. I don't think it was the medication that made her gain weight. It was her mental illness of wanting some meat on her bones. She wanted to be curvy and not so thin.
A sign of her ever changing mind; she took one look at her new driver's license picture
and said, "I'm fat." From that time forward, she shopped for low fat and diet foods. She started drinking vegetable juices in the morning before class. She is very conscious of her appearance; whitening her teeth and maintaining good hygiene. A complete 180 turn around from her previous thoughts and feelings. I do believe her brain is repairing itself. I do believe Clozapine is a good drug for her.
November 2011, Kristine finally received her diploma which was mailed to her as she was in New York
Great post! Kristine looks good in her chef attire, I think it (chef) fits her well.
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