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Parents cope with child with schizophrenia - Los Angeles Times

Jani’s psychiatrist at UCLA, Dr. Karen Lim, has tried several medications. A whopping 300 milligrams of Thorazine manages to stop the psychosis, but it too causes dystonia.

Michael worries that the heavy doses of medication might kill his daughter. But without it, she might kill herself. Jani had recently told Michael that the temperature in Calalini had risen to 200 degrees — a sign that her hallucinations are worsening. She also says that 400-the-Cat is being really bossy.

One of the best things about Torito getting older is her awareness to the world around her. I took her to the Long Beach Aquarium last week and it was pretty awesome being able to show her the fish and sea anemones. I put her hand in the water and she made some funny faces. Just as I am able to show her more of the world, she is also freely discovering it as well. She will now look at us and gesture her thoughts to us by handing us books she wants us to flip through, pointing to the tupperware holding the crackers, bringing over the container with cereal, and bringing us various toys in her play area. When we were at the aquarium, she was often times more interested in all the kids and babies in their respective strollers as we walked around. And I could see her eyes taking it all in, processing what everyone was doing.

Just as our kiddo is extremely curious, she is also just a big ham. I feel like she is going to be extroverted, unafraid to share her emotions, and also very stubborn in knowing exactly what she wants. As a parent, I think I’m going to have to embrace that and really learn how to harness that determination and outgoingness. When I see how determined she is to put a ball on the walker and push it across the room, it reminds me that as she gets older, I don’t want to be the one telling her not to do something because it doesn’t make sense. I need to let her learn and try what she thinks is right and guide her when she looks at me to help.

But until then, I can laugh when she makes funny faces.

In 2 weeks, Torito will be 11 months old. I’ve never known 11 months to fly by so quickly. In the recent weeks, she went from sleeping through the night, to waking multiple times without being consolable. Now, though she wakes a few times still, I let her cry it out for a minute or two and she’ll fall back asleep. However, this makes for some odd dreams for yours truly since I’m never fully asleep and never fully awake.

This past weekend, we had a scare where Torito managed to use the bumper and toys in the crib to flip herself over and end up on the floor. How she did it exactly, I don’t know. I was in the bathroom when I heard the thud and crying, running out I saw her on the floor. Needless to say, she ended up in bed with me after that.

Her walking is getting better, the lion walker is her favorite toy and she will try to load it up with whatever toys she can get to stay on it and go back and forth across the room. She’s also a little monkey, climbing in out and around whatever she can get her hands on.

She’s learned how to point, and will often take to holding her hand up with her finger pointed, as if she were saying, i’m #1, or as her mom likes to call it, the ET phone home finger. And as she’s becoming better at expressing herself, we can tell when she’s done eating by the way she starts to throw her food over the side of the high chair. She loves to drink water and will exclaim the goodness with a nice long ahhh after each gulp. And when she’s tired, she’ll crawl into our laps and put her head on our legs. It’s so exciting.