The Promise

Introduction:

First of all, I am not a doctor, nor am I a counselor. I am, however, a husband and a father who has been forced to educate myself to deal with and help my wife of 34 years. Why? Simply put, soon after my wife and I were married, she began to experience severe mental illness.

Over the years, she has been diagnosed with Stage four Schizophrenia, Multiple Personalities, Psychosis, Mania, Manic Depression, Suicidal Tendencies, and a host of other problems too numerous to mention. As a result of one of the more dramatic treatments she has undergone, she also suffers from Degenerative Vascular Dementia.

I cannot say that the past 34 years haven’t been a wild ride because they have. I can say that I made a promise to my wife. We have sat down together to write this, hoping that it will inform victims of mental illness and their Doctors of ways and methods of dealing with the many problems and situations that arise for the victims, their families, and yes, their Doctors.

We by no means have all the answers, and there are no clear-cut solutions to many of the problems that arise. But by sharing this with you, the reader, we hope that it will help you and your family and make things a little easier.

One other thing that I will mention is that since we’ve begun to write this, she has started to remember what has happened to her in the past, and the memories have been horrific. She is the bravest woman that I know.