Hello,

My name is Candice Cobb, for those who do not know me.

These last couple of months have been a very intense journey for my husband Joe and I. Starting just before the New Year, I took leave from work in order to attend CHI/Immanuel Hospital's Adult Partial Care Program at the recommendation of my therapist. As some of you know, my mental health has been a consistent struggle for me for many years now, some years worse than others.

As this was a full-time, Monday-Friday 9AM-3PM, group therapy program, I had to take FMLA (unpaid leave) from my job in order to attend. One of the benefits of this program in comparison to some past providers was that I was able to see an actual Psychiatrist almost every single day so that any progress or issues with medications could be closely monitored. I also had consistent access to recreational therapists, Peer Specialists, Masters's Level Therapists, Chaplains, Registered Nurses and more. I truly recommend the program for anyone struggling with their mental health; I thought I'd hate it because of group therapy, but it was pretty life-changing for me! This story isn't ALL bad!

While in the program, I learned so much that I hope to take with me through life! We worked on skills such as setting boundaries with the people in our lives, so we can work on my major depressive disorder, processing through ("squashing") negative thoughts, practicing Mindfulness, learning how to process through feelings of guilt and shame, so that my debilitating anxiety and managing some of the "urge surfing" that can come with having Bipolar Disorder as well.

What my psychiatrist ended up deciding was that I would be a great candidate for ECT, or Electroconvulsive Therapy. I have essentially proven myself to be what they call "treatment-resistant" to the other more widely used medications and treatments. Electroconvulsive Therapy is safe and effective for people with very stubborn Depression and Bipolar Disorder. I knew a few girls in my therapy group that were doing ECT as well, and they had said they'd had success with it more than any other medication. Given that I've tried somewheres around 20 something different psychiatric medications without much success (and for a BUTTLOAD of money), I was more than down to try something new, even though it was very scary. I have been doing ECT for about 5 weeks at this point. I have 1 week remaining of the intensive schedule of 3 treatments/week. After that, I believe I will go down to once/week for a bit, and then keep spreading them out a bit more and more, as long as the treatment is "sticking".

Between the Partial Care Program and the ECT treatment program, being able to take care of our basic expenses has been incredibly difficult for Joe and I. While undergoing ECT, I am not allowed to work at all. I also am not allowed to drive myself to and from my treatments, meaning I need Joe to take care of my transportation to and from treatments. This, along with his mental and physical health needs (his knee injury popping back up from work), has taken Joe completely away from his job at O'Daniel Honda. Sadly, also bc of the intensity, frequency, and lack of control over appt times for my treatment, meant he had to leave the Partial Care Program way before graduating the program. This has meant that, unfortunately, he did not get all of the skills and benefits from it that I was able to because of having to care for me.

When I say he's had to care for me, I do truly mean that. ECT causes very severe short-term memory loss, confusion and can cause the person to fall or otherwise hurt themselves in some way. I have taken quite a few spills down our stairs during the course of my treatment. I can for sure understand why they don't want patients working during the treatment; I could put myself or others in danger. I could screw up my work by forgetting something very important. My mind feels as if it's been through a cement grinder at the moment but will hopefully improve with less frequent treatments. At one point, out of concern that my mania was being affected poorly by the treatments, we switched from Unilateral to Bilateral shocks. This means shocking both sides of the brain instead of just one. This, unfortunately, did not work at all, and I would say it even made things worse by sending me into an episode of Psychosis. This, of course, derailed the progress of my treatments.

This treatment has been hard on Joe and me in several ways; Not only have the side effects of treatment been difficult (including but not limited to: memory loss, irritability, debilitating mood swings, clumsiness, migraines/headaches, confusion), but being that we have no control over the appt times, neither of us are working currently. Joe needs to find a new job; hopefully, I'll still HAVE my job once all this is said and done! As of right now, we really don't have any way of paying our basic expenses such as Rent, Phone, Internet, Verizon, Car Payment, etc. We have applied for any assistance that we are able to and have gotten help in the form of EBT for food and some assistance towards OPPD.

We're looking for any help from our friends and family to get us through this difficult mental health treatment. We appreciate any and all help given to us as we navigate this tough time together. Please direct any questions and/or concerns to one of us at the following numbers:

Joseph: (402) [phone redacted]

Candice: (402) [phone redacted]

With Love,

Joseph and Candice