Of course you’ve got my prayers, Janice. You’re one of my favorite people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in person this year, and I agree with everything that Audrey said. Please let me know if I can do anything to help out! (((Hugs)))

Oh Janice, I’m so sorry! I will definitely be praying for you and Olivia. I can’t imagine how scary that would be!!!

I think that you should absolutely ask for prayer and be able to share this type of thing. The biggest benefit, in my opinion, of the blogosphere is the relationships that we create. I have so many friends that I would have never had without blogging! And I sincerely consider you and my other blogger friends as much friends as my IRL friends.. so I would feel like I was hiding if I didn’t share the struggles I was going through.

Thank you for sharing and I will be praying!

I will pray for you sweet Olivia. I think you just use discernment as to what you want to share. I personally share about my kids, but haven’t had anything come up that would make me question that. I am not sure… I don’t post a lot of overly personal things. So if faced with a medical complication i am not sure what I would do. praying for wisdom for you.

It is hard to know where to draw the line. I think we each have to answer that for ourselves and whatever we think is best for us and our families. I don’t judge how much or how little others blog about their kids. We all have our own comfort levels.

That said, I’m glad that you’ve shared this info about your kids. I’m sure you’ll find much support and love. Praying for you all. xoxo

I will pray for her.

I just want you to know that I struggle with this very issue every day, simply because a lot of my regular readers live in my hometown and know who I am and who my son is. I struggle because I want to say more than I have been saying, but yet I don’t want people to start defining him by what they see on my blog.

I will tell you that I appreciate how open you’ve been in your blog posts.

First, prayers to you and your Olivia. I have some family experience with the difficulties that you face with both children. The children that we know that live with those issues are a complete delight, but the difficulties can flat suck the life out of all of us from time to time.

My daughter? She’s adopted. (A domestic, county adoption.) We’ve disclosed that on the blog, as we believe that it is important.

The blog is named after our first daughter who passed away in utero as a result of a nasty case of preeclampsia. We also included that in our blog. It’s important to give testimony of what God has done in our lives. Not everything that has happened with Bailey or K- were things we signed up for by any means, but there were things that strengthened our faith and proved to others that God is good!

Our K- was born cocaine positive. Details of her birth mother’s life choices have not been fully disclosed for a variety of reasons. Why do we disclose our child’s drug positive birth status? Because we don’t want people to think that just because a child is drug positive that they need to be dismissed as a problem case. Our daughter is a delight. She is at or above where she should be in school. Not only is she a true example of God intervening, but certainly proof that Chapter 2 in The Purpose Driven Life is completely true.

Your children and their difficulties weigh heavily on my heart this evening. Know that I have each of you blanketed in prayer.

This is something I’ve struggled with too, especially when it comes to posting about our struggles with our 8-year-old, Abby. The last time I did post something about her diagnoses of Asperger’s, ADHD and Anxiety, my cousin (a former attorney) left a Facebook comment that really made me think hard about how what I post might affect her in the future, and I’ve held off posting about our struggles with her since then. Then again, it’s so helpful and rewarding to get feedback and just to write, period… I guess it depends on what your comfort level is.

I still have a hard time realizing that Abby IS a special needs child – part of me is still in denial, even after diagnoses, medications, etc. Sigh.

I hope you can get answers soon for Olivia!

I am sorry your new year is starting off with these concerns. I just prayed for your daughter.

I write about my kids all the time, but am careful in what I post. (particularly about my 14-year-old who is all about privacy, etc). But I don’t use their names — I don’t want them to be “searchable.”

Your Olivia will be in our thoughts. I remember how scary it is to not know. I went through that when we were waiting to find out what was wrong with Ben. I do sometimes blog about my boys and I think there’s nothing more wonderful than the support you can get from other parents. I really want to check out 5 Minutes for Special Needs. I want to get involved in a site just like what you wonderful ladies have created.

I’m certainly keeping you and yours in my thoughts and prayers. *hugs*

Still thinking of you and your family today and praying to hear a positive solution for you and Olivia.

Praying for your sweet family, Janice!

Always, Always, Always praying for y’all.

Jan, this was a fantastic post. Reading through the comments, these relationships… they are such a huge part of why we do what we do.

The community, the support, the love, the help, the outpouring…

Love, Love, Love you xoxoxo

Olivia is definitely in our prayers Janice and so are you.
Deciding what and what not to share publicly is a personal decision. My son has Neurofibromatosis and my daughter (she’s deceased) had Myasthenia Gravis. Because of the time I spent in hospitals and with doctors I have always been quite open and bold with questions for others. Quite often when a child is diagnosed with medical problems the parents feel alone and forlorn. Because of your popularity, you have an opportunity to inspire people and give them the strength they may not receive elsewhere. However you may also be giving up your child’s privacy. This is Olivia’s life event but it’s yours too. Follow your heart, for you and Olivia.

Having never had any serious health issues with my kids other than apendicitis, I can not say that I understand how you feel. However, I can say that I will pray for you and your daughter and your son, plus your whole family.
The not knowing has to be the worst!! Never feel bad about asking for the blogging community to pray for your family, even if you are not comfortable in giving complete details of the situation, that is why we are here.
My children are adults, so I don’t struggle with what to post about them, but I do always ask my step-son and DIL before I post anything about my grandson, and I ask friends before I post anything about their children.
Wishing you a new year that is joyous and filled with good health and answers to your questions.

i struggle with this. i’ve had big, heartfelt posts about her grieving (in the beginning) but often speak to her strength, courage, beauty in the face of all her challenges (she is disabled). and i also have alluded to the loss of her first parents, how some losses never leave us, etc.

but i’ve yet to post a photo of the mass that was removed from her back, her legs (without pants) and the way she refers to the one that is paralyzed… there are so many things i feel are REALLY important to share- but since she doesn’t have a say at 4 and barely speaking English (yet)- how can i? do i open another PW blog? b/c i want to write. is there some way to do it honorably and with respect? i think there is. but i’ve yet to do a post like that.

Boy do I completely understand (as you have seen my post on your Blog Frog). I struggle with how much to expose without overexposing my kids and how much to share because I NEED feedback and prayers and understanding from other moms. It’s a hard, fine line.
It’s also sometimes hard to admit to yourself when your child has issues. I know all too well what a struggle it was emotionally for me to admit about Will’s autism, and that is what sometimes keeps us from sharing.
I will be keeping your sweet girlie in my prayers and praying for strength for you too, mama
(((HUGS)))

I too have struggled with how much to share about my son Noah, who has similar issues as your son.

Ultimately I have decided that there is really no better way for him to see how much we have tried to do to help him. I don’t think he could ever read it and not see how much we love him and have tried to make his life better.

I’ve been blogging for 4 1/2 years and having our struggles with him documented has been very helpful to me to see how far we really have come. So often it feels like we haven’t made any progress, because we get bogged down in the day to day struggles. My blog allows me to look back over the last 4 1/2 years and see how far we really have come.

Do I still worry that some day he might be upset that I wrote about him? Yes. I imagine it will be just one of many things about me that he finds horrible during adolescence. My plan is that when he gets older and is ready I will read it with him so he can ask me questions and really understand what I’ve shared. The only tricky part of this is to make sure I do that before he finds it on his own.

More concerning to me right now is that my parents and brother have started reading my blog. I’m feeling uncomfortable really letting it all out on there now because of them reading. I’m suddenly feeling very vulnerable in a way I never have before while blogging. And that sucks because blogging is a huge form of therapy for me.

i do post about my children… i’m not sure what the line is, but i hope i’ll recognize it if/when the time comes.

keeping your babies in my thoughts ((hugs))

Not to be a butinsky, but did you ever consider Lyme disease? My son who has been socially introverted for most of his life and complained in his late teens of having social phobias and anxiety was finally diagnosed with Lyme after taking him to a LLMD…you can’t go to a infectious disease doctor as they are in the pockets of Big pharma and think Lyme is no big deal and easy to diagnose and treat. also with my Lyme I had many facial ticks, mostly under my eyes. Just a thought if you need more info the best site is http://www.lymenet.org There you can make a request for a doctor in your area…and yes it is in all 50 states.

I think that writing about these things is important as a way to vent .. as a way to share and inform others who may be having similar problems .. and, I think even more importantly, as a way to bring your thoughts, feelings and fears into some state of cohesiveness.
Our instincts as mothers are rarely wrong. I know that for two years I kept saying that something was wrong with my son. He had lost his words, he had horrible terrible awful violent tantrums, and he honestly didn’t ‘get’ the concept of consequences. My friends, my doctor … all of them kept saying things like, “He’s just a boy; they’re more difficult” or “Give it time; not all children progress at the same rate”. When he was almost four, I was FINALLY able to get a workup and psych consult, where he was diagnosed with PDD/NOS, ODD, and ADHD. I was also told that he would never be mainstreamed, etc. But since I had already self-diagnosed (at least the PDD part), I had started my own form of therapy with him. He’s nine years old now, in a wonderful charter school in regular classes with lots of friends (which I never thought he’d be able to have) and A’s and B’s on his report card. I didn’t put him in school until he was 7, but he’s right up with everyone else in his third grade class; actually, better than most. It’s been a long, very difficult road, but I didn’t give up and I kept myself open to other forms of treatment (vitamin therapy, gluten-free, etc.) and found a drug-free combination that worked for him.
I will keep you, your family, and, most of all, your gorgeous Olivia in my thoughts and prayers.