People with OCD do every compulsion, or repeated behavior, in order to avoid an anxiety attack. Everything they do is done because they fear the idea of a panic attack, which they are all too familiar with. After years of being on every medication known to man and seeing several different therapists, I was ready for a big change. I couldn't take it anymore. This is when I discovered Rogers Memorial Hospital(otherwise known as the best treatment facility for OCD in the country). My mom and I were interviewed about a week or two after discovering Rogers by a lady who worked in admissions there. She asked all sorts of questions about my history with OCD. When the call was done, she said she would call when she got the approval for whatever program I would be approved for. We were aiming to be approved for the residential program. When you are admitted to a mental hospital, you are in one of four types of treatment: inpatient(stabilization for suicidal people, which usually lasts about a week), outpatient, partial-hospitalization(you go to the hospital for the day and go home at night), and residential(several months worth of treatment for people that don't self harm). I needed the approval in order to change my life. I was approved for the residential program at the CAC(child and adolescent center)and was put on the waiting list, but because of my severe condition, I was bumped up a few months. I was so overjoyed to be approved that my mom and I just hugged each other and cried. My disorder had began to control my life and I finally got a glimmer of hope. Next came the insurance. Rogers tends to cost close to $100,000 for the residential program, so we obviously needed financial help. After working with our wonderful insurance agency, we discovered we had coverage for unlimited days. It was absolutely amazing! After waiting and struggling to make it through school the next few months, I got an admission date. It was April 21, 2015. It was just barely after spring break. Getting an admission date was the best news I had ever gotten because I was starting to believe that I wasn't going to be able to go. There wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel until then.
I was able to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with my mom, dad, sisters Raegan and Sydni, friend Heather, and my boyfriend of nearly three years Jake. I was so thankful to go on vacation and have fun with everyone one last time before I left everything I had ever known. The vacation was amazing. I got to have a blast with my family and friends and even celebrate my three year anniversary with Jake a month early. Everything was incredible until the last night of vacation. It was one of the worst nights of my life. I cried and panicked because the thought of leaving the paradise I was in and going back to school was too much. The only thing that got me through that night was the support of my wonderful mom and my boyfriend. I'm so thankful to have such an amazing support system. My mom has always been such a great listener and Jake has done everything he can to help me. I am so lucky to have them. I ended up walking through town with my mom and then talking to Jake about how lucky I was(even though I was terrified)that I was able to go to Rogers because so many people can't go. That's when I truly knew that I was going. It hadn't hit me until then. I was really going to go and my life was going to be 100% different from anything that I had ever experienced.