Celebrating My Husband of 15 Years

My husband, Tom, and I are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary in September. He’s been very supportive of me in my struggle with schizoaffective disorder and anxiety every step of the way since we met. Today, I'd like to celebrate my husband.

Celebrating My Husband: He Supports My Medication Even Though It Causes Weight Gain

For over a year, I’ve been seeing a dietician to lose weight brought on by my antipsychotic medication and mood stabilizer since the start of my illness years ago. Tom has driven me once every four weeks on his day off to see the dietician. The weight loss has been slow going, and I’ve been feeling discouraged. So yesterday, I asked Tom what he thought of me decreasing my antipsychotic to lose weight. (The only reason I’m fat–and I don’t want to shy away from that word–is because of the antipsychotic, with a bit of help from the mood stabilizer.) Tom said he didn’t think I should reduce the medication because my antipsychotic is the primary treatment for curbing my schizoaffective anxiety. I think he’s right. Also, when I’ve thought of this idea before, I’ve worried that lowering my antipsychotic would bring back the voices–auditory hallucinations–which I haven’t heard in over a year, and I’d like to keep them away for good after periodic breakthroughs over the years.

I should stress here in celebrating my husband that another way Tom has been supportive is that he’s never given me a hard time about my weight. Actually, when we first started dating, and I switched back to the antipsychotic I’m on now, he told me he loved me for the first time, and I warned him that I was going to gain a ton of weight. He said, “I don’t care. I love you.”

He also mentioned that he’d be shocked if I didn’t gain 60 pounds as his girlfriend since all he did was sit on the couch, eat, and watch TV and that his other girlfriends had gained a lot of weight after starting to date him.

Celebrating My Husband: He Takes Care of Me

Since I developed bone-on-bone arthritis in my knees over the last two years, Tom has done a really good job of taking care of me with that challenge as well. He’s committed his days off of work to take me places I need to go to, mostly doctor appointments. You see, my car is parked two blocks away in my parents’ garage, and I can’t walk there with my bad knees.

This is added to how excellent he has been at helping me take care of my schizoaffective disorder and anxiety. He even sits in the bathroom while I take a shower because, for some reason, taking showers makes me anxious. I’ll yell out, “Now I’m washing my face!” and he’ll yell back, “Yay, Biddit!” (“Biddit” is my nickname.)

So, Tom is loving and supportive, and I want to celebrate my husband for that. I feel lucky for our loving relationship. I hope he feels fortunate to have me in his life, too.