chapter seven

Katelyn was surprised that Vanessa made her the godmother of her daughter. I mean for so many years they were bitter rivals. This meant that they had somewhat mended the bonds between the two of them. Anyway the next day she had doctors appointment with a hematologist. The reason why she was having an appointment with this type of doctor was because of the fact that she had been feeling tired and out energy a lot lately. At the appointment they took her blood pressure and drew some blood. Her and the girls had to wait for the results.

In the meantime they did things at home. During this time not knowing the results of those tests that the doctor ran on her. Well it made her really anxious. Robert had scheduled another appointment. This appointment was with his friend Christina. Christina was a psychologist. Robert had recommended Christina to Katelyn because she had shown signs and symptoms of having a form of mental illness.

At the appointment Christina said "So my friend Robert has recommended you to me. I am going to ask you some questions."

Katelyn said "Ok I am ready to answer your questions."

Christina said "when did all of this begin for you?"

Katelyn said "what do you mean?"

Christina said "when did your symptoms begin?"

Katelyn said "Oh well it all started when I was married at the age 18."

Christina said "Now is this when you married your current husband?"

Katelyn said "Oh heavens no Scott would never lay a hand on me in a harming way. This was when I was married to my first husband. His name was Eric Young . Anyway during that time I was a part of the Mormon church."

Christina said "Okay do you feel comfortable with talking about this subject?"

Katelyn said "yes I feel fine talking about this subject."

Christina said "Alright so what did your ex husband do to you to make have these symptoms."

Katelyn said "what symptoms?"

Christina said "Are you aware that you might have the symptoms of PTSD?"

Katelyn said " No or at least I do not think that I have the symptoms of PTSD. I mean do I show the symptoms of PTSD?"

Christina said "Yes you do."

Katelyn said "Oh I do not mean to."

Christina said "Let's try an experiment."

Katelyn said "ok what is the experiment?"

Christina then grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon and tried to hand it over to Katelyn. That was when Katelyn had this horrible flashback. In the flashback she saw her ex husband Eric. He was about to hit her again. After that she backed away. Honestly this was when Christina could tell something was seriously wrong with Katelyn. So she put the copy of the Book of Mormon back on her bookshelf.

Christina said "He is not here."

Katelyn said "I know but that book just brings back bad memories for me."

Christina said "So, why do things from the Mormon faith bring back bad memories for you?"

Katelyn said "My ex husband Eric used to beat me. And the people that were in charge of the faith told me not to go to the police about the beatings. They told me just to go to the bishop."

Christina said "Why?"

Katelyn said "They thought that the police would not believe me about the beatings. So, I went to the bishop three different times and he did absolutely nothing about what was going on with Eric and I."

Christina said "So what did you do?"

Katelyn said "I took matters into my own hands. I called the cops on Eric and he was arrested by them. While he was in jail I sent him the divorce papers and I had also filed a restraining order against him."

Christina said "See you are really brave. You had took the strength to tell your ex husband that you could not take it anymore."

Katelyn said "I know that but there is one more thing."

Christina said "what is it?"

Katelyn said"I have never competed in an ice skating competition since then. I mean competing used to make me really happy. But now…"

Christina said "what?"

Katelyn said "Now I get these horrible flashbacks . And that is why I had retired from the world of ice skating."

Christina said "Have you ever considered that your ice skating career cannot be related to these past events?"

Katelyn said "No I have not."

Christina said "Why?"

Katelyn said "Because of the fact that every time that I would set foot on the ice. My mind would go to this place where all I could think about was him screaming at me and telling me that I am worthless."

Christina said "I see. Have you ever tried a mindfulness meditation experiment before?"

Katelyn said "No I cannot say that I have."

Christina said "okay I want you to close your eyes. I want you to go to a memory that made you really happy."

Katelyn then closed her eyes.

Christina said "Have got that memory?"

Katelyn said "Yes."

Christina said "good now use that memory to push away all of those bad memories. Now take a deep breath in and then breathe out. Now open your eyes."

Katelyn then opened her eyes.

Christina said "So, which memory did you use?"

Katelyn said "the day that I got married to my husband Scott."