My Daughter Was 15 When She Finally Looked Me in the Eye and Whispered, “I Don’t Tell Dad When I’m Hurting Anymore. He Says I Only Do It for Attention.” The Next Afternoon, I Checked Her Out of School and Drove Her to the Hospital Without a Word to My Husband. Halfway Through the Scan, the Technician Went Completely Quiet.

“Or maybe it’s just a place where I can tell somebody I’m scared.”

I wanted to tell her I would buy it for her that same afternoon if I could.

Instead I taped the drawing to Karen’s refrigerator.

It stayed there while the harder work of rebuilding our lives went on.

PART 14

Over the following two months, Paige went to weekly physical therapy appointments and started seeing a teen therapist named Dr.

Susan Miller to work through the anxiety that still lingered.