Before Rosewood, life was bleak. Food was scary. Meal times were torture. And the bathroom toilet was my closest companion. I was lost. My family was suffering. My parents were at a loss. We’d been having the same conversation for almost a decade: “Eat Liz!” “No mom I can’t” “Please don’t purge, Lizzi!” “Dad I need to!” I had given up. I was starving, my heart was starting to have issues, and my high soprano singing voice was a scratchy thing of the past. I was passing out at work, at home, everywhere. ED was killing me, and I was content to die that way. Then we found Rosewood.
I had never thought of my eating disorder as anything serious, because medical professionals had always wrote me off due to my weight. I “wasn’t sick enough” (a statement that motivated my ED even more). But Rosewood was different. They took me inpatient, and kept me there for over a month until I moved on to residential for another month, then eventually the Extended Day Program in Santa Monica. Now, I’m not saying it was easy, because it 100% was not. I struggled on every step, but I was never alone. The Rosewood Santa Monica staff and peers truly changed my life. I don’t NEED to purge anymore or starve, and I realized I never really needed to in the first place. ED was my best friend, sometimes my only friend, for so long, but I needed to let it go. And with Rosewood’s help, I am now healing and actually happy.
