Wanda's Secrets, A Story About a Girl with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Chapter 5: From OCD Caterpillars to Beautiful Butterflies
"How did it go?" Mrs. Chester asked after school the next day.
"Great! The doctor was nice and he didn't think I was crazy. He said my brain just works differently. He said he can help me," Wanda said.
"I told you there was help."
"Before I felt like a weirdo. Dr. Martin made it seem almost normal. Like having a broken leg or something."
Mrs. Chester laughed. "You know, I felt the same way when I first found out I had OCD. I have a present for you." She handed Wanda a small box wrapped in shiny purple paper.
"Oh, It's beautiful!" Wanda cried. A butterfly rested in the box.
Mrs. Chester lifted the gold and brown butterfly pin out of the box and pinned it on Wanda's sweater. "This is a reminder of what you and I will someday be Wanda."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I think you feel a lot like I did when my OCD was stronger than I was. I felt like a caterpillar. I felt trapped inside my brain - like a caterpillar trapped in a cocoon. I couldn't seem to control my constant checking."
"You're right," Wanda said. "But, for me, it's washing. I feel like I can't stop."
"After a few months of medication and therapy, you'll feel more like a butterfly," Mrs. Chester said. "You will break free from OCD - like a butterfly breaks free from its cocoon."
"Do you feel like a butterfly, Mrs. Chester?"
"That's a good question, Wanda." Mrs. Chester thought about it a minute. "Some days I feel like a butterfly and some days I still feel like a caterpillar. But it seems like every month I have more and more butterfly days."
"Do you think you'll ever be a butterfly every day, Mrs. Chester? I want to be a butterfly every day, not just some days."
Mrs. Chester looked into Wanda's blue eyes. "Maybe someday they'll have a cure for OCD. We'll be able to break free and be butterflies every day. But for now, I am happy to be a butterfly most of the time."
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