"Wow. Why do you gotta start like that? After months of silence?"
Yeah get over it. Just read this crap.
HYPERTHERMIA
No, this is not when your kid runs themselves around so crazy until they pass out from heat exhaustion. Here, hyperthermia stands for a kiddo who dies in a hot car. Texas is the leading state in this tragedy. So pay attention. here's some chilling statistics:
- The temperature goes up 20 degrees in 10 minutes, up 30 degrees in 20 minutes, up 50+ degrees in an hour.
- 51% of hyperthermia deaths are children forgotten by their caregivers
- 30% are children who went to play in the car and couldn't get out
- almost 500 deaths IN TEXAS since 1998
Here's a news story by a nurse at Cook who lost her little 4 year old Lilly last summer in the blistering hot SUV....while she was on maternity leave. Seriously.
Local Mom Raises Warnings After Child's Death
Some great take home tips:
-put something in the front seat or on the steering wheel that reminds you the kiddo is in the backseat
-put something in the backseat by the child like your phone or your house keys (keep them separate from your car key like on a carabiner clip for easy access) So you have to go back there before you go inside
-always lock your car when not in use and check the backseat when you go inside even if the kids aren't with you, put the keys where they're inaccessible to children
-NEVER run back inside to grab something or make a quick trip to the bathroom while you leave the kid in the car. It's not worth the risk of forgetting your child in a car that reaches death temperatures in under 10 minutes!!
Need more REALLY in depth info and stats and such? Here you go: Golden Gate Weather - Hyperthermia
LAWN MOWERS
Don't believe me that they're dangerous? We had 3 amputations and two impalements in ONE MONTH from riding AND push mowers. Here's a story (and a gnarly picture) of one family that was ready to talk about it.
Girl Impaled In Neck
Some more good tips:
- Children (and adults) should be inside if a mower is turned on. They shoot debris out all the time. Don't get caught taking a wire to the neck.
- Children should never be on a riding lawn mower. Period.
- wear boots and jeans when mowing. Even if you don't get debris it'll protect you from snake bites. That's another post for another time. But trust me.
Want to know if your kid is ready to mow the lawn? Here's AAP's recommendations for you:
AAP Lawn Mower Rec's
For those of you who think I'm jaded or over protective or whatever other bull you can come up with to deny the reality of these situations....just ask yourself if you're willing to risk that for your own child.
I'm not.
- Brought to you by 'Can't Fix Stupid' Trauma Publications
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
Photo A Day
Welp, I am kind of stealing an idea and putting my own twist on it. I'll be taking a picture of baby June everyday this year. (Ok fine, maybe not "a" picture everyday but a dozen pictures everyday...) Then at the end of the year I'm going to have it printed into a book. Yep...365 pictures. That should only cost about...mmm...maybe $300 in a photobook.
Ok, I'll have to figure that part out later.
Until then, here's yesterday's picture. (4th posting if you saw it on Facebook, twitter, and instagram already...get over it. No one's making you read this blog.)
January 1, 2012
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone (in the usual Broadway song and dance style)
Ok, I'll have to figure that part out later.
Until then, here's yesterday's picture. (4th posting if you saw it on Facebook, twitter, and instagram already...get over it. No one's making you read this blog.)
January 1, 2012
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone (in the usual Broadway song and dance style)
Thursday, November 17, 2011
There's a kind of a sort of cost
"There's a kind of a sort of cost, there's a couple of things get lost" -Glinda, Wicked
When I entered into the world of Apple, I didn't realize the cost. Not the monetary cost, but the cost of having constant connection to the social networking world at the very tips of your actual fingers. There was rarely a need to use my REAL computer anymore. So what's the cost exactly? Not blogging as much. No keyboard :: no blogging.
Oh yeah. And I had a baby.
There's a lot to say. Some of it will obviously have to wait. Or you'll be sitting here through Christmas reading it. After all, it's been since June 14th that I've posted.
So let's get down to it, shall we?
First on the list....
NEWSIES!!!!! It's coming to Broadway!!!! I say "coming" like I live there. I guess I should say "going" to Broadway. Unfortunately it's an Nederlander Theater which is not one of my favorites. But it's housed quite a few of my favorites, so I guess it's only fitting.
Have you guys read any of the latest blogs from Compassion's trip to Ecuador? Oh holy moly. There's some powerful stuff in there. Read some of them here. Or you can click on the Compassion Ecuador banner on the right hand of the page. My particular favorites are from Ann Voscamp this year.
Speaking of Compassion. We'll be offering the opportunity to donate money towards water filters very soon. These water filters will go directly to our church partners in Kenya. They provide clean water (no dirt, no microbes, no sickness!!) for an entire family for life! In fact, our local water expert Charlie Anderson did the math and he said it would make clean water for 65 people for life!!! And they're only $55!!!!! Crap dang. Sign me up! I want to be a part of that story in heaven!! So hold your horses, it's coming soon.
Ok, we'll do this again soon. It's been nice talking at you. :)
When I entered into the world of Apple, I didn't realize the cost. Not the monetary cost, but the cost of having constant connection to the social networking world at the very tips of your actual fingers. There was rarely a need to use my REAL computer anymore. So what's the cost exactly? Not blogging as much. No keyboard :: no blogging.
Oh yeah. And I had a baby.
There's a lot to say. Some of it will obviously have to wait. Or you'll be sitting here through Christmas reading it. After all, it's been since June 14th that I've posted.
So let's get down to it, shall we?
First on the list....
NEWSIES!!!!! It's coming to Broadway!!!! I say "coming" like I live there. I guess I should say "going" to Broadway. Unfortunately it's an Nederlander Theater which is not one of my favorites. But it's housed quite a few of my favorites, so I guess it's only fitting.
Have you guys read any of the latest blogs from Compassion's trip to Ecuador? Oh holy moly. There's some powerful stuff in there. Read some of them here. Or you can click on the Compassion Ecuador banner on the right hand of the page. My particular favorites are from Ann Voscamp this year.
Speaking of Compassion. We'll be offering the opportunity to donate money towards water filters very soon. These water filters will go directly to our church partners in Kenya. They provide clean water (no dirt, no microbes, no sickness!!) for an entire family for life! In fact, our local water expert Charlie Anderson did the math and he said it would make clean water for 65 people for life!!! And they're only $55!!!!! Crap dang. Sign me up! I want to be a part of that story in heaven!! So hold your horses, it's coming soon.
Ok, we'll do this again soon. It's been nice talking at you. :)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Dad's Noggin
Here's a brief update of what's going on inside dad's little noggin.
For those of you who don't know, since January he's had double vision since January that has affected his far away vision. An MRI was done, and he was sent to a neurologist. The MRI was negative at this time. The neurologist started him on a medication for ocular myasthenia gravis that appeared to be helping for a short period of time. At this point he started seeing a neuro-opthalmologist to follow up with the possible diagnosis of ocular MG.
At some point a few months ago it got worse. So he tried a week of steroids and kept taking the medication. It improved fairly significantly but after he stopped taking the steroids, the vision returned as it was.
Last weekend, the double vision continued to worsen and began affecting his upclose vision which was very frusterating for him, as you can only imagine. Another MRI, this time with and without contrast was done and showed a small meningioma in his caverous sinus.
A few definitions for you:
Meningioma: this is a tumor that can have several different presentations. Only a very slight percentage invade the actual brain tissue. An even smaller percentage are cancerous. His is neither.
Cavernous sinus: this is located in the base of your skull and although the name is confusing to some, it's not a sinus cavity that houses your snot during allergy season. Simply put, the cavernous sinus is a little area that houses a lot of blood vessels and is where your 6th cranial nerve (the ocular nerve) travels between the eye and the brain. Hence his vision symptoms.
On Monday morning, he, mom, and I met the neurosurgeon at UTSW to formulate a plan. As expected, he told us that it is likely benign (and he knows this based on the location and presentation). He also said that the cavernous sinus is not a place they like to operate because of the nerves that run through there. Operating on a tumor there would likely worsen his vision and it would be a permanent worsening. Obviously not our goal. So with those things in mind, he suggested radiation therapy. Radiation will either halt the growth of the tumor, lessen the size of it, or blast it to smitherines, but there's no way to know until you do it. This will most likely be a one time radiation treatment that is done by a radiation oncologist. (Again, no...that doesn't mean this is cancer. They are just the doctors that do the radation.)
Dad will meet the radiation oncologist for a consultation next Friday to discuss the options. And we'll take it from there.
The one peice of info that I didn't see coming was that the neurosurgeon isn't sure what his sight will be like even if the tumor goes away completely. It could return to normal, get a little better, or stay the same. This depends on if the nerve there has been damaged or if it's just irritated and compressed by the tumor.
All of that said, here's how you can support him in prayer:
For those of you who don't know, since January he's had double vision since January that has affected his far away vision. An MRI was done, and he was sent to a neurologist. The MRI was negative at this time. The neurologist started him on a medication for ocular myasthenia gravis that appeared to be helping for a short period of time. At this point he started seeing a neuro-opthalmologist to follow up with the possible diagnosis of ocular MG.
At some point a few months ago it got worse. So he tried a week of steroids and kept taking the medication. It improved fairly significantly but after he stopped taking the steroids, the vision returned as it was.
Last weekend, the double vision continued to worsen and began affecting his upclose vision which was very frusterating for him, as you can only imagine. Another MRI, this time with and without contrast was done and showed a small meningioma in his caverous sinus.
A few definitions for you:
Meningioma: this is a tumor that can have several different presentations. Only a very slight percentage invade the actual brain tissue. An even smaller percentage are cancerous. His is neither.
Cavernous sinus: this is located in the base of your skull and although the name is confusing to some, it's not a sinus cavity that houses your snot during allergy season. Simply put, the cavernous sinus is a little area that houses a lot of blood vessels and is where your 6th cranial nerve (the ocular nerve) travels between the eye and the brain. Hence his vision symptoms.
On Monday morning, he, mom, and I met the neurosurgeon at UTSW to formulate a plan. As expected, he told us that it is likely benign (and he knows this based on the location and presentation). He also said that the cavernous sinus is not a place they like to operate because of the nerves that run through there. Operating on a tumor there would likely worsen his vision and it would be a permanent worsening. Obviously not our goal. So with those things in mind, he suggested radiation therapy. Radiation will either halt the growth of the tumor, lessen the size of it, or blast it to smitherines, but there's no way to know until you do it. This will most likely be a one time radiation treatment that is done by a radiation oncologist. (Again, no...that doesn't mean this is cancer. They are just the doctors that do the radation.)
Dad will meet the radiation oncologist for a consultation next Friday to discuss the options. And we'll take it from there.
The one peice of info that I didn't see coming was that the neurosurgeon isn't sure what his sight will be like even if the tumor goes away completely. It could return to normal, get a little better, or stay the same. This depends on if the nerve there has been damaged or if it's just irritated and compressed by the tumor.
All of that said, here's how you can support him in prayer:
- that he maintains a healthy attitude emotionally and spiritually
- the radiation blasts the tumor away permanently
- his eyesight improves or even returns to normal
Friday, June 10, 2011
Brain Tumors, Rain, and The Month of June
It's June. Hopefully not the month of our little June. She's not done cooking. We don't want her coming out like a half-baked biscuit, now do we? The Neverland Nursery is coming together peice by peice. The walls and ceiling are painted, and we've got the carpet guys coming out Monday to measure. Hopefully that'll be done real, real soon. I want our hallway cleaned back out!
We're still moving along. She's definitely doing more moving than I am. Yesterday while mom untangled years of wiring behind our TV set (and I helped by holding a flashlight), I watched my belly move around like the Alien was about to pop out of my abdomen. Apparently she was tired of floating on her head. And just so you know, she does this in the middle of the night, too. Not that I'm sleeping much anyways.
For those of you who don't know, my dad has been struggling with double vision since early January. He's seen various doctors and specialists, and nothing has worked. It got progressively worse to the point that it affected his close up vision this past weekend warranting a repeat MRI (this time with contrast). And what do you know...
A brain tumor.
Yeah, initially I was telling people not to say the "T" word, until I read his MRI report myself. There it was - the specific name of what type of tumor they thought. (Sorry, not revealing that info here. We haven't seen the Doc yet and I don't want you people getting all google happy on me.) The early good news is that it is RARELY cancerous, and they even used the word "small" in the report.
Monday morning he has an appointment with a neurosurgeon in Dallas from UTSW that we'll be going to. No, that doesn't mean he needs brain surgery. Neurosurgeons are obviously the experts in brain tumors so they'll make up the plan of care and we will basically do what they say.
All prayers are appreciated. In case you didn't know, there's a swarm of brain tumors affecting pastors these days. Sounds like a mighty plot. Thankfully, we've already won.
On the otherside of things....tomorrow is our first shower. Yay! Baby things for baby June! She's excited, too, she just doesn't know it yet.
We're still moving along. She's definitely doing more moving than I am. Yesterday while mom untangled years of wiring behind our TV set (and I helped by holding a flashlight), I watched my belly move around like the Alien was about to pop out of my abdomen. Apparently she was tired of floating on her head. And just so you know, she does this in the middle of the night, too. Not that I'm sleeping much anyways.
For those of you who don't know, my dad has been struggling with double vision since early January. He's seen various doctors and specialists, and nothing has worked. It got progressively worse to the point that it affected his close up vision this past weekend warranting a repeat MRI (this time with contrast). And what do you know...
A brain tumor.
Yeah, initially I was telling people not to say the "T" word, until I read his MRI report myself. There it was - the specific name of what type of tumor they thought. (Sorry, not revealing that info here. We haven't seen the Doc yet and I don't want you people getting all google happy on me.) The early good news is that it is RARELY cancerous, and they even used the word "small" in the report.
Monday morning he has an appointment with a neurosurgeon in Dallas from UTSW that we'll be going to. No, that doesn't mean he needs brain surgery. Neurosurgeons are obviously the experts in brain tumors so they'll make up the plan of care and we will basically do what they say.
All prayers are appreciated. In case you didn't know, there's a swarm of brain tumors affecting pastors these days. Sounds like a mighty plot. Thankfully, we've already won.
On the otherside of things....tomorrow is our first shower. Yay! Baby things for baby June! She's excited, too, she just doesn't know it yet.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
WARNING: SOAP BOX TO FOLLOW
Is it really the end of May? Oh dear.
Mom and I went to register this past weekend, and wow. Some of this stuff people buy...give me a break. Some of it is great for a busy mom who needs to cut some corners on time, and some of it is just flat out lazy!! Geez louise. That's why I have job security. No need to actually watch them with some of this stuff on the market. And then when they climb up on the TV set and pull it over on top of themselves or "miraculously" get in the backyard for an afternoon swim, everyone is shocked at how they accomplished that feat!
And then time to register for a carseat. Luckily I work with just the right people for this info. The Injury Prevention Coordinator in my office made a few recommendations (and no, any carseat isn't just a carseat) - there's entire conferences on carseats people. Seriously. So now I will get on my car seat safety box for a second. New recommendations from AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) is rear-facing car seat until 2 years old. The previous recommendation was 1year-18months old AND at least 20 pounds. That means if your 8 month old is 21 pounds, they still sit rear facing. BUT!!!! Now they say if they can stay rear-facing until 2 years (as long as their knees are off their chest) then that is the best practice. This is all based off muscle and bone development for their little cervical spines and the repeated injuries we see in this age group.
And for crying out loud - put your kid in the backseat with BOTH a lap belt and shoulder strap until they are 13. Yes, 13. Just do it. Don't ask me why. If you really don't believe me on this, I'll tell you some stories. Not one or two, but lots of stories. Cervical spine injuries aren't jokes. Feeding tubes and a urinary catheter every 6 hours aren't jokes.
Ok. I'm done with that.
Mom and I went to register this past weekend, and wow. Some of this stuff people buy...give me a break. Some of it is great for a busy mom who needs to cut some corners on time, and some of it is just flat out lazy!! Geez louise. That's why I have job security. No need to actually watch them with some of this stuff on the market. And then when they climb up on the TV set and pull it over on top of themselves or "miraculously" get in the backyard for an afternoon swim, everyone is shocked at how they accomplished that feat!
And then time to register for a carseat. Luckily I work with just the right people for this info. The Injury Prevention Coordinator in my office made a few recommendations (and no, any carseat isn't just a carseat) - there's entire conferences on carseats people. Seriously. So now I will get on my car seat safety box for a second. New recommendations from AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) is rear-facing car seat until 2 years old. The previous recommendation was 1year-18months old AND at least 20 pounds. That means if your 8 month old is 21 pounds, they still sit rear facing. BUT!!!! Now they say if they can stay rear-facing until 2 years (as long as their knees are off their chest) then that is the best practice. This is all based off muscle and bone development for their little cervical spines and the repeated injuries we see in this age group.
And for crying out loud - put your kid in the backseat with BOTH a lap belt and shoulder strap until they are 13. Yes, 13. Just do it. Don't ask me why. If you really don't believe me on this, I'll tell you some stories. Not one or two, but lots of stories. Cervical spine injuries aren't jokes. Feeding tubes and a urinary catheter every 6 hours aren't jokes.
Ok. I'm done with that.
I am having fun looking at tiny little clothes and planning the nursery. A Neverland Nursery. Oh yes yes yes. Complete with the London Clock Tower, pirates, mermaids, and of course...fairies.
"When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies." JM Barrie, from the book Peter Pan.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Don't You Wanna Put Your Face In That?
This is my last post about our Disney World Babymoon. So for all you non-fantatics, take a chill pill.
The bats, although somewhat rated-R, are seriously one of my favorite exhibits in the Pangani Forest Trail at Animal Kingdom. I love bats. Always have.
And seriously, don't you want to just put your full face in that wing??
I would.
For free.
Mmmm...I bet it's silky.
Fine. I'll stop being weird about the bats.
I haven't blogged in a while (and I still hate that word...blog...blogged might even be worse) because of the constant sickness. There wasn't much to say other than, "Well, I'm 14 weeks pregnant now and still puking my brains up," and then later, "Well, it's 23 weeks now, still vomiting all the time."
But the progesterone fog has lifted and I am feeling close to myself again. Except for the constant stretching, not fitting into clothes, incessant reflux, and the alienesque-ness of having a life form squirm inside you. But other than that...
In all truthfulness, we're just happy as clams.
And who wouldn't be when you get to buy stuff like this....
You'll be happy to know those ruffles are as soft as that bat wing.
Sorry. I couldn't help myself.
Count down to meeting little June: 13 weeks, 4 days
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