Tag Archives: health

Murphy’s Law of Triple Disaster

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The first disaster that initiated the rule of ‘everything happens in threes’ was that I received a letter from the county auditor. They never got our marriage papers. Something happened to them on their way from the courthouse to the county auditor and if it turns out our mail carrier works that neighborhood, I’m going to scream. The auditor has the license request on file but no license so I can’t get a certified copy required to change my name or get health insurance. Kurt has already initiated the health insurance paperwork through his employer, so I have insurance, but I’ll loose it in 60 days if this isn’t resolved by then. I called the judge that performed the ceremony and he wrote us a letter to give to Kurt’s employer. Hopefully that will keep me insured if this takes longer than 60 days.

On Friday, I took Sophia to the doctor for her eighteen-month baby wellness check up and it went really well. The nurse went through her usual routine of asking a bunch of milestone type questions and I felt awesome because I could answer “yes” to most of them. Does she drink from a cup? Yep. Does she walk with confidence? Absolutely! Does she help take her clothes off? Yes, especially her socks. She also tries to put her clothes back on by herself. Does she put words together to form phrases? She only has three words, “Da-DEE”, “key”, and “hi”. “Da-DEE” is obviously Kurt. “Key” is a Sophia derivative of kitty, but for Sophia means any four legged furry creature that ranges in size from mouse to moose. Our husky and malamute are both “key”. “Hi” is a greeting only reserved for Kurt, our indoor ‘key’, and I. “Hi” is usually accompanied by vigorous, almost frantic, waving. She’ll even wave at the cat, and he’s been known to wave back, though he doesn’t seem as happy. “Hi” is also occasionally followed by, “Da-DEE”, which for the nurse counts as a phrase. Yay!

The doctor appointment disaster hit when the nurse left and the doctor came in. His first question for me was, “Do you have any concerns?” Up until this point, my only concern was Sophia’s lack of words. Words have finally started to spring up. She’s still behind in that area according to my personal chart, but between her three words and the three baby signs she uses at least we’re communicating better. So my concern this time was something that had been bothering me since Sophia was ten or eleven months old, the bouts of what looked like pure baby rage. Only her rage is completely silent. Even after I told the doctor’s answer to Kurt, he still thinks Sophia is just experiencing a surge of adrenalin.

Three things made Kurt’s explanation not sit well with me. First, the occurrences are random. There are many time that there isn’t even a cause for frustration or anger at all. Second, when Sophia tenses up it’s ALL of her muscles including her jaw. Something about a toddler’s jaw locked in an open position without her making any nose seemed very odd. She’s a toddler, when a toddler’s mouth is open sound comes out, ALWAYS. Third, Sophia acts as if nothing just happened after a ‘surge of adrenalin’. I would think that a toddler would take at least a few minutes to calm down after an adrenalin surge.

The description I gave of Sophia’s episodes of muscle tensing led the doctor to confirm my fear. Those not from a surge of adrenalin. They’re seizures. He told me what type of seizure, but for the life of me, I can’t remember. It’s probably a good thing though, otherwise I’d be freaking out at all the descriptions, causes, treatments, and side effects listed on webmd.com. It may seem odd but part of me is just relieved that it isn’t fits of rage. I feared having to take her to years of therapy to control her anger or something, but of course, seizures bring a different set of fears. We just have to wait and watch that they don’t get worse. I hope that this is something that will disappear with age, preferably before she starts school.

Later the same day I received a call from the veterinary clinic. Chelan, our ten-year-old husky has been drinking water as if we live in the desert. She’s drinking about two and a half gallons of water a day! The results from her blood and urine tests had come back and the vet narrowed down the possibilities to the three most likely. The first is a chemical imbalance in the brain. We love Chelan but she has to be one of the dumbest dogs ever. She survives in our household on cuteness alone. Since bringing her home from the pound, we suspected a malfunctioning brain. The second possible cause is a malfunctioning gland, the name of which escapes me but it’s near the thyroid. The third is a form of cancer. In the morning, I’ll be setting up an appointment for further testing. It’ll take another week to get those results.

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18-Month Baby Seizure Wellness

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Today I took Sophia in for her 18-month baby wellness check up. She measured in at 32½ inches tall and 28 pounds, so she’s at the 75th percentile for height and the 20th percentile for weight. She’s doing really well with exception to the one area of concern I brought up with the doctor. Sophia has had some very odd episodes that first started when she was about ten or eleven months old. Kurt and I first chocked up to silent fits of baby rage, tantrums, or a general surge of adrenalin. They may actually be mild seizures.

During an episode all of her muscles tense up as if she’s abnormally angry. Sometimes her face will turn red too. Seeing these fits, we really thought we were dealing with a kid that will have severe anger issues in the future, but I’ve noticed it happens even when there is absolutely nothing causing her to be angry or frustrated. I know what you’re thinking, but this is completely different from when she rolls her shoulders forward and leans against me as if I’m a pooping post. I note the difference mainly in the distinct lack of poop.

She doesn’t loose her balance or loose conscientiousness. These are not fall-to-the-ground and flail-like-an-out-of-water-fish seizures. If she’s standing when it starts, she remains standing for the two to three second duration and then goes about her toddler business afterwords as if nothing odd happened. Her mouth is usually open with her jaw tightly locked in place. Her eyes are also open the but there isn’t a blank stare, really these episodes are too quick to determine if she’s staring blankly or not. They last only seconds and then she’s fine and off playing again. She averages about two or three episodes a week.

The doctor did the very basic normal neurological testing that’s done at each baby wellness checkup, which consists of making sure the eyes dilate properly and other reflexes work. She passed that with flying colors. He said that it’s possible whatever is going on with her is right on the border of ‘normal’ and it could go away on it’s own as she matures. He asked me to track length of time they last, intensity, and frequency to make sure it doesn’t get worse.

They don’t generally do MRIs on toddlers but if it does get worse in anyway then we’ll be making a trip to Chilrden’s Hospital for more detailed questioning and evaluation.

Special note to relatives of Sophia: The doctor didn’t ask for a family history, but if this persists, I’m sure the question will come up. If you are privy to any family history of seizures that weren’t due to a bad reaction to prescriptions or self-medicating please let me know. Dreams about seizures also don’t count. (Please email the family histories)

Yes, I’m still a sarcastic pain in the ass even when writing about my daughter having seizures.

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Merry little marry courthouse wedding quiz

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Last night I took a quiz on Facebook that determines from which area of the US my American English accent derives by asking several pronunciation questions. One of the questions was, “How do the words ‘Merry,’ ‘Marry,’ and ‘Mary’ sound to you?” I didn’t have to think about it. I pronounce them all the same, but the meaning of one of them was totally lost to me. Mary is a name. I know that one. Merry is joy, happiness and usually precedes the word Christmas. Got that one, but what the hell is Marry? I made the god-awful mistake of asking Kurt. I should really know better because he’s NEVER going to let me live this one down. I spelled out the version of marry that confused me. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me as if I was from the same planet as Mork. He may have actually been gauging to see if I was testing him or really didn’t know, then he showed me the shiny new ring on his left hand. “You don’t KNOW?” Oh yeah. Marry, as in, I’m now married. I’m a dork, and I’m sure to make a lousy wife.

I know some are very surprised that we actually did the ring thing, but you’ll be relieved to know that we waited to the bitter end to decide if we wanted rings or not. I don’t know why I brought it up but a week or two before the date we set for our wedding day, our tenth anniversary, I asked Kurt if we should get rings. “Do you want rings?” he asked. “I don’t know.” I said. Part of me figured since we’re already going through the ceremony we might as well get the rings too and the other part wants to hang on to the rebellion and say, “Fuck you society! I’m not wearing a fuckin’ ring, deal with it!” But then I don’t want to spend the rest of my life explaining why we got married but don’t wear rings, even though we spent the last ten years explaining to people that it’s possible to have a baby without being married. It’s actually been done for hundreds, nay thousands of years. It’s not some recent scourge of society caused by television. It’s merely two people living together without the pre-approval of a church or government meddling, both of which result in nothing more but some paper signing. Does this magically cause women to ovulate differently and produce non-bastard eggs that will somehow fair better through life based on some mystical notion beyond societal pressures?

The morning of the day of our ceremony Kurt and I finally made our decision after going to a jewelry store. Even there we were both looking at each other, should we? Rings? No rings? The sales lady behind the counter asked us a few questions and looked somewhat disapprovingly at ME when we told her that we were getting married that day, as if I hadn’t done my job as a woman to pick out the rings with enough time. She didn’t seem to get that it was ok with me that the ring wouldn’t fit for the ceremony. Never mind nether of us knowing if we wanted rings, I frankly I didn’t want to get married at all.

Washington State in its infinite psychosis won’t grant homosexuals to marry, yet will grant them a domestic partnership which extents employer health benefits to their significant other but wont grant heterosexuals who don’t want to marry the same benefit unless:

  • Share a common residence; – Yes.
  • You’re both at least 18 years old; – Yes, and we sometimes act over 18 as well.
  • Neither of you are already married or in a domestic partnership; – Yes, we pass this hurdle too.
  • Both of you are capable of consenting to a partnership; – Yes. Neither of us is a farm animal. He just acts like an ass. :P
  • You aren’t related (nearer than a second cousin); – The tree branches don’t even come close to touching. I’ve checked.
  • You are either both of the same sex or one of you is at least 62 years old. – Does it count if we’ve been having the same sex for ten years? Or if he acts 62? He does an awesome “Grandpa Simpson” voice. Shit, damn, fuck!

No matter anymore, we’ve tied the knot. I sent out an email notice to our families and the majority of our friends with the subject titled, “Public Announcement”. I sent out Kurt’s watered down version of what I wanted to say.

We would like to inform you all that Kurt and I are getting married on the 25th of February (our ten year anniversary) so that I can continue to stay home with Sophia and still have health insurance. We aren’t doing any sort of ceremony. This will just be a document signing in front of a judge.

My version went like this:

Kurt and I are getting married on the 25th of February (our ten year anniversary) so that I can continue to stay home with Sophia and still have health insurance. We aren’t doing any sort of ceremony. This will just be a document signing in front of some judge. If you feel compelled be there to hold a gun to mine or Kurt’s back to insure we go through with it, or wish to harass the judge by listing the myriad of reasons why Kurt and I shouldn’t get married because it would undermine the sanctity of the whole institution, I’ll make sure to send you more details as we make arraignments.

Because we needed two witnesses, I also sent out another email for friends working close enough to the courthouse or on maternity leave to stop by and make their mark on our marriage paper.

We are required to provide two witnesses for our wedding ceremony (official paper signing), which will be on Wednesday February 25 at 4:30pm in *name of place that passes as a city*. We can have more people, but Kurt and I don’t want to make this too big a deal. Please let me know if you’d like to be our witness on the above stated Wednesday. You will have to sign an official looking paper with your real name (no aliases) and it will be recorded with *name of local county* with official looking seals (not the cute little furry animals, sorry).

Unfortunately the officiator will not be an Internet ordained *name of out-of-the-closet-but-not-in-a-gay-way atheist friend* doing a combination of Princess Bride and the episode of friends in which Joey recites the speech he wants to give at Monica and Chandler’s wedding because he said he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face.

“Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam…”

“And wuv, tru wuv and the giving…and the caring.and the receiving and sharing of the loving kindness that will be given in such a caring and loving way with deference to the spirit of a loving, caring, sharing and giving relationship, will fowow you foweva…”

So we’ll have to settle for some stuffy Judge with the *local county* District Court.

Several people have told us we need to have a party to celebrate our ten obnoxiously long years together, but our house just isn’t big enough for that, and we’re doing this on a Wednesday.

After I sent out the we-won’t-have-a-party email Kurt decided that it would be fun to invite anyone that does come out to Buca di Beppo. That was a fun time fitting for a ten-year anniversary. As always, we told many stories and either referenced or retold some old ones.

One story that I haven’t written about previously is how Kurt received the nickname Terry. It’s a benign nickname, but I had to ask permission before posting it on the internet, so keep your pants on you might like this one.

Kurt and I were up in Canada for a motorcycle thing with a bunch of friends. We were in the narrow bathroom of our hotel room getting ready for the day. Both of us were nekkid and we passed each other butt to butt. That’s odd. I thought he was nekkid. I looked over at him and he was indeed nekkid. “What?” he asked. “It felt like you were wearing a towel.” I’m brutal, I know. Poor Kurtie. He was mortified, so much so that he told EVERYONE. And they laughed and dubbed him Terry. He’s an odd human. I wasn’t going to tell a soul.

By the way, our rings are inscribed with, “Kurt is my lobster”, and “Erica is my lobster”. We thought about inscribing angry messages like, “Society made us do it” or have it reference Lord of the Rings, “One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.” We were limited to about 15 to 20 characters so the latter was right out. We settled on something that reflected our ten years together instead of our forced conformity, except that I sent Kurt out to have them inscribed without me and he forgot to have the date of our first date included. *sigh*

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55 Flash Fiction Friday: Death with Dignity

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Requiring terminally ill to linger in pain is cruel. What’s the point of a ‘death with dignity’ law if medical practitioners aren’t required to participate? Doctors claim a ‘do no harm’ clause, but opting for lethal doses of medication isn’t different from opting out of a beneficial medication, which has always been a legal choice.

55 Flash Fiction Friday
Flash Fiction Friday is hosted by g-man. You may also visit Flash Fiction Friday 55′s, a blog dedicated to hosting 55 Flash Fiction Friday posts.

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Vegetable uses

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Kurt eats out everyday for lunch and the though of what he chooses to eat makes me twitch, so last month I got the itch to try to get up every morning to make Kurt’s lunch. I think I managed to send him off to work with a homemade lunch twice before getting into an overly tired funk. No, I’m not pregnant. No, we haven’t started trying to conceive a second baby.

The second time I sent Kurt to work with a packed lunch he sent me this email:

I’m eating the lunch you made me.
I thought you were trying to make me healthy, then I saw that orange thing in the container.
Are you trying to kill me?

I had packed a large carrot in his lunch which was chopped to fit into the container. This was my reply:

Oh don’t eat THAT – that goes up your bum. :P

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55 Flash Fiction Friday: Impossible to be different

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I’m happy to be a stay at home mom, but without work, I have no insurance. I could buy it for $350 a month or if we were married, I could get it through Kurt. Thankfully, it’s only $50 annually for a single doctor visit, but today I had a prescription filled that’s $243.00 monthly.

55 Flash Fiction Friday
Flash Fiction Friday is hosted by g-man. You may also visit Flash Fiction Friday 55′s, a blog dedicated to hosting 55 Flash Fiction Friday posts.

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BPA food-storage containers

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I bought AVENT bottles because the classes I took at the hospital strongly suggested that breastfeeding mom’s should use the AVENT nipples when bottle feeding because those nipples force the baby to suck in the same manner as if they were breastfeeding. This way there wouldn’t be very much confusion going between the two.

I’m generally leery of plastics to begin with. I’ve been systematically fazing out our plastic storage containers for glass. So a few weeks ago when I started seeing news reports about bisphenol-a (BPA) in baby bottles I blew it off as a rehash of the old story years ago about a girl that discovered di(ethylhexyl)adepate (DEHA) was found in plastic wrap and wanted to know the affect of microwaving it. I don’t own a microwave, but I know that acidic foods like tomato sauce will eat away at plastics as it’s microwaved, that alone is enough to make me not want to do it. Plastic ain’t natural ergo plastic deposits, no-matter the quantity, in my food makes me unhappy.

I did a preliminary search on BPA (yeah I know I just said I blew it off, that just means as I searched I wasn’t worried) and came across a blog dedicated to it. It seemed fanatical and all of the bad brands seemed to be the most common big time brand name ones while the good brands were ones I had never heard of and couldn’t find in stores. Surely, a hospital wouldn’t recommend a brand that was unsafe. Granted they only specified using ADVENT nipples not bottles, and classes I took were almost a year ago. Also, things change constantly. I have no idea how long BPA has been in the news. I tried to learn as much about baby stuff as I could before Sophia arrived, but because I intended to breastfeed types of bottles never made it to the top of the list. And there are too many products and recalls to keep up.

BPA showed up on the local news one night and then I came across this article:

April 22, 2008 By TARA PARKER-POPE – A Hard Plastic Is Raising Hard Questions

While most of the focus is on products for children, including clear plastic bottles and canned infant formula, the chemical is also used in food-storage containers, some clear plastic pitchers used for filtered water, refillable water bottles and the lining of soft-drink and food cans.

Holy crap it’s in can food too?!

Rat pups exposed to BPA, through injection or food, showed changes in mammary and prostate tissue, suggesting a potential cancer risk. In some tests of female mice, exposure appeared to accelerate puberty.

All the chatter about accelerated puberty in humans I always chalked up to hormones in milk and meats, but it could be this too.

The main concern is the possible risk to infants and pregnant women, although Canada has begun a study to monitor BPA exposure among about 5,000 people to assess any danger to adults.

Really Canada has just *begun* a study to monitor BPA? Funny because an article in the Kansas City Star that came out on the same day said that Canada BANNED PBA on the 18th of April. (2/21/2011 the article from the Kansas City Star is no longer available but there is an article from the New Your Time from the same day that stated Canada intends to declare BPA as toxic and an article from the Washington Post dated 4/19/2008 that states Canada banned BPA from baby bottles)

But back to the NYTimes,

Virtually every canned product, even those labeled organic, has a liner with BPA.

That’s really scary.

Many of us put our faith in the FDA to keep the bad stuff of the shelves. The FDA’s stance as four days before Canada banned BPA was that they were going to think about it, but don’t stop using it until further notice – unless of course you’re concerned then go ahead and find something that doesn’t contain BPA. Gee thanks. You’re such a big help.

April 19, 2008 By Lyndsey Layton and Christopher Lee – Canada Bans BPA From Baby Bottles

“We have immediately taken action on bisphenol A because we believe it is our responsibility to ensure families, Canadians and our environment are not exposed to a potentially harmful chemical,” Tony Clement, the minister of health, said in a statement.

Clement said the action was based on a review of 150 worldwide studies. “It’s pretty clear that the highest risk is for newborns and young infants,” he said in a telephone interview.

150 worldwide studies seems like a legitimate basis.

The debate over BPA, which has simmered for a decade, grew intense this week after the National Toxicology Program, an office within the National Institutes of Health, acknowledged in a draft report that the chemical might cause cancer and other serious disorders. The chemical mimics estrogen in the human body, scientists say.

Although the office does not regulate BPA, its findings are used by other federal agencies such as the FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency, which set safe exposure limits for chemicals.

On April 30, 2008 By Lyndsey Layton – Senators Propose Ban on Chemical in Plastics

This month, the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, was the first federal agency to raise concerns about the effect of the chemical on fetuses, infants and children. “The report earlier this month was an eye-opener,” Schumer said. “Now we want to get one final, indisputable ruling, once and for all, on the effects of BPA on adults, and pregnant women in particular.”

But the chemical industry and the agencies that regulate the use of BPA, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, have deemed the chemical safe.

The FDA’s handling of BPA is being investigated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) said he is concerned that the FDA based its safety rating on two studies, both funded by the chemical industry. More than 100 studies performed by government scientists and university laboratories have found health concerns associated with BPA; the industry-funded studies say it is safe.

May 2, 2008 By Susan DeFord – Nutrition Program Spurns Bottles, Cans With Chemical

Talks about the health department of Howard County Maryland not waiting for the federal government to take action.

Beilenson said there is “mounting evidence” that BPA exposure may be linked to conditions including cancer, diabetes and hyperactivity, as well as early onset of puberty, because it mimics the effects of the hormone estrogen. Last month, Canada banned the chemical’s use in baby bottles.

I find it odd that a chemical that’s been widely used in food cans and food storage containers since the 1950′s is suddenly hitting the news with such force. I question when politicians get behind a popular movement, especially when elections are coming up *ahem* Clinton. But with my already natural tendency to try to keep things natural I’d rather play it safe and get rid of the BPA plastics that are used for food storage. Making my gut feeling stronger, a friend sent me a link to CNNMONEY…

May 14, 2008 –
Former FDA Official Says FDA Approval Shouldn’t Bar Lawsuits

Food and drug companies, along with the FDA, have advocated before the Supreme Court a legal doctrine that would bar states and consumers from suing companies for products that have received FDA approval. This legal doctrine is known as “preemption,” and has gained favor during the Bush administration.

House Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D- Calif., said in an opening statement that preemption would take away “one of the most powerful incentives for safety – the threat of liability.”

This has nothing and everything to do with BPA.
(2/21/2011 The link to the CNNMONEY article has been taken down, but from the same date on the FDA’s own site, “FDA believes that the important decisions it makes about the safety, efficacy, and labeling of medical products should not be second guessed by state courts.”)

American Chemistry Council insists that bisphenol A is safe and urges us to have faith in the underfunded FDA.

While consumers should have confidence in the safety of these products, we have called on the US Food and Drug Administration, as the premier authority on food safety in the US, to re-review the safety of bisphenol A for additional reassurance to the public on the safety of consumer products.

Yeah, uumm I don’t think so! I’m going to make my move away from plastics in my food containers a bit faster. That includes a move to less canned food!

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ER and 911 and Surgery! Oh my!

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Based on my blog posts from February first no one would ever suspect that my weekend wouldn’t go as I planned. Saturday was supposed to be the day I purchased and brought home a glider chair for the nursery. Sunday was supposed to be a day we spent with friends eating snack foods and watching the Super Bowl (mostly the commercials). It was going to be the first time we brought all the infants together and I was hoping to take a picture of the FIVE of them. That’s right four of us (one person had twins) were pregnant all due within weeks of each other. At a whopping four months, Sophia was going to be the oldest of the infants. I was going to have Kurt and Sophia wear the matching shirts I got them for Kurt’s birthday. It was a joke gift based on the commercial for the movie “Meet the Robinsons” from last years Super Bowl. It’s a shirt with a picture of the dinosaur on the front and the words, “I Have A Big Head…and Little Arms” on the back.

Instead, Saturday we went out for Mexican food for lunch then went shopping for the glider chair. That took a lot longer than I thought it would and the place didn’t even had the one we pick in stock, so driving around in two vehicles (one that can haul the kid in a car seat and the other that can fit a chair in it) had been a total waste of gas. We did purchase a chair, so that went well. We just won’t get to use it for a couple weeks.

Kurt went shopping for the ingredients needed to make something to take to the Super Bowl party the next day and brought home something to make for dinner that night. Kurt had been having back pains that alternated back and forth to stomach pains since after lunch. When we got home he tried to use a heat pad on his back, then tried an ice pack, all the while lecturing me on how to care for pains like the ones he has. He had similar pains to there about three or four times since July. This was the first time the heat it/ice it tricks weren’t working, but Kurt was still able to ingest two “cheese” injected bratwurst he bought for dinner. I put poor Sophia to bed at her usual time. She didn’t get much sleep since we were going from store to store all day. I rubbed Kurt’s back. It never really helps, but he requests it all the time. As I’m writing this I’m thinking about all the times he has asked if I can feel how tense that spot is on his back and my answer was always the same, “no”. It’s always the same spot just under his right shoulder blade. We both always attributed that pain to the way he sits at his computer at work all day long and the fact that he uses his right hand to use the mouse – of course that spot would hurt being all hunched over with his arm extended to the mouse all day long.

Kurt had taken some Advil at least once that day, but that also wasn’t working. This seemed a lot worse than his usual. It bothered me that none of the usual stuff was working, but I still didn’t think it was something serious. I suggested that I could drive him to the ER. “No, no” he said, “you just put the baby to bed.” I told him the baby can recover from a lack of sleep.

We made it to the ER at about 10pm. I stayed in the waiting room trying to keep the baby quiet while Kurt went through triage. I walked around and found a quiet area. I looked up towards Kurt to see him holding a bag with brown stuff in it and asking, “Where should I put this”. Those bits of info didn’t fully connect in my brain until later. Kurt was still talking to the nurses at triage when someone from the back called his name. Kurt walked past me and I stayed in place nursing the baby to keep her quiet. I thought it would just be a few minutes an order for painkillers and we’d be out of there. My biggest concern at this point was – How am I going to get Kurt to make a follow-up appointment with our doctor after the ER just gives him painkillers without finding anything?

An hour and a half later I went up to triage to ask if I could go back to Kurt and see what’s going on. I made it to him just in time to watch him fill another bag with brown vomit. The had already done an EKG to make sure his heart was ok and an Ex-Ray to make sure his back was all in line and he didn’t have any broken ribs from sitting at a computer for eight hours a day at work or watching TV at home. Kurt was now waiting to be wheeled in for a CAT Scan. An hour later we were waiting for results which took another hour, then they tried an ultrasound. Kurtie had about six or seven very visible gallstones. They gave Kurt some painkillers and a referral to a surgeon. They told him he should see the surgeon within five to seven days. We got home around three in the morning.

Kurt was up every twenty minutes belching up stomach acid. The baby only slept for four hours and then was up for the day. Kurt stayed upstairs in the master bedroom for most of the day and I brought food and drinks to him. Sophia went down for a nap and I thought I’d take advantage of that time to get some sleep myself, but that wasn’t happening. I called a friend to help me out with the baby because her naps are usually pretty short – not the case on this day, but I had no way of knowing that. My friend and I chatted all day while I occasionally ran up to check on Kurt. He wasn’t looking well but with the painkillers, he seemed better than the previous night. Late in the afternoon that began to change the pain started getting worse and Kurt became nauseous and was throwing up. At one point he came downstairs and I told him he literally looked GREEN! He was only taking the minimum dosage of his painkillers and intended to take a higher dose when the time came. Laying in bed he seriously look like a corpse. His skin looked grey. At six I run upstairs when I heard him puking again. He was sitting on the bathroom floor and couldn’t get back up. I tried to help him, but he was in too much pain. I asked him if wanted me to call 911. Stubborn Kurtie was focused on making it back to the bed. Yelling out in pain, he forced himself to stand. I made him sit on the side of the bed closest to the bathroom, which wasn’t his usual side, while I ran to the other side and pushed pillows behind him to lean on. At that point it hurt for him to sit up and to lay flat. I told him I was going to call 911. “Yeah,” he said, “that’s probably a good idea.” Great, so glad I finally get your permission. *eye roll*

(to be continued…)

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Baby’s first cold

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I was sick during Christmas and now that I’m over it, Sophia caught my cold. Yesterday she was sneezing a lot. Now today she’s coughing, sneezing and her tiny voice sounds a little horse. Maybe her case it’s a pony. :P I called to make an appointment with the doctor. I’m sure he’ll just look at her and say, “Yep it’s a cold” and that’s it. But just in case she starts developing an ear infection or some other problem by Monday we’ll have the appointment in place.

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Vaccinate or jail?

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What the hell is up with this?

Md. schools get tough on vaccinations

By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 16, 5:56 PM ET

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – Two months into the school year, more than 2,000 students in this suburban county outside the nation’s capital had yet to get the shots they needed to attend class. So the school system decided it was through playing nice.

Big deal? What’s the problem? I don’t get it.

Parents in Prince George’s County have been ordered to appear at a special court hearing Saturday where they will be given a choice: Get their children vaccinated on the spot or risk up to 10 days in jail and fines.

How exactly did a school district get the court involved in parents vaccinating their kids? Don’t we have options as parents anymore?

It is one of the strongest efforts made by a U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their shots.

Prince George’s County school officials and prosecutors said parents have been duly warned about the need for vaccinations over the past year. They said the goal isn’t to throw parents in jail but to protect public health and get kids who have been barred from school back to class.

Isn’t it the parent’s right to decide what’s right for their children? I mean we have parents that for religious reasons will pray rather than seek medical attention for their dying children and that’s somehow acceptable, but not getting shots means jail time? How exactly does putting parents in jail help the kids? And why aren’t they allowed in school just because they haven’t had their shots? If their is an outbreak of smallpox, mumps, measles, whatever it’s the kids whose parent’s opted out that will get it not the vaccinated ones (for the most part). There used to be some waiver that parent’s could sign at the school saying that if their child came down with one of those diseases you have to pull them out so it’s not passed around – duh they’re sick.

“How can you in good conscience allow your child to miss school and their education for no particular reason?” said John White, spokesman for the 132,000-student school system.

And how can Mr. John White be such a pompous fucking ass? My question is, what if you fear what’s in the vaccines. Vaccines for children used to contain thimerosal as a preservative and in the 90′s when there was an increase on vaccines for kids there was also an increase in autism, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, and speech/language delay. I ask Mr. John White how many ADHD and autistic children does he want in each classroom? Ok, asking that question is a logical fallacy. Yes, they’ve removed all thimerosal from vaccines for children under the age of six, but I can totally understand some parents being nervous about giving their children shots. The school district has 132,000 students, and about 2,000 don’t have their shots? Dude that’s only 1.52%. Give it up you jackass!

At the courthouse, the health department will have a makeshift clinic to administer vaccines. Parents will be given the chance to offer the judge an excuse for why they didn’t get their kids vaccinated. Under Maryland law, parents can obtain exemptions for religious or medical reasons.

Whether justified or not, does fear of causing neurodevelopmental disorders qualify under “medical reason”? If not that’s just fucked up. Thanks so much for removing all of the parenting from being a parent.

Those who fail to show up — and those who fail to offer a valid excuse and still refuse the shots — could be prosecuted under truancy laws and face possible jail time and fines of $50 per day. Prosecutors do not expect to actually charge anyone on Saturday.

May I have a list of “valid” excuses? Just make it a multiple choice test.

“The message is get your kids vaccinated or get an exemption,” said Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey. “You can’t just sit on the fence.”

Fair enough I guess.

Barbara Loe Fisher, head of National Vaccine Information Center, a vaccine skeptic group, complained: “It is terrorizing parents. When you have the threat of going to jail, it is hard to make an informed decision.”

UUmmm honestly hon – it’s hard to make an informed decision about vaccinating even without the threat of jail. Just knowing that people claimed to get polio from polio vaccines in the past makes me leery. Without advanced knowledge of chemistry and/or biology a parent is just weighing on whether they think it’s more risky to vaccinate and get a known or unknown side effect from it or come down with some disease that hasn’t made much of an appearance for years.

Even the judge who opened his court is somewhat skeptical about hauling parents into court.

William Missouri, administrative judge for the county circuit court, agreed to the Saturday session and said it would probably prod some parents to comply. But the problem “may have been ratcheted up to a level it should not have been at this time.”

School officials said that it is not clear why parents are not complying, but that some may have religious or medical objections, while others may have failed to turn in the paperwork, or their kids’ addresses were outdated.

The prospect of stiff penalties appears to have worked already. Last week, when the court notices were sent to parents, 2,300 students had not been properly immunized. As of Friday afternoon, only about 1,100 remained on the list.

Maryland, like all states, requires children to be immunized against several childhood illnesses, including polio, mumps and measles. In recent years, it has required that students up to high-school age be vaccinated against hepatitis B and chicken pox.

Chicken pox? Really? What if they already had Chicken pox?

Chicken pox isn’t that bad – as long as you get it as a kid. Chicken pox used to be a time of great social gatherings. “My child has chicken pox” “Really? We’ll be right over so our kids can get it too!”

After that, thousands of students — most of them high schoolers — were found to lack the required immunizations. Parents were sent letters and visited at home, and the school system even offered free vaccinations.

“Once the word gets out, it will definitely work,” Bob Ross, head of the parent-teachers association at Surrattsville High School in Clinton, said of the new get-tough approach. “Parents are going to have to set aside some time. Parents have a responsibility to help protect the public health.”

I have a responsibility to protect public health? Since when?! Besides if my kid catches something because I chose not vaccinate her it’s mostly the 1.52% whose parents didn’t get the memo that will be affected. It won’t be like black plague. Besides you can get vaccinated as an adult too.

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