Category - Health

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Worry Wart
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Magical Meal Moments…mostly
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My Teeth May Be Floating But Damn My Skin Looks Good
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EEG Results Are In
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Seizures and Todd’s Paralysis

Worry Wart

     I’ve always been a worrier. I mostly focus on the biggies like death, illness, accidents, the environment, loss. I’m really fun to be around sometimes. 😉  When you become a parent worry takes on a new dimension. We are in charge of somebody else. Like truly in charge — of their health and well-being. If we drop the ball, it’s worrisome to say the least. And when one parents a child with medical or developmental challenges, that’s another level of worry. I’ve always been able to cope with my worrying with a little reassurance, or with some stern self-talk. Lately however, my usual tactics have failed and my worrying has reached ridiculous heights. For example, if my husband takes a few minutes longer than normal on his way home from a Sunday morning coffee run, I begin to fret. “What if his car went off the road? What if he was held up at the Tim Horton’s Drive-thru? What if…..oh screw it, I’m texting him!!” And god forbid he doesn’t reply immediately. The other day as I was examining a wart (sorry. gross. but necessary for this story) on my daughter’s knee, I had an epiphany… I worried[…]

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Magical Meal Moments…mostly

The cheerful chatter, the sweet sharing, the ardent appreciation of your creative efforts in the kitchen — meal time is the cornerstone of a family, and the most magical time.    Haha. Just kidding. It’s exhausting. Nobody is clambering to eat the healthy dishes I’ve slaved over, except for maybe the two begging dogs who are slobbering under the table, getting hair on my pants.   Meals are a balance between casual conversation and intense negotiations. “How was your day? Just eat two more bites!” And let’s not forget reminders like, “Too much! Slow down. Hurry up, its getting cold. Chew! That’s too big, you could choke. Drink your water. Please don’t stab the table with your fork. Elbows off the table. Elbows off your brother. This is my chair, THAT is your chair. Just eat, no more talking.” Left behind are leisurely dinners by candlelight, savouring food and adult conversation. Family dinners are loud and messy. Just like life. Milk will get spilled. Peas will roll onto the floor. Ketchup will end up in somebody’s hair. Kids will pick out the onions. Parents will eat the leftovers from their children’s plates. And someone (usually me) will rest their forehead[…]

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My Teeth May Be Floating But Damn My Skin Looks Good

  That bandwagon I fell off, the “Mandate to Hydrate” one? Well, I’ve jumped back on. But this time, I have digital support. My hydration help comes in the form of an App called Drink Right. Don’t get me wrong, I can drink right. I rarely dribble down my chin onto my shirt. Unless of course that shirt is new, and white, and the beverage is red wine. Then I spill like the dickens. This App helps the dehydrated get fully saturated by providing (somewhat annoying) reminders throughout the day. It works like this. Download the *Drink Right App from itunes It’s .99 cents, but I got it free when it was offered as a free App from Apps Gone Free. What? You don’t have Apps Gone Free??! Oh my lord. Get it. It’s free and there are at least 7 new FREE Apps offered every day! It’s a steal. Well, it’s legal, but it’s a crime not to download it. Maybe I shouldn’t share? What if too many people get it and then it crashes and then I lose my free App connection? I obviously haven’t thought this through. Set up your specifics Input your age, gender, weight (don’t[…]

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EEG Results Are In

To the untrained eye, these wavy lines are a series of peaks and valleys forming scribbles across a page. It seems incredible to me that anyone can decipher their meaning. A neurologist can examine these lines and see inside my child’s brain — she’s breathing, she’s dreaming, she’s learning, she’s remembering; the lines tell a story. Every thought, every action, every emotion is recorded and preserved within these lines. To the casual observer these lines are a curiosity. To somebody with Epilepsy, these lines are a gauge. A disruption in the electrical current may reveal seizures lying in wait. Our daughter was diagnosed with Epilepsy at the age of three. Her initial seizures were fierce and long lasting. Luckily three years later, seizures are being managed effectively with medication. They are so well controlled that our neurologist suggested she may have outgrown the disorder. What a wonderful thought. An EEG would help determine if this was indeed the case. We were excited and waited anxiously for the results. Recently I witnessed a child having a seizure. Not my child, but I saw my daughter’s reflection in this child’s face. My heart breaks for this girl’s family who must endure seizure[…]

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Seizures and Todd’s Paralysis

Our daughter had her first seizure the summer of 2009.  She stopped breathing and her heart raced out of control. There are times, even years later, that I stand in her room reliving that night, imagining all the what ifs in painful detail. What if the ambulance hadn’t made it in time? What if, what if, what if… After starting meds, the seizures continued, but lessened in severity. Each occurred during sleep. The neurologist believed the transition from one level of sleep into another was some sort of trigger. Then Avery had her first seizure while she was awake. It lasted a few minutes and stopped abruptly, leaving her left side limp, temporarily paralyzed. We thought she had possibly had a stroke. We later learned she had experienced Todd’s Paralysis — a focal weakness in part of the body, occurring after about 13% of seizures. It’s amazing how easy it is to mask your panic when you have another child to consider. Our son witnessed the seisure. “Oh no, oh no, oh no.” he repeated.  “She’s fine,” we told him in an absurdly casual tone. “We’re going to take her to the doctor just to be safe. There’s nothing to[…]

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