Archive for Health
July 11, 2007· Filed under Family, Health
What started off as a visit to the doctor’s for a possible UTI on Monday quickly escalated into a very scary night of high fevers, vomiting, and dehydration for my five year old daughter, Miss N. We returned to the doctor’s office on Tuesday morning and they sent us to the ER almost immediately. The infection had reached her kidneys and she needed to be put on an IV for antibiotics and fluids.
Miss N is absolutely terrified of needles and the fact that the ER doctors had to draw blood and then put in an IV pretty much sent her into a frenzy.
While waiting for the staff to get everything together for the blood draw, etc., a hospital volunteer arrived in our room with the most adorable pink and purple, handmade frog lovey (not quite a pillow, not quite a stuffed animal) for Miss N. Her eyes lit up and my filled with tears. It was exactly what she needed at that moment in time. Since she received her frog, it has been clutched by her side through poking, prodding, tests, and sleeping in a less than comfortable hospital bed.
Today she is feeling significantly better and if all goes as planned, we can go home tomorrow. As I type this, she is sitting up in her bed playing with the frog she got from the wonderful volunteers. The frog is providing more comfort and entertainment than the TV or crayons.
I have been most impressed by the wonderful treatment she has received from all the nurses and doctors, but the unexpected gift of a lovey, handmade by a volunteer has been the most touching event of the past few days.
Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers. Your kindness has made one little girl much more comfortable during her stay.
June 5, 2007· Filed under Family, Fitness, Health, Reflections
Last week while speaking with a friend, the conversation turned to body image and weight - mine. See, back in the day, before I was married or had 3 kids, I was a pretty fit chick. As a kid I did lots of sports and as a young adult I ran 11 miles every Sunday morning, swam for an hour a few nights a week, rode my bike everywhere and ate pretty healthy. Thirteen years later, I still feel like that same person, but when I look in the mirror I see something different.
From the time I got married, I stopped putting myself and my activities first. Once I had fallen out of the exercise habit, it was one that was extremely hard to restart. There have been “spurts” throughout the years where I have tried to reestablish my habit, but somehow Motherhood has always intervened.
So, my friend has challenged me to come up with a list of 10 reasons why I must now put myself first. Since I know many of my readers are probably in a similar situation, I am sharing this list with all of you.
10. I have run out of excuses.
9. My kids are now old enough to join me on a walk - they can all ride bikes or scooters.
8. My very kind neighbor just gave us a brand new recumbent stationery bike that they salvaged from a house his wife was selling.
7. If I work out I will lose weight and inches which means a good excuse for new clothes - or I can wear some of my old favorites
6. I am ready to throw my perfectionist, all or nothing attitude out the window. Fifteen minutes is better than none - so if that is all I can do one day, then do it!
5. I sleep much better at night when I exercise
4. I will feel better about my body image
3. My heart will be very grateful
2. I have put the rest of my family’s needs first for the past 13 years - now it is my turn
1. Because if I don’t make fitness a priority, no one else will!
I know what to do, how to do it and all that good stuff - my biggest hurdle is making fitness a priority. How about you? What are your biggest obstacles to achieving your goals? Is it time to put yourself first?
February 15, 2007· Filed under Fun, Girl Stuff, Health, Link Love
Doris tagged me today for another “meme” - this one with the theme of three things you are thankful for. Well, her timing couldn’t be better as I have quite a bit to be thankful for today.
1. I haven’t been feeling great lately and I noticed a lump on my rib cage. My doctor ordered a full blood work up and a CT scan. I had the CT this morning and the good news is that they didn’t find any tumors. I’ll touch base with the doctor next week and discuss everything in detail, but at least I won’t spend the weekend worrying like crazy.
2. I am thankful I work from home. We have had bad weather this week and our kids have been home two days so far and I just got word that they are staying home again tomorrow. While I haven’t gotten as much work done as I’d like, at least I haven’t had to stress over what to do with my kids all week.
3. Of course, I am thankful for all my family and friends (at home and online). Everyone has been great lately and I have really needed it.
Let’s continue this meme by tagging LocalGirl at Island Life, Michelle at Scribbit, Carrie at My Lil’ Corner of the World, Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie, and Jen at Blue Monday.
December 27, 2006· Filed under Family, Health
The past few days I have been battling a pretty rotten head cold - nice timing! Anyhow, I have taken everything over the past few days - Advil, Tylenol Sinus, Nyquil, and Vicks. Nothing really seemed to be doing much. I called my Mom - something I should have done from the start. She reminded me of one of her tried and true, simple wisdom tricks. Salt.
Yep, salt. She had me mix 1/4 cup of warm water, 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of baking soda. I dissolved them together and “inhaled” the water. Okay, I felt like I was drowning and it did sting a bit, but two “applications” and 4 hours later, I feel better now than I have in days. And when you get a sore throat - gargle with the mixture. It does wonders for killing germs in your mouth and throat.
I need to start using some of her other tricks, too. She uses a mixture of baking soda and vinegar to clean her bathrooms, or baking soda and salt mixed to a paste if you need some abrasive action. She uses vinegar and water to clean her windows.
According to my Mom, baking soda dissolved in water works well as an antacid, it works as an anti-itch solution, and deodorant. if you go to the Arm & Hammer web site, you will see many of these tricks featured. Who knew? I did, but I continue to get caught up in the marketing schemes of companies trying to get me to purchase their chemicals.
I think it is time to start looking to the past for solutions to our daily challenges - and Keep It Super Simple. It will be better for our families, our health and our environment.
December 19, 2006· Filed under Family, Health, Parenting
Why did I do this? Why didn’t I just say no? I should have known better, but I let her go anyway.
My youngest daughter is about to turn 5 and is just beginning to get friends of her own after spending years tagging along with her older siblings. She is forever the odd one out and I feel for her. So, she gets an invite to a birthday party at one of my least favorite places in the world - Chuck E. Cheese. Nine times out of ten, I would have been able to find a creative way to not let her go, but this time I was stuck.
Her older sister had been invited to a party for one of her close friends that involved going to the movies two blocks down from CEC. The timing was perfect too. Miss M’s party started before Miss N’s and ended afterwards. What was a mommy to do?
I let Miss N go to the party - armed with wipes to combat the massive germs in that place. The place was packed. They had 6 birthday parties going on at the same time plus the normal Sunday afternoon crowd. Miss N was totally overwhelmed and I was hoping she would ask to leave. But I know this child. She finally had an event to go to without big brother or big sister and with Mom all by herself. It was her friend, her outing and there was no way she was leaving.
I followed her through out the place as we went from game to game, just to find that half of them were out of service. I watched with amazement as kids, who obviously had no supervision, clearly broke every safety rule in the place. Yet, she was going to stick this one out.
Well, we survived the party, but I’m paying the price today. Miss N spent most of last night coughing, thrashing in her bed, running a fever, and miserable. I counted down the minutes until 9 a.m. this morning when I could call the doctor’s office. Thankfully they can see her this morning. There goes my day…
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