Health and Wellness

Daily Dose of Kids – Pecan Roaches

Health and Wellness, Kid Talk, Personality /

September_006
Michelle is home. 😉 We know this not just by the scent of popcorn or the music playing behind me while I work or the phone ringing late into the evening. We know this because the drama has begun.

While Michelle was in NJ, she was skateboarding and “hurt her knee”. No big deal, certainly not as big a deal as her Scarlet Fever issue. She came home and didn’t do anymore than the normal Michelle whining about her knee thrown in with the normal Michelle whining about her back, (she is sure she has Scoliosis, thank you school nurses around the world), and I am so use to her whining that I rarely listen.

I’m a bad mom. I’m not all that compassionate in general, except when I’m at work. I’m really not very compassionate when it comes to Michelle and her health dramas. I can totally understand the woman I heard on the radio the other day whose son flunked an eye test at school and she thought he was faking so she sent him to his room without dinner… he turned out to be blind in one eye. Anyway, that’s what life is like here. Michelle is “sick” or “injured” and I only half listen.

So the other day, Michelle was skateboarding here and she came in saying she “hurt her achilles tendon”. OK, let me see… no swelling so stay off of it and would you like some tylenol? Fast forward a few days and she’s limping down the stairs. I ask her what’s wrong, oh remember I hurt my achilles tendon. Ummm Ok, let me see… no swelling, stay off of it, would you like some tylenol?

I head back to the bedroom and hear her at the door asking if we have any crutches. I say no and then quickly say yes, we do from when TW’s sister broke her ankle a couple of years ago… they’re ummm in the garage. Michelle limps off as I chuckle.

September_008
A moment later, she’s back. Umm where in the garage. I chuckle some more. TW says last time she’s seen them they were near the workbench. I am really chuckling at this point because there is no way that kid will know where the workbench is – no work has ever been done on it, she may have never even SEEN it. I jump in and say no, I think they are near the bedframes and mattresses. Michelle asks where the workbench is and where the bedframes are. I explain the bedframes are behind the freezer. TW attempts to explain the workbench by telling her what it looks like. Hahaha, you can’t see what it looks like – it’s on the other side of the washer and dryer.

September_007
I’m still chuckling and continue to read my blog feeds when we hear a crash in the garage. Hahaha. Moments later we hear Michelle making some high pitched whiney noises and the garage door open and close. Michelle mumbling, high pitched moans. TW says – Is she crying?
I say umm, I dunno, maybe and I keep typing whatever it was I was typing.
TW says – well could you go check?
I say ummm sure, in a minute. (see, I’m a bad mom)

I head into the office where Michelle is mumbling and making these weird whiney moans. I ask her if she’s ok. I ask if she found the cruthes. She moans. She shivers.

I am not going in there ever again. Roaches. Dead roaches. Behind the freezer. Millions of them. (moaning, whining, horrible cringing, shivering accompanied this)

I tried not to laugh. Really I swear I did. I couldn’t help it.

September_009

Michelle, honey. Those aren’t roaches. They are… pecans. They’ve been back there for a year. The cats knocked the bag off of the freezer and the dogs ripped open the bag and snack on them whenever they can’t find kitty litter crunchies to nibble on.

She keeps shivering, keeps moaning. She hasn’t found the crutches yet. 😉

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Daily Dose of Health – Skin Cancer?

Health and Wellness /

Imuran and skin cancer…

Azathioprine aka Imuran is a drug given to transplant patients, those with severe arthritis and others with auto-immune diseases, like Ulcerative Colitis.

TW’s been taking this drug for quite some time and it’s worked pretty well, compared to the other drugs she tried. She’s pretty good about slathering sunscreen on if we’re outdoors for an extended period of time but probably not as good about it as she would have been had she known that she had an increased risk of skin cancer because of the Imuran.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another with these darn drugs. If it isn’t the original disease that gets you it’s some side effect or increased risk from the drugs. It’s darn frustrating.

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Daily Dose of Health – Podcast

Health and Wellness /

Episode 5 of Crohn’s Talk podcast is out and Kerry is right – Prednisone stinks and when they tell you that all of those side effects will go away and the weight will go away … THEY LIE! 😉

Kerry talks about the shortage of Methotrexate, (there seems to be a shortage of Pentasa as well, based on some of the posts I’ve seen the Crohn’s & Colitis board), and she talks a bit about the other drugs for Crohn’s. Many of those are UC drugs as well. TW appreciated hearing her talk about Remicade. Her doctor is once again mentioning Remicade. Not good, sort of a last resort thing…

Jackie and his floating noodle story were a TRIP, lol. He pays a lot more attention than I do – I’d have never noticed it. 😉

Thanks Kerry and Jackie!

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Daily Dose of Health – Podcasts

Health and Wellness /

Kerry and Jackie managed to do their fourth Crohn’s Talk podcast even though they were in the path of Hurricane Katrina. We’re glad they made it through ok.

The fourth podcast was really SHORT, what’s up with that? We need another ten minutes! 😉 Jackie talked about prepping for an emergency and that’s some information worth thinking about NOW rather than once a disaster hits, ya know?

I’ve got to agree with Carrie about the worms – if that’s a cure, they can keep the cure. YUK! The bacterial treatment though, that’s interesting. I don’t think the results thus far are all that promising though. But, like Jackie said, all tests and ideas are good because they may lead to other tests and trials and ideas and that’s how you ultimately find a cure!

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Daily Dose of Health – Podcast

Health and Wellness /

Kerry and Jackie launched Crohn’s Talk #2 yesterday! Kerry tallks about going back on Methotrexate, the differences between Crohn’s & Colitis and more! Jackie talked to us about STRESS, (a huge topic for folks and families living with Crohn’s and Colitis).

Again, my favorite part is when the scripts were put down and they talked about recent news articles and such. Keep up the great work, you two! I’ve enjoyed both shows and look forward to the next one.

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Daily Dose of Health – Podcasts

Community Chest, Health and Wellness /

Nancy White linked us to Kim and Todd Maffins’ MS Podcast Blog. I’m listening to one now and it’s very well done.

Multiple Sclerosis is neurological disease that involves the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. I’ve spent quite a bit of time talking to people who have MS or are awaiting a diagnosis of MS. (It’s not always easy to diagnose) There’s no cure at this time and there isn’t much known about what causes MS either.

If you know someone who has MS or if you’d like to learn more about it, I would definitely recommend you listen to these and check out Kim’s blog, Mandatory Rest Period as well. Good stuff here. (not to mention a great community indicator!)

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Daily Dose of Health – Podcasts

Health and Wellness /

Kerry and her boyfriend Jackie, from Webgrits, launched their first Crohn’s podcast on Monday! TW and I listened to it last night and I’m going to write a mini-review (in hopes of encouraging you all to listen to it and all future installments)!

As some of you know, TW has Ulcerative Colitis which is not Crohn’s but the two have a lot in common. So much in common that pretty much anyone with an interest in learning more about UC or anyone who has UC would find the podcast interesting, amusing, helpful and encouraging. Especially, people newly diagnosed or the friends and family of those diagnosed.

Kerry’s voice (and I don’t mean the cute southern accent) comes across well in the podcast. She sounds like a real person talking about her illness and while she obviously didn’t just turn on the mic and start talking (she talked about dehydration), she sounded real. I liked it.

Jackie, however, was definitely scripted during his piece about talking a loved one out to dinner (don’t do it!!!! lol). I didn’t mind the scripted bit but I enjoyed him a lot more when he put down the script and just talked to Kerry. I think being nervous for the first podcast was part of that scripted bit and I’d love it if he’d ignore the script and just talk. He’s obviously been through a lot with Kerry and he’s a personable guy (and obviously very sweet and sensitive). I bet in another podcast or two that will shine through and we won’t think about the script as much as we did in this first one.

So, there you have it. My initial review – a solid A for anyone interesting in Crohn’s or Colitis. I’m totally looking forward to the next installment.

And because I’m doing a little experiment I’m going to talk about how Kerry’s podcast and my post about it are community indicators. (Bear with me folks, if you have no interest in such things just ignore this part, ok?)

TW and I “met” Kerry and Jackie (and Kerry’s brother, Wes) when we stumbled into the Blogathon 2005 website. Finding someone on a blog talking about UC or Crohn’s isn’t easy even though IBD effects an awful lot of people. It was terrific to find them! Since then, we’ve corresponded via blog and by email. We’ve found people who can really relate to our situation even though we’re really not all that much alike in other ways. Kewl!

Finding those “like us” and “not like us” and then doing more than just reading and lurking in the background means we’ve become a visible indicator of community. And if Kerry chooses, she can use tools to track how many people she’s touching, how many people are in her community who aren’t actually talking to her. She can use site traffic tools, counters and yes even technorati to figure out that somebody is listening and linking and visiting. Those somebodies are her community, even if they never comment or email her or even really talk about her on their blogs. Right?

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