Medical Maladies – Page 7 – a hippie with a minivan

I recant yesterday's post..

This morning, I went to pick Wilhelmina up and my back went out… I have had back pain before, I have never had that before. Except for maybe some of the back labour I went though, except that there are pauses between contractions. This just won’t stop.

It took all of my strength to get back into the living room from the bathroom. I called my Chiro and she said to get up and walk, and that she would come by the house. I took some Advil walked around and felt like I was in labour.

Xavier stepped up and made breakfast for the others and would pick up Wilhelmina for me when I needed help and was great help overall… it is such a great thing to have a big kid around.

The Chiro came over and massaged me a bit and then gave me some stretches to do. Simon came home early and I trying to move around and keep stretching even though my body is screaming at me to not move…

Needless to say, I had to cancel my workshops for tomorrow.

The next will be on the 4th of December.

ears… ears…

We have been battling ear problems these last few days.

For the first (and maybe second time), one of my kids has an ear infection. Xavier came down with a fever and an earache early last week and is just now coming out of it.

8 years and 4 kids, and this is the first time that we have ever had to deal with this. Luckily, though not for him, it is Xavier and he is able to share what he is going though, understand what to do and not to do and he has been getting through it.. I can’t imagine having a small baby with an ear infection… it has been awful for him especially when his ear was as its worst and he was waking from pain.

When we just thought that we were done, Khéna had a very wakefull night with a sore ear… though the pain was gone in the morning, he has been with fever for two days now. I am not too sure what exactly is happening with him, but hopefully the pain won’t come back again and the fever will just subside.

On the subject of ears and Khéna, we have been wondering for the last little while if Khéna has trouble hearing. He doesn’t seem to hear us often when we talk and makes us repeat often. He doesn’t hear when we call him from another room, or talk from behind him. He has been asking us to look at him when we talk so that either the sound is coming from in front or he can see our lips when we talk and will often say that he didn’t hear something.

This is pretty new and it seems to have been escalating quickly in these last few weeks so a few days ago I called a specialist and have an appointment set up for in a few weeks.

I am looking forward to understanding more what is happening with him and am hopeful that it is something temporary.

I would love to hear stores from others who have seen this before or have any insight…

Shiv Chopra

I listen to a local (Montreal) talk radio station on almost a daily basis… when I am cleaning or doing things around the kitchen or cooking…

The H1N1 coverage and all the hype has been really getting to me though so when I heard one of the hosts introducing her next guest to talk about vaccines I rolled my eyes but decided to listen in anyway… what I heard surprised me. Not what was being said of course, but that he was saying it on the air, on a show who’s host is completely vaccine crazy usually…

After hearing the interview, I needed to know more about this guy and I really want to get my hands on his book on of these days.

Dr. Shiv Chopra is a former Health Canada scientist and “whistleblower”. He has a M. Sc and PhD in Microbiology and a degree in veterinary medicine and has been the recipient of many academic rewards including a fellowship of the WHO…

The interview started as normal but then he took over explaining H1N1 and how not dangerous it is and then went on to talk about vaccination in general… pretty much stating how it is a 50-60 year human experiment, how they have never been proven safe or effective, how they cause autoimmune diseases and just don’t work…

Here is the interview… it is really worth the listen!

(I have to say that I love how she sets up the interview and then is completely blindsided… live radio at its finest) I wish I had the second part also but they didn’t put it up… but it was him answering questions from the host and callers…

If you are interested in hearing more of what he has to say, look around his website, there is a lot of great info, I especially like the interview video from the Pimento Report which explains a lot of what he has done and what happened with his career…

Since hearing him, I have definitely been keeping an eye on what he has been saying.

little update…

Both my grandma and Nala came out of surgery well…

My grandma’s surgery went very well, but it took a bit longer than thought for her to wake up. She was transferred to the ICU after a few hours and will be getting a room either today or tomorrow. My uncle was able to see her yesterday and though she wasn’t talking much, she was all there and just need to recuperate and recover now… He’ll go see her again this morning so later on I will have more news.

Nala’s surgery went perfectly and we picked her up after our Chiro appointment last night, and she was completely awake and happy to see us… though she was walking a bit funny for the first few minutes home she was herself and was starving even though they had given her a small meal there… we fed her and she ate a day’s worth of food without hesitation… She isn’t complaining at all but is very cuddly and is giving all of us tons of cuddles and kisses… we just have to bring her back in two weeks to get the stitches removed.

Thinking happy thoughts…

My grandmother is an amazing woman. She is 86 and full of life. She goes out with friends, still works occasionally, loves to gamble and gets her hair and nails done every week (she hasn’t washed her own hair since she was in her teens.. lol) If you want to call her and get her at home, your best bet is to call after midnight… she goes to sleep around 3am every night after completing her crossword puzzle in bed… but don’t call her before 10am!

I don’t get to see her as often as I would like since she and my uncle both smoke in their home, and with my allergies and asthma I can’t visit her. But I do try to talk to her on the phone often and stop by her house when I am in the area even if it just to stay outside for a few minutes… I also love having her here at my home.

Here are some pics that I took last week when she and my mom came over…

(striking a pose and showing off her low cut jeans)

(With my mom and Khéna)

Last month, my Grandmother found out that she had stomach cancer. It is large and aggressive and the diagnosis could have gone either way. She went in for a scan 3 weeks ago and was told that they would call her within 2-3 weeks with either an appointment with the specialist (which would mean that it was too advanced/ had spread / was not operable… or with an appointment for a few more tests at the hospital which would mean prep for surgery. I was a nerve wracking week but she finally got the call to go to the hospital for tests and Surgery was scheduled for today. If she hadn’t been called for surgery she was told that she would have had only another 6 months… I can’t imagine her going so soon…

I’ll find out in a few hours how it went…

Another family member is also in Surgery today… we brought Nala to the vet this morning to be spayed… the boys were sad to find out that she was going to be having surgery and that they would be cutting her skin, Xavier was in tears, scared that she won’t come back… I think it helped that they brought her with me this morning and that we will all be picking her up after the Chiro appointment tonight…

So, today we are thinking happy thought that everything will go well for both of our loved ones…