Bird on the Street

Cancer Sucks

11:02 pm

The twins were born about nine months ago. It was a wonderful experience for me and my husband and despite a NICU stay, and some hiccups (aka Louie, my drama queen), I felt very grateful to have my boys in the world and relatively healthy.

At that same time, however, some serious drama was unfolding with my family. Drama that wasn’t mine to talk or write about despite the fact that it took up a large part of my consciousness. I have gained the necessary permissions so I can tell you all this story now.

You see, in June, while I was lying on my side on mandatory bed rest, doctors found a tumor in one of my sister-in-law, Sadie’s, bronchial tubes. This was after months of horrible coughing and a general deterioration in her health.

Scary is an understatement. The stats on lung cancer are grim and it took two different procedures to get enough tissue to get a sample for testing. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in the hospital by myself and wishing there was something, anything I could do. I’m a doer and lying around waiting to heal from a c-section is pretty much the opposite of doing anything. Well, I was pumping milk, which gave me plenty of time to stew and worry and maybe cry, but didn’t make me feel one iota better about not being there for my brother or his wife.

We spent three painful days waiting for results and when they came in it was official: she had cancer. She had just turned thirty and in the course of six months a tumor had developed that was so large it had managed to collapse one of her lungs. Doctor’s surmised that pneumonia had set in there and that it would stay as long as the lung was unable to work properly. All in all, it was a pretty hellish diagnosis.

The good news, if you can call it that, was that it was not lung cancer. It was actually a form of lymphoma with a fantastic remission and treatment rate.

Last month, after a six rounds of chemo, Sadie was declared cancer free. These days instead of planning her life around oncology appointments, rounds of chemo, and PET scans, he’s busy planning a trip to London with my brother. We are all so happy and relieved and hope that this is behind us for good.

Sadie!

When the American Cancer Society asked me if I would tweet about about their big Final Four event this weekend, I jumped at the chance. I mean, I was surprised, but glad that I could do something when I’ve felt so completely useless in the past. They are a great organization with a fantastic website that I have turned to often when I need more information.

So this weekend I’ll be attending The Coaches’ Huddle Cocktail Reception in New Orleans–an event that occurs in conjunction with the Final Four Basketball Tournament. There will be music, food, and lots of basketball people that I know nothing about. It’s also going to raise a ton of money for cancer research which is my idea of a wonderful cause. Everybody should get great statistics. Everybody should get a fighting chance.

So. . . I’ll be tweeting the hell out it on Friday plus posting pictures and whatnot. Hubs and I will be dressing our best! Please don’t expect much sports talk–I don’t have any. If you live in the New Orleans area and want more information, visit their Facebook Page. If you want to buy tickets, check out their website.

Filed Undermedical

Obsess Much?

10:09 pm

So Lou.

We’ve made some progress with solid food–he seems to be doing just fine with fruits of all types–bannanas, apples, pears, grapes, and prunes have all worked out. He still seems to be having issues with oatmeal, so I may try rice. Rice was a disaster for Charlie, so I’ve avoided it, but maybe it will work for Louie. Who knows?

Well, Lou started crawling about a week and a half ago. It’s a commando crawl and he is into EVERYTHING! Charlie likes his boundaries, but Louie has never even heard the word–one minutes he’s in the room and the next he’s two rooms over flipping the dog’s water bowl over. The Hubs and I are 90% amused and 10% scared that he’s going to do something disastrous.

Then I noticed that Louie’s crawl is very one-sided. He uses both arms, but a lot of the time he’s only using one of his legs. I watched him for a long time and then I began to panic–just a little.

Now, I KNOW you’re not supposed to consult Dr. Google in these situations, but of course I did, and I found an article all about how asymmetrical crawling can be an early warning sign of autism. Louie’s already at a higher risk for autism since he’s a preemie and he’s got these food issues, which I’ve seen in other children with Autism, so basically, I freaked out. I mean, not crying or anything, but I went into crisis-management mode. I thought about diet. I was considering what to do about his vaccine schedule. Thought about having Early Steps come out and do another evaluation to see if he would qualify for services. Should I add private OT to his services? I was in Special Mama Mode.

Just Chillin'

So when we got to the PT who he sees for torticollis, I pounced: Look at his crawling! Potential early autism marker! Are you seeing anything else? Do I need to get him into OT?!?

And she? Well, she chuckled, and then told me that about half of her torticollis patients eventually show asymmetry somewhere else on their body. As for other signs of Autism? That was why she was chuckling–because Louie is so intensely social.

I’m relieved. Mostly.

I still might stick to organics and slow down the vaccine schedule. You never know.

Also: I might be a little bit crazy.

two babies in a crib dressed in green

Filed Undermedical, motherhood, therapy

Baby Steps

11:27 pm

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, Charlie has motor planning issues. Basically, this means he has trouble getting his body to do what he wants. It takes a ton of work and repetition for him to master a movement. Aside here: this is one of the main reasons we do Feldenkrais therapy with Charlie–it was recommended for this very issue.

Charlie has always struggled with his eyes. For a long time, they weren’t super-useful and even now, he often listens instead of looking.

In the last year or so, I’ve been working with him on smiling on command. Sounds easy, but there are a ton of facial muscles involved with smiling. He smiles spontaneously–it’s the other way that’s work.

But he’s got it! If I ask him to smile for the camera, most of the time he’ll comply with my request. There’s just one tiny issue. . .