I'm going to make an effort to put some creative and thoughtful posts up about what has happened in our lives - it's difficult to really put down in words, and there has been a lot of stress in our family lately, so the posts have been nonexistent. I do have good ideas come to mind, usually on my hour long commute to Everett - so they don't get written down. I have speech recognition on my phone, so I suppose I should find some word processing app and at least take notes :) But then, it may end up in the same state as my school newsletter (Gavin's school's newsletter) - all edited and ready to post and then put aside for that unfortunate right minute and moved to lower on the priority list, all the while completed.
Ha! Welcome to my world. I was joking with my ex that I need five reasons to get anything finished, all my projects nearly done laying around the back room (at least it's only the back room). I think I have come up with enough to do this weekly!
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Caffeine
Maybe I should have taken it slower with the caffeine this morning, we have that EEG to get to... but in the meantime I'm a little jittery. Whooo. It is not going well with the bummed out I have been feeling lately. It's time for some fun stuff, glad I got snowshoes for Xmas!! That I can use with Gavin in the baby-backpack, even :)
There, have fun. I will. Seriously. I mean it. I will. Done.
There, have fun. I will. Seriously. I mean it. I will. Done.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Insurance Boxing Match
I am attempting to prepare for an upcoming insurance battle - it would be a forward preparation if not for the insurance company telling me there is a "No Extension, No Exception" policy. Now, when you're talking about me, fine.
When you're talking about my child, and knowing that this early therapy can help my son live a normal life, and they want to cut that off three months into the year, they are going to hear about it.
In all fairness, I do understand that the therapy is expensive (trust me) and that not everyone is responsible for it. But I am also not responsible for others' weight-based health issues, or their drug problems or chronic pain.
But, insurance is there for those unpredictable events, correct? This is certainly something I did not anticipate. I also pay for insurance monthly, for myself and my son. Shoot, I've been in the healthcare pool for *years* and not taken as much as I've put in. Seriously.
Plus, there are strong indicators that given enough help early on, my sweetheart will be able to function at a higher level. He is making progress in therapy already, and I have to celebrate every minute of that. In the end, that will not only save health insurance, but the community at large. He'll be paying for someone else's therapy when he's older (fingers crossed).
I would prefer to do it without being fearful of the cut-off, because honestly I will work longer hours to pay for therapy, but there is only so much my flexible income can increase.
Plus, I am very sure that part of his happiness and well being rests in the fact that he has two parents who have time to play with him and sit down and give him ample attention. I could, very easily, find 16 hours of work to do per day and pay for more therapy - but I think it would only be to our combined detriment. It is crazy, in other words, and unattainable.
I think, though, that I will not put on the foil. Let's see what happens during the bout.
When you're talking about my child, and knowing that this early therapy can help my son live a normal life, and they want to cut that off three months into the year, they are going to hear about it.
In all fairness, I do understand that the therapy is expensive (trust me) and that not everyone is responsible for it. But I am also not responsible for others' weight-based health issues, or their drug problems or chronic pain.
But, insurance is there for those unpredictable events, correct? This is certainly something I did not anticipate. I also pay for insurance monthly, for myself and my son. Shoot, I've been in the healthcare pool for *years* and not taken as much as I've put in. Seriously.
Plus, there are strong indicators that given enough help early on, my sweetheart will be able to function at a higher level. He is making progress in therapy already, and I have to celebrate every minute of that. In the end, that will not only save health insurance, but the community at large. He'll be paying for someone else's therapy when he's older (fingers crossed).
I would prefer to do it without being fearful of the cut-off, because honestly I will work longer hours to pay for therapy, but there is only so much my flexible income can increase.
Plus, I am very sure that part of his happiness and well being rests in the fact that he has two parents who have time to play with him and sit down and give him ample attention. I could, very easily, find 16 hours of work to do per day and pay for more therapy - but I think it would only be to our combined detriment. It is crazy, in other words, and unattainable.
I think, though, that I will not put on the foil. Let's see what happens during the bout.
Friday, March 4, 2011
I'm so odd
I feel so awkward when dealing with my friends and family. I know most people know exactly where I'm coming from, maybe, so most likely I don't have to explain anything, but most of the time I go overboard with the back-story of anything. The other part of the time I blurt out random shit that no one has any reference to.
Then a lot of the time I feel like whatever I said wasn't important anyway. I'm so odd.
Then a lot of the time I feel like whatever I said wasn't important anyway. I'm so odd.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Autism and...
So, I've been part of a list for a bit (several) this one is FEAT WA, there is also an incredibly active Autism Speaks FB page and they are all over the place with opinions about the Thimerosal/Vaccine link. It is in response, mainly, to this:
http://www.kvue.com/news/health/kids-doctor/113127834.html
I haven't been on the bandwagon that immunizations cause Autism - mostly because I can't see a specific link. I also know that there is mercury in fish, water, high-fructose corn syrup - environmental or added, it's there. There is such a thing as mercury poisoning, and it's a hideous thing, but that is not what the argument for vaccine related autism comes from. The fact sheet, "What's in a Vaccine, Anyway?" has in the past highlighted Thimerosal - here's a link to a major example: http://www.korenpublications.com/kp/category/vaccination-patient-handouts
and http://www.detoxmychild.org/what's_in_vaccines.htm
I hate to say that these folks have not done very recent fact checks, because I'd have to back that up and don't want to search around, but if you look at the CDC they actually do release a lot of information about these things: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm - same ingredients, different outlooks.
Of course, there are the conspiracy theories that assume since these are made by pharmaceutical companies, you don't really get to have all the information about why they are bad for you and how they are just another trick to make money. But remember - the people who make these discoveries and immunizations are usually in it for public health. As was the guy who was looking at why they can be bad for you. Another link - http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r080821.htm leading you to information about the recent measles outbreak.
I prefer to vaccinate my child as I was vaccinated and my mom was over losing him to a preventable illness. That is also why Unicef and the World Health Organization are trying so hard to immunize kids (and clean their drinking water)
Plus, when you want to get to Aluminum and Mercury and heavy metals - you can test your kid for mercury poisoning, by the way - you should remember that these things are in the rocks in our environment, and water picks it all up and depending on where you live, you are exposed to amounts of it all over the place. Particularly mercury.
Ho Hum... heard very interesting things on NPR about replacing Chlorine in water systems with Chloramine. Chlorine creates byproducts that can cause cancer. We should all keep in mind that using Chlorine to purify water was put into place to protect us from Cholera outbreaks and waterborne illness. Chloramine was not shown to initially have as many carcinogenic byproducts, but recently it's been shown to create Nitramines (reportedly 1,000 times as carcinogenic than the alternative byproducts of Chlorine). Somehow, Chloramines also allow lead to enter the drinking water supply that was not released with the use of Chlorine... interesting. Not a conspiracy, backed up with good old fashioned evidence-based research.
Too much to consider, baby boy is sleeping and I'm signing off.
http://www.kvue.com/news/health/kids-doctor/113127834.html
I haven't been on the bandwagon that immunizations cause Autism - mostly because I can't see a specific link. I also know that there is mercury in fish, water, high-fructose corn syrup - environmental or added, it's there. There is such a thing as mercury poisoning, and it's a hideous thing, but that is not what the argument for vaccine related autism comes from. The fact sheet, "What's in a Vaccine, Anyway?" has in the past highlighted Thimerosal - here's a link to a major example: http://www.korenpublications.com/kp/category/vaccination-patient-handouts
and http://www.detoxmychild.org/what's_in_vaccines.htm
I hate to say that these folks have not done very recent fact checks, because I'd have to back that up and don't want to search around, but if you look at the CDC they actually do release a lot of information about these things: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm - same ingredients, different outlooks.
Of course, there are the conspiracy theories that assume since these are made by pharmaceutical companies, you don't really get to have all the information about why they are bad for you and how they are just another trick to make money. But remember - the people who make these discoveries and immunizations are usually in it for public health. As was the guy who was looking at why they can be bad for you. Another link - http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r080821.htm leading you to information about the recent measles outbreak.
I prefer to vaccinate my child as I was vaccinated and my mom was over losing him to a preventable illness. That is also why Unicef and the World Health Organization are trying so hard to immunize kids (and clean their drinking water)
Plus, when you want to get to Aluminum and Mercury and heavy metals - you can test your kid for mercury poisoning, by the way - you should remember that these things are in the rocks in our environment, and water picks it all up and depending on where you live, you are exposed to amounts of it all over the place. Particularly mercury.
Ho Hum... heard very interesting things on NPR about replacing Chlorine in water systems with Chloramine. Chlorine creates byproducts that can cause cancer. We should all keep in mind that using Chlorine to purify water was put into place to protect us from Cholera outbreaks and waterborne illness. Chloramine was not shown to initially have as many carcinogenic byproducts, but recently it's been shown to create Nitramines (reportedly 1,000 times as carcinogenic than the alternative byproducts of Chlorine). Somehow, Chloramines also allow lead to enter the drinking water supply that was not released with the use of Chlorine... interesting. Not a conspiracy, backed up with good old fashioned evidence-based research.
Too much to consider, baby boy is sleeping and I'm signing off.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Oh the Autism Woes
So... I have been reading up on Autism blogs and found a sad theme that these mamas have been ripped off of that holiday spirit.
For starters over here, in my house, it took Matthew a while to build that spirit up in me. My mom hated the holiday, we were always broke so she felt soooo super obligated to try to buy us nice things that she got stressed out.
I remember, though, that it was awfully fun to bake ornaments. We made salt cookies and hung them on the tree. Anything you like. All the old cookie-cutters she'd collected probably from her years of having a second-hand store in Seattle.
I also remember, though, one christmas particularly sucked for me, I had a bad reaction to some vaccine or other, or maybe had gotten some sort of flu, but I couldn't pick my head up and had such a killer headache that mom put me in a highchair (I was way too old for highchairs) so I could make cookies with everyone. But I digress...
Matthew made them fun for me. I am lucky to have such a wonderful and caring husband, who also has a lot of patience for me when "I hate everything" comes around in me.
That being said, I am not going to let Autism rip us off. I will (as I am sure Matthew will) find some way of getting Gavin to truly enjoy this holiday, like Matthew has helped me to figure it out. I read in other mama's blogs that they have other kids, typically developing kids, who love the holiday and run for the tree, while their autistic or atypically developing kids go for their usual favorites. One mama considerately noted that the usual faves could be tucked under the tannenbaum - it would get all the kids in the right place :)
I think Matthew and I still haven't made the final decision to have a second child, we both would like to, but we have some serious matters to attend to - money, our own house, and making sure Gavin is getting what he needs to thrive. I don't believe this will be a lifetime set-back for him.
I really don't. He is a very smart, very charismatic kid and according to his teachers, "is cognitively where he should be." It makes me a little sad that he's already in school, at two. It makes me a little more sad that next year, he will be in school full time - at three!!!
I was in half-days in kindergarten, and I didn't like it - they made me be "teacher's special helper" because I could already read and tie my shoes - so I quit and started the next year in first grade. I was in classes for the advanced kids in 4th grade, which they didn't really have, so they handed me my algebra textbook and put me in the same cubicles in the library where kids did detention. That didn't work so well... but that was then.
I am fearful of what the school system has become. I don't understand why people are rapidly bucking convention and expect kids to be reading for comprehension in kindergarten - that used to be in 4th grade. I looked it up! It feels like they are trying to compete globally, and mucking up all the fundamentals in the process. Eradicate Art in the governer's budget, eradicate the special needs funding. Or at least the bits that were in need. These budgets won't go entirely away - but ... dangit ... who could actually afford a cut right now? It isn't kids. The state of schools is nauseating, when where there is a highschool with less than a 48% graduation rate getting reamed for their participation in education, and the kids they are getting from middle schools in their area can't even read.
Wait, I thought they were supposed to be reading in kindergarten. Ugh... Can we put building blocks back in the curriculum?
I have always felt very strongly that education begins at home. We might not have had much when I was growing up, but books were always a hit at christmas. I bet, since Gavin is such a book-fiend, that if we gave him nothing but books at christmas he'd be the world's biggest christmas lover! There are certainly strategies I can employ. I have been fearful that the way our diagnose-adios played out, other families are really getting the shaft. I need to do more checking on more more more more services, but between work and being a mom (which is really what I want to be doing all the time, being a mom to my son, who has done nothing to deserve a day without his parents - who we can tell he loves) I have had a very hard time finding time to coordinate all that I should have.
Fail? ... eh... for once I might go easy on myself. I think that we are making progress going to the EEU. We also just signed up a speech therapist and an ABA therapy team. We hired the best nanny in the world, who also is protective of Gavin and wonderful at judging weather well enough to get him to the playground :) in Seattle...
I think that the way our teams are shaping up is very appealing to me, let the family be the center of the team. Teach us the skills to help him out. That's why I went and spent 360.00 on dvd modules to teach us ABA training at home - and can loan them out when I find someone in need. Or let our fantastic nanny watch them. 25 hours a week... how bout we just integrate positive behavior therapy into our every day lives? It has worked a couple of times at work. Sure, I could be an a-hole, but I have used the bit of encouraging, empowering education tactics I got through my nursing training in many off-beat areas - it works. Communication is pretty powerful.
So... I'm not going to let the autism woes get me this christmas. If Gavin doesn't tear his wrapping paper off, neither do I. I always liked saving it, for no reason I guess, nicely. I found a reason for saving all the nice wrapping paper from our wedding - Scrapbook!!! Like the ones my grandma collected from the old-timers she helped. Maybe one day when I get time. Like... when Gavin is in school full time (makes me want to freaking cry... being in school for life! so early! Maybe he will like school??? I hope so. I will not let people treat him poorly. He is way too smart to not get affected by that).
So ... back with the random ;) Glad I warned you. We will have fun and use every day literally as a lesson. It gets tiresome at times, but I am very pleased with the amount of patience I've learned through the years.
Love to everyone, and happy holidays!
For starters over here, in my house, it took Matthew a while to build that spirit up in me. My mom hated the holiday, we were always broke so she felt soooo super obligated to try to buy us nice things that she got stressed out.
I remember, though, that it was awfully fun to bake ornaments. We made salt cookies and hung them on the tree. Anything you like. All the old cookie-cutters she'd collected probably from her years of having a second-hand store in Seattle.
I also remember, though, one christmas particularly sucked for me, I had a bad reaction to some vaccine or other, or maybe had gotten some sort of flu, but I couldn't pick my head up and had such a killer headache that mom put me in a highchair (I was way too old for highchairs) so I could make cookies with everyone. But I digress...
Matthew made them fun for me. I am lucky to have such a wonderful and caring husband, who also has a lot of patience for me when "I hate everything" comes around in me.
That being said, I am not going to let Autism rip us off. I will (as I am sure Matthew will) find some way of getting Gavin to truly enjoy this holiday, like Matthew has helped me to figure it out. I read in other mama's blogs that they have other kids, typically developing kids, who love the holiday and run for the tree, while their autistic or atypically developing kids go for their usual favorites. One mama considerately noted that the usual faves could be tucked under the tannenbaum - it would get all the kids in the right place :)
I think Matthew and I still haven't made the final decision to have a second child, we both would like to, but we have some serious matters to attend to - money, our own house, and making sure Gavin is getting what he needs to thrive. I don't believe this will be a lifetime set-back for him.
I really don't. He is a very smart, very charismatic kid and according to his teachers, "is cognitively where he should be." It makes me a little sad that he's already in school, at two. It makes me a little more sad that next year, he will be in school full time - at three!!!
I was in half-days in kindergarten, and I didn't like it - they made me be "teacher's special helper" because I could already read and tie my shoes - so I quit and started the next year in first grade. I was in classes for the advanced kids in 4th grade, which they didn't really have, so they handed me my algebra textbook and put me in the same cubicles in the library where kids did detention. That didn't work so well... but that was then.
I am fearful of what the school system has become. I don't understand why people are rapidly bucking convention and expect kids to be reading for comprehension in kindergarten - that used to be in 4th grade. I looked it up! It feels like they are trying to compete globally, and mucking up all the fundamentals in the process. Eradicate Art in the governer's budget, eradicate the special needs funding. Or at least the bits that were in need. These budgets won't go entirely away - but ... dangit ... who could actually afford a cut right now? It isn't kids. The state of schools is nauseating, when where there is a highschool with less than a 48% graduation rate getting reamed for their participation in education, and the kids they are getting from middle schools in their area can't even read.
Wait, I thought they were supposed to be reading in kindergarten. Ugh... Can we put building blocks back in the curriculum?
I have always felt very strongly that education begins at home. We might not have had much when I was growing up, but books were always a hit at christmas. I bet, since Gavin is such a book-fiend, that if we gave him nothing but books at christmas he'd be the world's biggest christmas lover! There are certainly strategies I can employ. I have been fearful that the way our diagnose-adios played out, other families are really getting the shaft. I need to do more checking on more more more more services, but between work and being a mom (which is really what I want to be doing all the time, being a mom to my son, who has done nothing to deserve a day without his parents - who we can tell he loves) I have had a very hard time finding time to coordinate all that I should have.
Fail? ... eh... for once I might go easy on myself. I think that we are making progress going to the EEU. We also just signed up a speech therapist and an ABA therapy team. We hired the best nanny in the world, who also is protective of Gavin and wonderful at judging weather well enough to get him to the playground :) in Seattle...
I think that the way our teams are shaping up is very appealing to me, let the family be the center of the team. Teach us the skills to help him out. That's why I went and spent 360.00 on dvd modules to teach us ABA training at home - and can loan them out when I find someone in need. Or let our fantastic nanny watch them. 25 hours a week... how bout we just integrate positive behavior therapy into our every day lives? It has worked a couple of times at work. Sure, I could be an a-hole, but I have used the bit of encouraging, empowering education tactics I got through my nursing training in many off-beat areas - it works. Communication is pretty powerful.
So... I'm not going to let the autism woes get me this christmas. If Gavin doesn't tear his wrapping paper off, neither do I. I always liked saving it, for no reason I guess, nicely. I found a reason for saving all the nice wrapping paper from our wedding - Scrapbook!!! Like the ones my grandma collected from the old-timers she helped. Maybe one day when I get time. Like... when Gavin is in school full time (makes me want to freaking cry... being in school for life! so early! Maybe he will like school??? I hope so. I will not let people treat him poorly. He is way too smart to not get affected by that).
So ... back with the random ;) Glad I warned you. We will have fun and use every day literally as a lesson. It gets tiresome at times, but I am very pleased with the amount of patience I've learned through the years.
Love to everyone, and happy holidays!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Not so good at this...
And by the title, I mean I'm not so good at writing about myself for other people to read. I update my status on facebook fairly consistently, but don't tweet and haven't bothered with my myspace in probably a year. And good luck finding my livejournal - it's anonymous (sort of) so if you know a couple things about me from 10 years ago you might be able to find it - I have some old friends who are still connected to my livejournal... but yeah.
I think I was also trying to be sort of anonymous with this blog, too, but realized very acutely that there is no anonymity on the internet. None whatsoever. You're kidding yourself - and this is not me being paranoid. It's just that whenever you're on, you're leaving a trail.
But that's OK with me. We live in an age where so many folk are getting online and have all of these pedestals to stand on and rant from - but not everyone is doing that. There are still buildings and walkways filling up the space between extremely ... loud ... interwebbers standing on their interweb corners with their interweb signs - I am even holding an interweb sign in my other blog. Not to try to offend anyone, but I think I kinda warn you about that - in a humorous way.
Maybe giving myself an introduction like that I'll feel OK writing here more often. It shouldn't be a diary or something that I feel odd with divulging - the point was to be able to rant about something, know that someone could read it, and still feel like I was not in the wrong to say it in the first place. So - no wikileaks here, but yes tirades about things that have been mind boggling for me.
I'm just getting better learning to cope.
I think I was also trying to be sort of anonymous with this blog, too, but realized very acutely that there is no anonymity on the internet. None whatsoever. You're kidding yourself - and this is not me being paranoid. It's just that whenever you're on, you're leaving a trail.
But that's OK with me. We live in an age where so many folk are getting online and have all of these pedestals to stand on and rant from - but not everyone is doing that. There are still buildings and walkways filling up the space between extremely ... loud ... interwebbers standing on their interweb corners with their interweb signs - I am even holding an interweb sign in my other blog. Not to try to offend anyone, but I think I kinda warn you about that - in a humorous way.
Maybe giving myself an introduction like that I'll feel OK writing here more often. It shouldn't be a diary or something that I feel odd with divulging - the point was to be able to rant about something, know that someone could read it, and still feel like I was not in the wrong to say it in the first place. So - no wikileaks here, but yes tirades about things that have been mind boggling for me.
I'm just getting better learning to cope.
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