Allergy Survey Results

Finally!

Here are some take outs from the first 10 responses I have received.

If you would like to add your input  – the online survey is here.

Responses – 50% female; 50% Male

2 adults; 8 children

average year of birth of children 1999 (10 years old)

average of all respondents 1990 (19 yrs)

Family background

Only 1 respondent has a parent with food allergies

50% of respondents have a sibling with food allergies

60% of respondents who were diagnosed because of a major reaction -  had the reaction to milk (or milk based formula)

90% have restricted diets

90% have an epi-pen on hand for emergencies

40% of respondents has been victimised due to allergies

100% of respondents consider the they are in normal health except for allergies

Milo’s Glasses

Milo’s teacher asked us to take him for an “educational eye test”. The test does not assess the long or short sightedness of the eyes, nor astigmatism. It assesses how the brain directs the eyes and the way the brain interprets the information it receives.

At a young age, many children haven’t developed sufficient control over their focusing systems especially for close work.  Some children can’t sustain sufficient focusing for an extended time period, so after a while print begins to blur. Others can’t make fast focusing shifts from one distance to another, e.g. from the board to their desks, so any time they look away everything is blurry.   Others tend to over focus, causing eyestrain and headaches.  The additional tension from over focusing make the eyes turn too far inward, causing double vision. Finally, close work places more stress on the visual system than distance viewing, which is translated into physical symptoms—back and neck tension; headaches; constriction of perceptual fields and a reduction of visual space; a tendency to develop nearsightedness and hence a tenancy to avoid reading.

[above is para-phrased from Children's Vision Information Network]

Myles’ teachers observed his tenancy to avoid close work, get easily distracted; struggle with fine motor skills; avoid bi-lateral activities – i.e. moving his right arm across the left side of his body (and vice versa); poor concentration and poor work in general that did not match his apparent intellect and verbal capability.

In the past, we had wondered whether he was ADD. Fidgety, poor concentration, easily distracted, didn’t want to read or do work. I went to a web site and read the description of the symptoms of ADD. These are not all the symptoms…. however these bare an amazing resemblance

• Doesn’t pay attention to details or makes careless mistakes
• Has trouble staying focused; is easily distracted
• Appears not to listen when spoken to
• Has difficulty remembering things and following instructions
• Has trouble staying organized, planning ahead, and finishing projects
• Frequently loses or misplaces homework, books, toys, or other items

Fortunately, we did not bolt down the ADD treatment path… and it makes me wonder how many other kids with similar issues have been mis-diagnosed?

From the diagnosis performed by the optometrist, Milo’s issues appear to be mostly “tracking“. You can see what this does to his reading from the link here.

Milo now has bi-focus glasses that he uses in the class room and when he is doing close work. This relieves the stress on his eyes and makes it “easier” for him to do close work for extended periods of time.

He is also doing a course of what I call physical therapy, to help make new – bi-lateral connections in his brain. It’s amazing the rate of progress we have seen on these very simple exercises.

Myles is also doing individual English tutoring at Numberworks, thanks to his class teacher from last year.

So – the verdict.

We kicked off all the activities at the start of the school year – and the improvement is noticeable already.

Milo’s handwriting has improved enormously. Better spacing between words. Better letter formation. When writing on blank paper, the sentences form straighter lines.

Milo’s spelling is also improving. I particularly noticed a massive improvement in his ability to recognise patterns when spelling.

And best of all, Myles’ confidence is improving too.

Would he have improved without the the physical therapy and tutoring? Maybe, maybe not – and that’s the question we will never have an answer to.

Are we happy we took the steps we did? Yes.

Off to South Africa Again!

Who would have thought I’d have two trips to South Africa in just over six months! Sunday morning at 7am I’m off again, however this time with my hubby in tow.

I’m feeling very guilty about heading off without the kids, but we consider this to be our honeymoon (it’s only taken 10 years!!).

My wonderful mum is coming down to brave my cluttered, unstructured house, for which I am enternally grateful. I was not expecting this to be possible! What a selfless wonder-woman! Myles is so excited to spend time with Dizsh – who he loves lots and lots (he keep telling me). Thanks Mum.

Already, Pete is turning this form a corporate stilted 5 star event into what exploring Africa should be about. Maybe this time I will come home with a different view; new appreciation and understanding. Time will tell.

I will report back when we get back next week.

Fare thee well.

K

My Own Allergic Reaction

Thursday morning I got up as usual, took my thyroid medication and my antibiotic (treatment for an intestinal infection), showered, dressed and caught the train to the city. Half way into the city my hands started to turn red and itch. I must be coming onto money I thought and smiled to myself as I scratched my hands.

The itching became more incessant and my palms continued to redden. Mmmmnot good. Then I noticed my neck and face starting to itch. At this point I thought I might be having a reaction, but was still uncertain. My face started to feel hot and I turned off my ipod as my anxiety levels increased.

Obviously, I am well versed in the potential issues of an allergic reaction, but I was confused, embarrassed by my location and unsure as to what to do.

I reached out to the guy next to me (the train was fairly empty). I asked him if my face was red a blotchy, he looked at me like I was a loony, said no, and proceed to ignore me. Great. That felt good. Maybe not try that again.

I pulled my mirror out of my handbag and saw welts on my face.  I rolled up my sleeves and saw the welts on my arms and insides of my elbows. Good god. What to do now? Breathing ok. No wheezing. Just high anxiety. Hang tight nearly in the city.

I hopped off at Spencer St Station, or Southern Cross  as its now known and called my hubby. He told me not to risk it and get to a hospital. It was before 7am and no Dr or chamist was open. I asked a guard at the station where the nearest hospital was, he couldn’t get away fast enough. No hospital near by – so I called an ambulance.

I wandered down to the front of the station to wait. Fortunately, there was a couple of people handing out flowers to promote Melbourne. I told them I was having a reaction and could they watch out for the ambulance and keep an eye on me. They were great, the girl got me a cup of water, which really helped as my mouth was dry and pasty from the reaction.

The ambulance came in 10 minutes or so. By that time the reaction had plateaued, although they pointed out the rash was all down my chest , which I hadn’t noticed.

They checked my breathing and blood pressure, all good. I certainly felt better knowing I was with people who could help if required. They drove past a couple of chemists so I could buy antihistamine – but nothing was open. Fortunately, one of my colleagues was already in the office, so the ambo dropped my off there. After an hour or so, you would never know I’d had a reaction, except for the scratch marks on my arms.

I called the Dr and went for a visit. She thought the antibiotic was the culprit. And it turns out that it was.

It was a scary experience, being alone and unsure what to do. Something I hope not to go through again. I doubt my anxiety would have been as high if I had not experienced Bella’s food allergies. It will certainly make me more cautious about how I take medication in the future, especially antibiotics.

Seems genes may play a part in allergies……

Visit to Cape Town South Africa

Early March, I set off on a business trip to Cape Town. My first trip to South Africa – continent of my far-distant ancestors. Cape Town is a stunning city, set near the southern tip of the African continent, it has beautiful beaches and a truly amazing back drop - Table Mountain. I was there to host my customer at my company’s annual global business partner conference.

Boat at the Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa

 

Brightly coloured houses

City Street, Cape Town (Can you see the hot pink house on the hill?)

How, you may ask, with all my costs paid, a beautiful hotel, activities and site seeing provided, could I not have a good time?

Well, I guess embarrassingly, I sort of did have a good time. Mostly. But I was disturbed by the stark contrast between my luxury accommodation, food & pampering and the local people’s living conditions. Here we were, spending what I can only assume was several hundred thousand dollars on “business”, and there were hundreds of thousands living in shanty towns. I wouldn’t even call them houses – more like tin sheds. These “homes” butted up to the freeway and ran back to the horizon. And there was kilometer after kilometer of them – running right through to the horizon. Children were playing soccer on the side of the freeway. I felt sick when I saw how these people lived, especially when compared to our situation whilst in town.

Our guided tour of Cape Town took us through some of the more exclusive “white” areas of town, where, we were told, houses cost around 65 million Rand! And then 10 km from the city, people lived in utter poverty.

I still shake my head at this, and am ashamed to be part of it all. I have had many comments from friend and colleagues as I lamented over the experience - ”at least you were helping the locals by bringing tourist money in”. Phah. The bulk of the money we brought in was earnt by the wealthy hotel owners and restauranteurs. The “locals” work for low wages and hover around seeking tips from the tourists… not the most soul fulfilling situation for them. Or they work at the markets selling mass produced trinkets to the tourists, likely produced by exploited folk living in the sheds or regional areas.

In mythology, Mammon came to earth and was caught up in the pursuit of wealth and money.  He was demonised in the middle ages as the representation of greed, richness and injustice. In fact, as you look around the world, we are continually enslaved by our culture into the desire of money and things which ties us to the capitalistic corporations who better the world – so we can all buy more stuff, have more money and have more things. The governments and leaders create false demons so they can focus the general populous on fear and control the masses.

And, if you ever doubt that governments continually employ tactics to control the masses and drive their own agendas – take a look at this quote from Hermann Goerings during the Nuremberg trials after WWII.

“Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. …Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

Think about this in relation to our situation in Australia. And the US!

Terrorism.

Our new (well actually not so new now) enemy.

Now I have digressed a little from my SA trip story – but I guess that’s what happens when you pissed off about the state of the world and the pathetic leadership from the Mammon affected goverements.

So I’m angry, and what I am going to do about it? What can I do? Well that might the subject of another entry…. once I figure out the answer.

Peanut death in the news.

Another account of lack of vigilence leading to the death of a food allergy sufferer.

A 13 year old school boy attending cadet camp was given army rations containing peanuts (satay for goodness sake!!) After CPR and 4 Epi-pens, he was pronounced dead on arrival at the Royal Childrens Hospital. Full story here.

And people think we are over-protective when we closely manage our children’s food.

Telstra’s Questionable Marketing/Sales Practices

This entry was written by my mum – who had a frustrating experience with the biggest Telco in Australia. Here’s what happened…..

“Has this ever happened to you? 

A couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to change my internet connection from dial-up  to broadband and rang Optus (my current provider) and Telstra to get an idea of what plans were on offer and which would best suit my needs. 

On phoning each of the two companies I was very up front, told them that I was simply enquiring at this stage and would be contacting other providers to elicit which was best for me.  Optus explained their plans to me, their costs and the fact that I would need to use a wireless broadband connection because of where I live.  I told the sales person that I would be thinking about it for a day or two and would get back if I wished to proceed. 

I then rang Telstra and again, told the sales person that I only wanted at this stage to get prices and plan details, which I wished to compare with other companies’ offers.  However, I was then told that my line would need to be checked to ensure that it was capable of carrying the Broadband connection to my phone and I would need to place an order for this to be carried out. 

I questioned this and asked why it was not possible to do the checking out first and then let me know.  I was categorically assured that this was the way it had to be done – order first.  I told the girl that I was not happy about it but she assured me that there was no other way to proceed.  I asked her what were the ramifications of my placing an order and was told, none.  All I had to do was cancel the order if I did not want to go ahead.  I reluctantly agreed and was then asked what email address I would like.  I immediately asked why I needed an email address and was told that they needed it to check the line.  Again, I reluctantly agreed.  Then I was given a “password”.  I was even more perturbed by now but went along with it. 

I allowed myself the weekend to digest and think about the information I was given but on the following Monday morning, Australia Post arrived at my door with a parcel from Telstra containing a modem.  I told the postman that I had not ordered anything from Telstra and he said to me that it “happens all the time” and “would he like me to send it back”?  I asked him to wait for a moment while I contacted Telstra and fortunately was able to get through quite quickly.   

I was very angry and I told the man I spoke to what had happened and how I considered this a totally unacceptable business practice, that it was unethical and un-Australian, that I had not ordered a modem, had not given the go-ahead and was sending the modem back.  I also mentioned to him what the postman had said and he immediately told me that he (the postman) could get into trouble for demeaning the name of Telstra.  I did manage to bite my tongue at this stage and NOT point out that it was not the postman (or me for that matter) who had done wrong, but Telstra.   

He then told me he would have to put me through to someone else to cancel the order.  I am afraid I was really angry by now and I vented my spleen to this poor girl and told her my story.  She tried valiantly to defend the practice on technical grounds but I then said to her that there was one rather important intermediary step that needed to be taken: ie, a courtesy telephone call from Telstra to the customer informing them that their line was suitable for the broadband connection and would they like to go ahead, yes or no. 

I made the observation to both of these Telstra employees that the company was playing a percentage numbers game : Get the order, send the modem and a goodly number of people would just say, oh well the modem’s here now, might as well go ahead – the more naïve and the elderly being easy targets. 

This in fact was proved to be the case when I mentioned what had happened to my neighbour she told me that that is exactly what happened to her.  When her modem arrived from Telstra (after her initial enquiry- only phone call) she in fact opted to keep it and go ahead with the installation, even though she had a similar conversation to me with the postman.  (And that was just over twelve months ago).

This particular girl I spoke to was extremely polite and even apologised for what had happened and I in turn apologised to her – she was only doing what she had been told to do – it’s Telstra that really needs to apologize and to re-think their marketing policies.”

 

Footnote: I spoke to Mum yesterday. She thought it only fair to call the Telstra complaint line and let them know how unhappy she was…… After being on hold for HALF AN HOUR (!!!) she gave up and hung up. Obviously there were a lot of people complaining…. or too few staff taking calls – after all if they recorded the complaint they would have to deal with it!

Milos’ front Teeth – or lack thereof

Myles lost both front teeth… here are the picks. (This is very old news he now has big teeth!!!)

How cute are these??

Why I love Sing Star

We bought the kids a play station for Christmas and, to my surprise, it’s been quite educational! We bought buzzers and microphones as well as the normal controllers; and a few games including a couple of the singstars.

The singstar games get a good bashing, and I am impressed that Milo is actually learning from them. Initially, he was the expert at getting a score in the “tone deaf” range. Partially because he thought the line accompanying the song was indicating the volume he should sing at, and not the pitch. Once realised, his pitch has improved dramatically, and he is listening to what is happening. Over the past month, he has become very tuneful. I realise it is not teaching him to “sing”, but it is teaching him to listen.

Singstar is also forcing him to read. As he learns the songs, I’m sure a lot of words are being repeated from memory – but the prompts are being read. Milo reading is zooming ahead this year. Now I’m not suggesting that the improvement is because of singstar (there has been some intense focus) – however it certainly isn’t making things worse!

And, of course, the other reason I love singstar, is that I can pretend I can sing It is fun.

The kids get passionately involved in this game. Here are some photo’s of them in action:

more photos on flickr. Click on the photos above to get to them.

Milo’s Song – Aged 7

Myles wrote a song tonight. It blows my mind – and here it is (minus the tune of course, and with the spelling (which was also creative) corrected ):

Dolphins flying high in the sky

People don’t know why

People go on boats and they don’t believe it

I went and saw the truth

and people get hypnotised

My head starts to flow

There’s dragons in the skies

And there’s seabirds in the water

I compare this to the structured and controlled writing of a little Isabella – at roughly the same age. To produce 2 kids – so completely different is a wonder. And thank goodness this phenomenon, for the sake of the world. For every structured and focused achiever, we need a dreamer and artist.

Balance is important for each of us as individuals; as important as it is for society.