Twin T-Shirts

We have a little obsession with getting fun t-shirts. We find them mostly on Woot. Rob actually finds them so he can tell you other sites to look at too. We’re still waiting to get this one. Any Princess Bride fans will appreciate it. One day last week we all had a twin, so we took this picture. The little girls’ shirts are from Walmart or Target- They like to be twinners sometimes too.

See how Emma only has 3 inches until she’s as tall as me? And how Hunter’s passed me and is gaining on Rob? And how Sabrina is gaining on Hannah? It ain’t right I tell you. They grow too fast!

A Doctor’s Perspective

Relating to the previous post, Whooping Cough Woes, a friend who is an Urgent Care Physician sent out this notice to our group. I really appreciated hearing his point of view:

(My wife) told me about the recent Pertussis infection in the (Bizzert) family and I wanted to pass on my perspective as a physician in dealing with this. My practice is in the urgent care centers for Sharp Rees-Stealy medical group, where I see a number of patients with various ear, throat, and respiratory infections.

Here are some points to keep in mind. Many vaccines are not 100% effective. Influenza and Chicken Pox vaccines, as well as Pertussis, are common examples of this. When they are not completely effective, they do often give partial immunity, which results in milder infections, such as the (Bizzert) children had. The reality is that there are probably many in the community who have had these mild infections who are never diagnosed or treated with antibiotics, and the vast majority recover with no significant problems. Your kids have likely already been exposed to these low level infections at school and possibly at church also. The biggest risk is to infants under 6 months of age. If you have any concerns, you should contact your pediatrician.

In my practice we see both adults and children, and we have not had a lot of positive test results for Pertussis. These tests are not 100% accurate, so I’m sure there are many with these low grade infections. Although it is important for the media to make people aware of these infections in our community, my experience is that for Pertussis, along with bird flu, swine flu, MRSA (resistant staph infection), and other recent infections, the hype in the media has always been much greater than what I see in my clinic. Of course this can be a serious matter for the rare unfortunate individuals who have a serious infection, but that can happen even if there isn’t an epidemic going around. If in doubt, it is always best to check with your doctor.

In reading the narrative from Amy about her family, my opinion is that the recommendations by her doctor where very reasonable, since you can’t keep every kid home who has cold symptoms, and are consistent with guidelines given to physicians by the state health department. I hope that my perspective can be helpful for you and I hope your kids all stay healthy.

Whooping Cough Woes

Yesterday, I found out that Hannah and Sabrina have Pertussis. They are doing well, and you really can’t even tell they are sick except for coughing episodes a few times a day. When I found out I tried to think of a way to let other parents know that their kids can get it if they’re immunized, and that the symptoms may not seem that bad. So I sent a message out to my google group.

My email to the group:

Last week my youngest girls had bad coughs so I  took them to the Dr because I knew whooping cough was going around our school.  She said it seemed to be just a virus, but did a test just in case. Today the  lab told me that they are both positive for pertussis. They were in the Sunbeam  and CTR 6 classes in primary yesterday. The older two (age 10 and 12) are not showing symptoms, but will also be on antibiotics this week. Perussis is  very contagious so I thought you might like to know.

My girls were vaccinated and so they have only  mild symptoms (no fever, just coughing spells where it is like they can’t  stop and have to catch their breath after it ends, mostly in the morning and  evening). If you don’t like the sound of your child’s cough you might want to  have them checked too. I hope it doesn’t get to your homes…

Amy

I was dumbfounded when I received a phone call a couple hours later from a mother who thought I should know how inconsiderate it was to send my kids to church the day before. She told me all about how vulnerable her kids are, and her words still echo in my head, “how could you do that?” Being that she doesn’t even know if her kids have been infected, I was speechless on the phone. She never asked how my girls were doing, or showed any concern for them. I kept it together on the phone, but after I hung up I burst into tears. Here I am, the mother of two children sick with a disease I thought they were protected against, and I am getting blamed for the potential infection of someone else’s family. If that were fair, I should be tracking down the parents of the child that breathed near mine and gave them pertussis.

I’m on my way to being over it, but I was just amazed and hurt.

Later that evening I got an email from someone who had obviously been talking with Mom #1. She used some of the same phrasing in her message that the first woman used on the phone earlier. This is how her message ended:

Little Brothers

Today is my bigger little brother’s birthday. Happy birthday Chris! I heard the perfect song to celebrate months ago and have had this planned ever since. Conveniently enough, my littlest little brother Matt’s birthday comes just 10 days later, so I can get both of my brothers at once with a video soundtrack courtesy of the Phineas and Ferb CD that we listened to so many times over the summer on our various car trips. (I think I love this CD as much as the kids do because of the clever lyrics and catchy upbeat music.)

So a big Happy Birthday to Chris today, and Matt on the 25th. You’re the best brothers I’ve ever had! Without further adieu, Little Brothers:

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq1xKLL0_Co

Reunion Cheater

I know this is totally cheating, but Erica did such a great recap of our reunion at her house that I’m just going to link to Betty Peanuts. One day I’ll get my pictures and comments in here too. It was fun, thanks for a great visit!

So Happy Together

We recently went to Rob’s office as a family field trip. He needed to make a call to Australia on a Sunday evening, which was their Monday morning, so it was a good opportunity to show us around without being a distraction. First we visited his office. A computer, piles of papers, a telephone, pretty predictable. Hard to believe our fantastic Daddy spends his work hours in such an ordinary place. I remember going to my dad’s office as a kid and thinking it was the most exciting place to be. I’d play on the phone, write post it notes, and type on the typewriters. Our kids were the same way visiting their dad’s office. So many work things and office supplies to see!

In the 60’s the buildings were hip, but now it’s not quite as  impressive. However, there are beautiful grounds to walk around on. The kids loved walking around the gardens and looking at all of the beautiful plants, flowers, and trees which have been labeled with little plaques just like you’d see in a nature preserve. Here are some pictures I took of the kids with their Dad: