Nights

This blog I am afraid will go on many tangents but you'll have to forgive me as this is just the way I am naturally. A mild form of ADD Iam sure I suffer from, then again, which one of us doesn't, its what makes us truly 'normal'..whatever normal may be these days.
Firstly I would like to state the location from which I document these thoughts. Time and palce mean so much to me, I am not sure as to why, it may be the OCD I aslo suffer from (un-diagnosed) that forces me to document the date, time and location in which I record my thoughts. So here we go the date Saturday October 29th, 2011 @ 0100 the location BKR
My thoughts tonight centre around children and parents. Being given the opportunity to work with children from neonates to young adults I have been able to observe behaviours and patterns I find fascinating.
On the PostPartum Unit parents bring over their newborn child too tiny for this world but yet so full of love and the need to be loved, held, and nurtured. Parents keep a very close eye on their newborn not blinking as to not let their new precious gift of life ever leave their sight. On the Paediatrics unit I witness children of all ages whos health has taken what is most of the time a small turn for the worst. Children and teenagers look to their parents for guidance, support, love and care as they go through this tough time in their lives. Parents; tired, hungry and almost fed up with the healthcare system continue to smile, care and push like they've never pushed before for their child. In rehabilitation similar situations present themselves, parents shift their lives, schedules and risking all they could possibly to provide the best possible care and love for their child during their stay. Children acknowledge that sometimes their rehabilitation may persist longer than parents can shift their lives and understand the need for parents to sometimes not be present; but of course children are saddened, hurt and wish the situations were different. In all of the above cases we witness the love and care both the parent and child have for eachother, the need to have one another close, to be together and to love one another. However fast forward 17 years and remove such stressful situations children often forget the moments they craved their parents love and attention, moments where mom and dad were the best company. These thoughts of are replaced with thoughts of hatred and angry towards their parents. Feelings of anger that often leaves them counting down the days, hours and minutes they can leave home; thus leaving their parents. As these children mature and become young adults they begin to learn again the need for their parents love, affection and mostly approval as they begin to make the most difficult decisons in their lives. As these young adults become young parents they begin to reflect on their relationship with their parents and make false hopes and promises that their relationships with their children will be different.
But why do we find that often history repreats itself? is the old saying of "what comes around goes around" not true?
I for one firmly believe that it is true. And the only way we can change that is to change ourselves and what is within ourselves and what lies in our hearts and souls. To return back to the earlier question, why does history repeat itself. Is that we dont study history thus we are not learning from our mistakes. In this case we review how our parents raised us. Most of us are blessed to be raised by parent(s) that love us.
But what is love? is love giving us all that we demand for? is it teaching us the difference between right and wrong? or the pleasure of being successful in that in which you strive for? is it allowing us to choose the paths we go on so we may grow and learn from our mistakes? or setting our path for us in hope that we dont have to make any mistakes and have to face any fears? Truth is to conclude this rather long blog our parents can raise us in the best possible way they know but it is up to us to create the humans we become

Too much exercise?

According to an article posted in the NYtimes entitled "When exercise is Too much of a good thing" questions the idea that exercise can never me too much....below is a quote from the article and a brief review...

"emerging science does suggest that there may be a threshold of distance, intensity or duration beyond which exercise can have undesirable effects"

shucks look at that who would of every thought of such a thing, of course giving you a line from the NYtimes article isn't sufficient however it is enough to get one interested in the topic. Due to time constraints this blog will be brief...

Study done with male athletes of several different age groups 26-40, over 50 some of the men were marathon runners who had trained for many years these were the men over the age of 50, others were fairly active men. The study showed that the men older than 50 and who were life long athletes had fibrosis which can be described at scaring and or thickening of the heart tissue. To understand the study in further depth a similar study was completed with rats. These rats were to run at an intense pace, day after day for 3 months, a time that is equivalent to the men who had run for most of their lives. When the program was completed, MRI of rats hearts showed the same scaring and thickening of the heart tissue that was present in the male athletes.

Who would of thought...I believe that exercise can be too much when it takes over your life and when one interacts in too much exercise and lacks a balance in life..however these gentlemen were not obsessive about exercise rather they were just life long athletes no psychological disorder such as anorexia or anything of that sort.

Once again the Vital Signs column of the NYtimes never seizes (pun) to amuse me ------N.A

Wound Care May Matter More Than Antibiotics

interesting to share..posted on the NewYork Times...another drugs vs. nature debate...

Preventing infection in a wound may depend less on choosing the right antibiotic than on simply keeping it clean.

Researchers writing in the March issue of Pediatrics studied 200 children ages 6 months to 18 years. Each had a skin infection (generally from allergies,diaper rash or eczema), and 137 tested positive for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus, or MRSA. The subjects were randomly assigned to receive either clindamycin, an antibiotic that is effective against MRSA, or cephalexin, one that is less active against it.

The choice of antibiotic made no difference. After two to three days, 97 percent of the children on clindamycin showed improvement or complete healing, and so did 94 percent of those on cephalexin. Of the nine children whose infections were worse at this point, three were on clindamycin and six on cephalexin, an insignificant difference. There was a significantly lower rate of improvement among children under a year old, no matter which drug they were given.

The lead author, Dr. Aaron E. Chen, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins when the study was done (he is now at the University of Pennsylvania), said he was not prepared to conclude that antibiotics are useless in treating these skin infections. But he added: “The most important part is good wound care, drainage of lesions and close follow-up. Antibiotics are probably not as important as we think they are, but we need larger studies to answer that question.
”

Cure.

So the other day...the lyrics of Nick Jonas's song 'A little bit longer' crossed my mind.. "waiting on a cure..but none of them are sure"....I began to think....well is there really a cure for any thing or any disease...he says hes waiting for a cure for diabetes and millions are raised every year in cancer research to search for a possible cure. However one cannot really help but think if this will ever be possible...in diabetes ..cancer or any other illness that has been claimed to have been cured.

Before exploring this topic lets quickly get a worthy definition of the word cure.

" To heal, to make well, to restore to good health"...

looking at the first word used to define 'cure' the word heal...to me when something is healed the problem is no longer there...for example as in the case of a cut...it heals by forming new skin over the previously injured one...although many times there is a scar left where the wound once sat, the main 'problem' fissured skin and blood has subsided.

I truly don't believe there is any man made cure for any illness...drugs and therapies that have been discovered are simply interventions that will not heal nor make well permanently...rather there make well and temporarily restore health...as when one simply stops these drugs or interventions the illness will present its self once again....

However I believe what can truly cure and maintain good health is a good diet and regular physical activity.....for years now researchers ...scientist..and healthcare professionals have been emphasizing the importance of a good diet thats high in fruits, vegetables and protien..lean meat and essential oils and fatty acids and regular exercise can increase our overall health and decrease the risk for many illnesses.

And just to prove how much exercise can take years of your age ..consider this...

A recent study conducted at McMaster University using 4 mice genetically designed to age faster...the study involved putting 2 of the mice on a treadmill 3 times a week for 45 mins a day...while the other 2 mice lived the regular mildly active sedentary life styles...

It was then noticed that the 2 mice that lived sedentary live styles began to age their fur becoming almost grey and barely being able to move and their mitochondria which controls the bodies energy levels aging..that the other two mice appeared full of live..their fur colour rich and darker than before and their mitochondria couldn't be more alive....

This simple experiment done on mice can definitely be applied to humans......so the cure that many are looking for to stay healthy and disease free is the use of our bodies natural drugs and the ingestion of what nature has provided for us....

so low....

Okay so obviously you know from my name that I am a Registered Nurse Alhamdulilah (All praise be to God)...and recently I got a job at a Drs. office ...definately not what I wanted to go in but for now while I look for something more 'me' and fast paced it will do........anyways...the point of the blog....

A patient came in to the clinic with her mother and her mother told me and the receptionist that her b.s was 30 last night and she was concerned...I thought wow 30...is she diabetic..which she was n't..so concerned I took her current b.s and it stood at 15.6 still very high for a non diabetic and sometimes even a diabetic...concerned for her well being I asked the Dr. to see her right away instead of making her wait through this busy Wednesday line..so he did and he had ordered some blood work and discussed the concern with her...

The following day we receive her results and the diabetes was evident....the patient returned to receive her results....a bright young girl full of life and had nothing but a smile on her face the entire time...until he delivered the news where she was broken to tears...

as she left the clinic I couldn't help but give her some words on encouragement...words I heard once spoken by Nick Jonas when he shared with the world about his Type I diabetes diagnosis..which was .."this is a manageable illness and one can live a very healthy and normal life" and to further elaborate to the patient that although this was bad news it was not the absolute worst...I reminded her that no matter what life threw at us..things could always be worse in this case I gave her an example was that it wasn't cancer..which is so much more terminal than a disease such as diabetes. ............

---Listening to the Dr. give this little girl the bad news it reminded me of why I prefer to be a nurse over a doctor any day...which is never having to diagnose a patient...the bearer of bad news Ill never have to be...even in pronouncing death or tell a loved one that there wasn't anything more we could do for their family or friend...

Anywho this was interesting event to me as as new grad I'd never really come across such a situation where a pt presented such a situation and the diagnosis process I've never been part of before..so this was a new for me and was a learning experience.....

what I mean is....

"Maybe later" means Never call me

"I am okay.." means no I am not okay

"I hate you" could mean I love you

"don't bother" means please will you

..the above are few examples of when we say what we really do not mean...'we' most people do this on regular, when we don't want to admit something or when we don't want to tell truth because it might hurt someone's feelings. Whatever reasons we do this... 'saying what we don't mean' for doesn't matter; most times than not the other person we are engaging in dialect with can recognize that we are saying what we don't mean.

But, what if you could NOT recognize how a person was feeling without asking? or what someone meant when they said something else?..that could be very frustrating..would it not?

Well 3 out of 10,000 people and more males than females are diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (AS), which is a form of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, however it a high functioning autism.

This means that compared to other forms of autism this individual leads a highly functional life

The 'illness' for lack of a better word mainly affects the social skills of the individual. At many times the individual does not know how to interact in social gathering, thus they avoid them all together. Also as stated earlier the individual does not know what others are thinking without asking which can cause a great sense of awkwardness or difficulty if others are not aware of the individuals situation.

Interestingly enough most individuals who have AS are very intelligent and can sometimes become obsessive about their hobbies.

Like all blogs something had triggered this topic, and for this blog I am thankful to the movie 'Adam' staring Hugh Dancy "Adam, a lonely man with Asperger's Syndrome, develops a relationship with his upstairs neighbor, Beth."

A must see if you enjoy such movies as 'Sam I am' and 'A Beautiful Mind' ......

-------------------------------------------------------------------N.A

I cant remember.....

'I cant remember' a simple phrase we all say at least a few times a week, maybe even a few times a day for those of us are less attentive to the world around us.

Although we may all know what it feels like not to remember a birthday, an appointment or even a name; but do any of us know what its like to not remember the name or face of a family member or beloved friend? or how to perform our activities of daily living such bathing, cooking or using the bathroom?

According to the Alzheimer's Society; Alzheimer's Disease is a "progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, which causes thinking and memory to become seriously impaired". Sadly enough 1 in 11 Canadians over the age of 65 are currently diagnosed with this unforgiving disease, and even worse 71,000 Canadians under the age of 65 are affected. Keeping in mind the Canadian population, that is too many people affected. The American population is much larger than ours and thus 5 MILLION Americans are currently affected by this disease, keeping in mind the amount of individuals who are yet to be diagnosed.

Now, all this information is important but why I chose to blog about this disease as compared to any other illness is that it hits..a little too close to home. This topic came to me as I read a new article in the New York times in which the Food and Drug Administration of the United States has approved a new diagnostic tool for Alzheimer's. The tool is a 'bran scan' that will detect the plaques in the brain that are used to make the Alzheimer diagnosis. The article also mentions that it is the plaques that form, that cause the memory loss in the individual.

So what exactly does this new diagnostic tool mean for patients with Alzheimer's or who have been deemed Alzheimer query? well to be frank, I don't think it means too much for those who will be diagnosed, the only real benefit is early diagnosis which normally in many illnesses means a better prognosis. However due to the lack of treatment for this illness the benfit is still yet to be discovered.

What it does make a difference in is that because this illness can compromise the safety of the individual, for example the individual maybe living alone in which they will have to prepare food for themselves, memory loss during this time can lead to accidents. However with early diagnosis the individual can make living arrangements where their safety won't be as compromised.

Now coming back to the issue of why I am writing this blog is that unfortunately my maternal grandfather is currently suffering from this illness. My grandfather who currently resides in Somalia is being looked after by his daughters and sons (my aunts and uncles). For many years before his Alzheimer's he had been stating that his daughter (my mother) would be coming to see him soon. This summer 17 years after we came to Canada, my mother, brother and I received the opportunity to visit my grandfather. An opportunity that I am glad we were blessed to receive but unfortunately seemed a little too late, as my grandfather did not know who my brother and I were even after we stated who we were the children of..but worse than not recognizing my brother and I he could not recognize or acknowledge who my mother was.
My uncle jokingly reassured us that it was nothing personal that it was very seldom he recognized him despite that fact he stays with most nights.

This reckless disease is a terminal one, meaning that eventually it will cause mortality of the individual. This brings me on the note that there once was a time that mental illnesses were not considered a 'real illnesses', it was believed that it had to be physical. But as you can see here what once starts off a mental illness cause the brain to deteriorate thus triggering many physical illness and finally death.

To end this rather long blog, Alzheimer's is an illness that is frustrating and unbearable not only on the individual suffering from it, but also the caregivers of these individuals. Even worse than the disease it self is the fact that it is genetic!! I pray in this case it doesn't follow through!

-NurseNazz-