Skip to main content

Short update on a few things..

This is my update post on things that you may not have been hearing much about recently. First up, summer camp.

First Day Science Camp
(to Lucas) "So what did you do today?"

"We learnt about cells"

He hands me a model of  a cell - a round, clear plastic container with stuff floating around in a clear liquid.

Me pointing to something in it, "So, what's this? Is this the nucleus?"

"No!", looks at me, "It's a cotton ball." 

My Writing
I've scaled back my ambitions to writing something very small that I can complete. A book for my 2-yr old. Well, I've finished the words and I am trying very hard to get time to illustrate it (at least roughly), for my own benefit to see how it could work.
And that is where I've been for a few weeks. I did a few sketches and realized that I need to do some more. An illustrator I am not.

My Vitiligo
It's been a while since my last post about my condition. Since then, I've had a bit of a flare up, so there are more patches.
Now I am trying to figure out if is it best to ignore when adults notice the skin issues, but don't say anything or should I just explain when I notice that they notice? Suppose I'm wrong and they do know what it is and/or don't care? Would that suggest that I am bothered by people noticing? For the record, I'm bothered that I notice...I'm not too concerned about others.
In terms of treatments, there is nothing significant going on, although I will attempt to pass on genetic samples for testing (providing my dad will cooperate when he comes to visit me in July).

That's all for now. Oh....and I am thinking of going back to work.
Labels:

Comments

Savi said…
That's a biggie that you saved for the last line! Good luck with that!

About the vitiligo, I know I've seen several people with that condition over the years, though I didn't know what it was until you described it. None of them ever offered an explanation, and I wouldn't have felt it was appropriate to ask for one. But maybe Americans are less reserved than people over here.

You might find that young children ask you directly about it, and I'm sure you would just give them a direct, simple explanation. When my kids were much younger, a couple of times their friends asked me why my skin was so much darker than my children's. I just explained as best I could!
22 June 2010 at 03:55
Austin Trini said…
Savi, yes, that last one is kind of big...but there will be more on that to be sure!

You're right about the young children - they just ask why does my skin look like that. Depending on age, I just say that my skin doesn't work right, and if they are older, I may give them a bit more.

Re my skin and L&L, well, you know we match - it's Papa who doesn't :)
23 June 2010 at 21:52
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 20, Cycles 11,12 of 12: Not Happening

This week the oncologist felt that I had done enough chemo- I was not going to get Cycle 11 and Cycle 12.  I've talked before about the effects of the chemo on my fingers, but you know it is a sad situation when you knot your pyjama bottoms and then can't untie it to go to the bathroom. No more chemotherapy for me. Yay?  Yes, a bit of an anti-climax, but I still get to ring the "end-of-chemo" bell and get confetti thrown on me by my chemo nurses. My doctor also had in her hand the results of my post-chemotherapy MRI and it showed that there was a reduction in the tumour, it looked less dense than before and above all it looks like the volume of the tumour decreased by about 75%. Yay to that for sure! Considering I didn't feel that anything was changing I was very happy about the result. Next on my list: surgery. She said that although my blood counts are low in some areas, she felt that if I wanted to have surgery that day, I was well enough to do it. Me? We
8 comments
Read more

Talking with Lucas on climate change

This is my post for Blog Action Day . This is an annual event where bloggers everywhere in the world post about the same issue on the same day to spark discussion around an issue of global importance. This is part of a conversation I had with my 8-year old. Mama : Do you know what climate change means? Lucas : I think it means when it is like 90F and it is hot.   And the change? It's when in the daytime it might be 90F and sunny and hot, and then you go inside for dinner and then right after dinner and it might have dropped to 70F Well, yes it is that in a way.  That describes what is happening in your area, but when people use the term "climate change" they really mean something more global, like affecting climate around the world Have you heard of the team "global warming"? What global warming is that it is made up of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and when they burn stuff the smoke releases CO2 and it's like a blanket covering the earth and if it k
9 comments
Read more

Cancer by the numbers 2 of 4: That grocery bill

This is the second "Cancer by the Numbers" post, the first was about blood counts . We have been trying to eat organic fruits and vegetables as much as we can, to reduce the pesticide levels we injest. I will publish another post about cancer and food, but for now I thought I'd share the cost of organic vs not organic based on a quick poll of my local grocery (HEB).  We had cut out meat prior to my diagnosis of cancer (ever since reading The China Study ) so perhaps the decline in spending in meat is offset by the more pricey organic items! The graph below shows the increase, as a percentage of the non-organic price, that I pay for common items that I buy. While the actual dollar amounts may not be significant individually, I can tell you that I really feel it on my grocery bill when I buy blueberries! If you feel you want to buy organic, but want to spend the dollars on those items where it makes a difference, take a look at the  Environmental Working
5 comments
Read more