Category: Reports

Top Five One-Handed Meals

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By rebecca, February 18, 2010 10:44 pm

The kind of week (hell, month) that I’ve been having has given me ample opportunity to consider what kind of healthy(ish) meals I can pull together for my kids quickly and with one arm holding a clingy almost-toddler. Separation anxiety much? Holy crap. Here’s today’s top five:

Imagine these with cheese. Image courtesy of http://cavemanfood.blogspot.com/

5. Green eggs and cheese. Crack a few eggs into the bottom of a glass pitcher. (You’ll get the hang of using just one hand to do this after a couple tries.) Grab a few handfuls of pre-washed spinach and fill the rest of the pitcher. Insert immersion blender into pitcher and puree spinach and scramble eggs in no time flat. Pour mixture into a lightly oiled pan and let heat up over medium heat while rinsing blender and pitcher. Grab a spatula and start moving the eggs around until they are cooked through. Spoon a little onto a plate for baby and strap her into highchair with food to distract her. Quickly toss a couple slices of toast in toaster and grate some cheddar on the remaining eggs.  Call repeatedly for your older kid to join you for lunch while you pour the milk and butter the toast. Done.

4. Two-box, one-bag alphabet soup. Open a box of soup stock, any flavour, low-sodium preferred and pour it into a pot and bring to a boil. Pour some alphabet-shaped pasta out of their box into the boiling stock and stir. Add a bunch of mixed frozen vegetables. (I like the No Name stuff and I’m not even kidding — nicely diced.) Soup’s ready once pasta is cooked. Ladle into bowls and put them straight into the freezer. Start hollering for the big kid and distract baby with milk in a sippy cup while you strap her in. Serve to kids from freezer, tepid, as they like. Done.

3. Peanut butter and jam. This one is trickier than it sounds because you need to use the hand that’s around the baby to spread the peanut butter and jam onto the bread. Well, I do anyway because my left arm is so useless that I cannot even hold my kid on that side let alone spread stuff. Also, my doctor recommends no nuts until two years to discourage allergies which means I need to keep baby hands away from the peanut butter. The jam is very good for this. In fact, if you can set baby up with a mini jam sandwich in her highchair, then you should be able to quickly slap together the p.b. and j. for your other kid(s). Slice up some fruit to go with the sandwich and to feed the baby. Done.

2. Cheesy polenta with mixed veg. Bring some water to a boil in a pot and then gradually add your cornmeal, whisking as you go. Note that this involves picking up and putting down your fork/whisk/spoon multiple times in an effort to not dump the cornmeal in all at once. The results will be lumpy if you do this with one hand — get over it. Once the mixture starts to thicken, turn down the heat and let it bubble away for about 20 minutes, stirring whenever you think of it. Then pour some frozen mixed vegetables into a pot and add a bit of water. Really, it doesn’t matter how much because you’ll be draining it later. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let cook for just a couple minutes.  Somehow manage to grate or slice enough cheese to distract baby in highchair so you can properly grate as much cheese as you like to add to the polenta. Add, stir and let finish cooking. Spoon steaming polenta into bowls (or mold into fun shapes with a cookie cutter) and toss into freezer. Spoon veggies directly onto plates since they cool down in no time. Give baby the veggies and call for the other kid. Serve polenta alongside veggies, pour yourself a big glass of wine and done.

1. Chinese delivery. Pick up phone and hit the speed dial. Only order one dish that you think the kids will like and go all spicy szechuan with the rest because god knows they’ll only eat some rice and throw the rest around the room. The only way they’ll ever develop sophisticated palates anyway is to have the chance to spit out a variety of flavours on a regular basis. This time pour your wine before dinner hits the table and be ready to vacuum up fried rice for days to come. Done.

categories Opinion, Reports

5000 Reasons (and Counting) To Get Your H1N1 Vaccine

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By rebecca, October 30, 2009 3:23 am

The H1N1 flu vaccine became available in Canada as of this Monday and health workers across the country are scrambling to administer the shots as widely and efficiently as possible. So far, there have been nearly 5000 deaths worldwide due to swine flu (H1N1) and overflowing clinics and long waits are a reality for the time being.

What I have been hearing, however,  is a far cry from eager anticipation of a life-saving medicine. I have been hearing cynical, suspicious critiques of the very governmental agencies and people who have been working around the clock to get the vaccine out in time for this year’s flu season. I have been hearing worry and concern about the safety of the vaccine. People are confused and don’t know what to believe.

There is a general climate of distrust when it comes to vaccines, I think, due to the highly publicized (and bogus) theory that childhood vaccinations are linked to rising autism rates. (See here how it impacts parents’ decisions regarding H1N1.) Much has been made of the rush to get these vaccines out and of the presence of thimerosal and an adjuvant in the vaccine. I have argued before that standard vaccines are safe and necessary and will now argue in favour of the H1N1 flu vaccine. You should absolutely get vaccinated and I’ll tell you why.

“But it’s just the flu.”

  • Actually, the World Health Organization (WHO) states on its web site that: “This is a new influenza A(H1N1) virus that has never before circulated among humans. This virus is not related to previous or current human seasonal influenza viruses.” We do not, therefore, have any natural immunity to this virus.
  • It is highly contagious and remains so even after the illness seems to have passed. The virus has been found present even 13 days after the onset of fever. (Globe and Mail)
  • Most cases thus far have been mild and most healthy adults should be able to fight it off on their own. We think. Health Canada states on its web site that: “The H1N1 flu virus has caused primarily mild illness in Canada, but Canadians need to be prepared to respond to a potentially more severe form of the virus that may emerge this fall.”
  • There has been an increase in mortality rates for healthy young adults and especially pregnant women when compared with other seasonal flus.
  • The current issue of Atlantic Monthly has an article about this vaccine,  “Shots in the Dark,” that says:  “Whether this season’s swine flu turns out to be deadly or mild, most experts agree that it’s only a matter of time before we’re hit by a truly devastating flu pandemic—one that might kill more people worldwide than have died of the plague and aids combined.” This might not be it. But then again it might.
  • Health Canada was concerned enough to purchase enough vaccine for everyone in Canada who wants it. They don’t do that every year.
  • Barack Obama has declared the virus to be a national emergency. Again, not the normal response to “just the flu.”
  • The Spanish Flu was also just the flu. It was a world-wide pandemic that seemed to target otherwise young and healthy adults and killed anywhere from 50 million to 100 million people from 1918 – 1920, seven times the casualty rate of WWI.

“But the vaccines contain mercury which is a known toxin.”

  • It is true that the H1N1 vaccine available in Canada contains thimerosal, a form of mercury, that serves to preserve and stabilize the vaccine.
  • This form of mercury is considered perfectly safe in low doses. Health Canada says: “The amount in the H1N1 adjuvanted flu vaccine is much less than the daily limit recommended for environmental exposure to mercury.  For example, there is significantly less mercury in the vaccine than you would find in a can of tuna fish.”
  • Even the unadjuvanted vaccine which contains 10 times as much thimerosal is well within the safe range.
  • Remember, the vaccine is administered once. Even in cases with relatively low levels of mercury (but still much higher than those in the vaccine) it is chronic exposure that causes adverse reactions.

“Then why did the US stop using thimerosal in childhood vaccines in 2006?”

  • There has been a lot of speculation that vaccines (and thimerosal) are causally linked to autism. There have also been several studies that show absolutely no link between vaccines and autism.
  • The current issue of Wired has an excellent article about this vaccine phobia. Amy Wallace describes a culture of parents who are desperate for an explanation of the rising rates of autism and of their own child’s diagnosis. The vaccine theory gives them something to hold onto.
  • As rates of vaccine refusal rose (and outbreaks of nearly eradicated diseases sprang up as a result) the American medical establishment decided it would be best to remove thimerosal from vaccines altogether. This was essentially a PR move designed to placate the autism activists even though thimerosal is perfectly safe and there is no known link to autism. It didn’t work. The vaccine wary are still convinced there is some sort of link and, as Amy Wallace reports, the pediatrician and vaccine inventor Paul Offit thinks it was “a public relations mistake because it seemed to indicate to the public that thimerosal was toxic.”
“What about the adjuvant vs unadjuvanted vaccines? Why do pregnant women get a safer one than the rest of us?”

  • The adjuvant that is added to the majority of vaccines serves to boost our immune systems and accelerate the effectiveness of the vaccine. “The adjuvant in Canada’s H1N1 flu vaccine is made up of natural ingredients such as water, squalene oil and vitamin E. An unadjuvanted vaccine has no “booster” element.” (Health Canada)
  • The adjuvant actually makes the vaccine more effective and is recommended against this strain of flu. The same adjuvant has been used for years in the regular flu shot and is not new.
  • In the absence of any studies of the adjuvant on pregnant women specifically, the government has ordered just enough unadjuvanted vaccines to administer to expecting mothers just to be safe. In fact, the threat of swine flu to pregnant women is such that they should go ahead and use the adjuvanted version if it is the only one available.
“This vaccine is too new and has not been properly tested.”
  • The WHO and Health Canada have no motive to hurt people or to instill panic in order to push vaccines. They make no money off this. Of course this vaccine has been tested and has met with safety standards. “The requirements for vaccines approved for sale in Canada are stringent. Every vaccine lot is safety-tested by the manufacturer and by the Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate at Health Canada. Health Canada will review all available test results, including international data, to ensure the vaccine is safe and effective before it is authorized for use in Canada.” (Health Canada)
  • While obviously this particular vaccine is new and long-term effects cannot be known, we do know that the majority of its components have been in use in other vaccines for years.

“I hear that the government and the media are in bed with Big Pharma and have created all this hype in order to make money off our fears.”

  • Consider that Canada bought these vaccines at cost and they were sold for a loss to the developing world.
  • If you were going to develop a drug for profit it would not be a vaccine which is used only once. Rogain, Viagra, antidepressants, those are the money makers.
  • Governments, as a rule, have no motive for panicking their population. In fact, they like to avoid public hysteria at all costs. The Canadian government just quietly ordered enough vaccine for the entire population. Maybe they know something you don’t.
  • The media reports everything, including crazy conspiracy theories and unfounded fears.
“Okay, but I’m not really at risk so why should I assume any risk from the vaccination, however minuscule?”

  • This was my original position on the vaccine, admittedly. I don’t usually get the flu shot, I thought, and I have a strong immune system. Why bother?
  • First, the risk is less than minuscule. The risk of any serious adverse affects (beyond soreness at the injection site and minor aches the day of) from the vaccine is infinitesimal, one in a million. Your odds of contracting the flu far outweigh the vanishingly small odds of a side effect from the vaccine.
  • Second, even the regular flu just plain sucks and this swine flu is far worse. (Here’s a post by a woman whose entire family is just getting over swine flu.) So why not try to avoid having to take a week off work to nurse your entirely preventable illness?
  • You probably know someone, or someone who knows someone, who is at risk. Do you really want to be responsible for spreading this flu?
  • We are trying to prevent a full-scale pandemic and that means everybody should participate. At a 90% inoculation rate diseases are kept at bay. As soon as rates start to drop again the disease rears it’s head. (Flu shots are much less effective because only about a third of the population gets them and they are not always targeted at the right strain. We have the right strain this year.)
  • There is a three to four per cent rate of inefficiency for most vaccines. So for every 100 people vaccinated three or four will still be susceptible to the illness. If nearly everyone is vaccinated, though, that doesn’t matter. What if someone you love is one of those three per cent?
  • Not everybody can be vaccinated. Newborns, people with egg allergies, and anyone with a high fever are not eligible. Prominent blogger Catherine Connors has a toddler son, for example, with a serious respiratory infection that means he is not a candidate for the vaccination. His condition also makes him much more susceptible to serious complications should he contract H1N1. Anyone who cannot get vaccinated themselves is at the mercy of the general public to contain this virus.
  • You are the general public. Each and every one of us should feel obliged to do everything in our power to eradicate this virus. All we need to do is get a shot. I know that x number of people die of all kinds of other things all the time — far more than will die of swine flu this year. But I don’t care. People are dying of this right now and we can all stop it.
Vanetia Warner was a healthy ten year old girl living in Cornwall, Ontario with no underlying medical problems whatsoever. She was admitted into hospital last weekend with the swine flu and then died.

Evan Frustaglio was a 13 year old hockey player from Toronto with no health problems at all. While at a hockey tournament in London he began to feel slightly ill. By Saturday his fever wasn’t being helped by over-the-counter medication and his parents brought him to a clinic on Sunday. He was sent home with nothing to worry about as his breathing was regular and the fever was being controlled. He got out of the bath on Monday and collapsed. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. [Update: From the Toronto Star: "Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's medical officer of health, said Evan had "mild asthma," something his father disputed."Evan didn't have asthma; he had been prescribed puffers a few years ago when he had a cold," Frustaglio said.]

The truth is that we don’t know who the victims are going to be with this flu. This is a brand new strain that nobody has any natural immunity against. It isn’t just the flu.

We are lucky enough to live in an age where scientists are tracking these illnesses and identifying them and projecting what they will look like. And they are mostly right. Untold numbers of people do not have to die before a vaccine is found. The victims of the Spanish Flu should have been so lucky. Let’s be able to look back on this and laugh. Remember how worried we were? Turned out to be nothing.

Further reading:
Health Canada’s Vaccine Myths
World Health Organization’s Influenza A(H1N1) Frequently Asked Questions
Wired, “An Epidemic of Fear,” and the follow up, “H1N1 Flu Shot: 3 Major Fears Debunked” (highly recommended)
The Atlantic Monthly, “Does the Vaccine Matter?”

(Image courtesy of Zaldylmg on Flickr.)

categories Reports | tags , , , , , ,

Money Can Buy You Love: Donate and Fight Breastcancer

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By rebecca, August 14, 2009 1:47 am

I don’t have a personal breast cancer story to tug at your heart strings. Trust me, I’d use one if I could. In fact, I’m one of the only people out there who hasn’t lost someone to breast cancer. Not yet, anyway. I do have an aunt who beat breast cancer (I think), but we don’t talk much about that sort of thing in my family. My husband lost his grandmother to the disease before he was born and one of his eight aunts (on his father’s side alone!) is a breast cancer survivor. (Another aunt is currently battling vaginal cancer.)

I do know, however, that the Canadian Cancer Society says that in 2009, “An estimated 22,700 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,400 will die of it.” In Canada alone. (Add another 192,370 diagnoses, and 40,170 deaths in the United States according to the National Cancer Institute.) That’s a lot of people. It is the leading type of cancer among women and one in nine woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. So, no, I haven’t lost anyone to breast cancer. Not yet.

I also happen to live in a city that is home to the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) — the largest cancer-specific institution in the country and a top five ranking hospital for cancer research in the world. The Campbell Family Institue for Breast Cancer Research is supported by the PMH and is a world leader in cancer research and continues to break new ground in breast cancer research, treatment and studies. It all costs money, though. Does the institute have enough money? Not yet.

For the past four years I have been inspired by a team of women in my husband’s family who have participated in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Led by my sister-in-law, Tara Keenan, the Keenans and the Crew For the Cure have raised over $80,000 for breast cancer research. ($30.5 million have been raised since 2004 in total.) First, each individual needs to raise at least $2000 worth of donations and then they walk. And walk. They walk 60km and it takes two days.  Get 4757 women walking together through the streets of Toronto — that’s how you raise awareness. I hear it’s a life changing experience, but I wouldn’t know. Not yet.

The treatment and detection of breast cancer is evolving by leaps and bounds. Women who would have faced certain death a decade ago can now fight for survival. We can screen for genetics and breathe a sigh of relief if we don’t have the breast cancer gene. If. I don’t have a personal story of breast cancer loss, no. But I do have a baby girl. When she grows up she will likely have a one in nine chance of developing breast cancer. I don’t like those odds. I don’t think I want to take that bet. So let me see how much money I can wring out of you fine people. Let’s see just how far our research dollars can take us. No, we don’t have a cure. Not yet.


Here’s the thing, though. The Weekend To End Breast Cancer is September 12 -13 which is less than a month away. I need to raise $2000 by then and my own funds are already earmarked for the groceries. So I really, really need you to move on this. Here’s how it works: follow this link here (or click through the pretty button on the sidebar) and donate to my fundraising efforts. Just in case the satisfaction of fighting cancer is not enough … I will, in return, not only walk like crazy for two days, but I will fundraise like crazy for three weeks. I will beg and plead and otherwise persuade business people to donate prizes to my cause. Every $20 donated will get one entry into a draw to be held on Thursday Sept. 10. Be sure to include your contact info in the message portion of the donation so I can get your prize to you.

Check back for an updated list of prizes as they come in.

I would also love to hear your breast cancer stories in my comments section. (Or just link to them if you’d like.) Oh, and tell your friends, why don’t you?

categories Miscellaneous Musings, Reports | tags , , ,

Nursery School No Big Deal

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By rebecca, July 8, 2009 11:16 am

Young C started nursery school yesterday and I felt the first oh-no-my-baby’s-growing-up twinge since L’il I was born. It started to set in as I was hanging around for a little bit when we first arrived and he so clearly didn’t need me there — perhaps he didn’t even want me there. He cried everytime we dropped him off for the first few weeks of daycare last summer; yesterday he barely noticed when I left. I returned home and there was L’il I up on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth, on the verge of crawling and talking and nursery school herself. Or so it seemed.

This nursery school program is only two and a half hours long, twice or thrice weekly. It is hardly the trial of seperation that full-time daycare was. And the difference between two and three years of age is enormous. It’s no wonder he didn’t cry. In fact, we are reaching to be able to afford this program because he so clearly needs something. L’il I’s nap schedule and my desire/need to do some work during her naps means we’ve had to drop most of our routine morning outings. And even when we do get to the Early Years drop-in or a story time the average participant age is much closer to L’il I’s than it is to C’s. “There will be kids my age at my nursery school. Right, Mom?” Continue reading 'Nursery School No Big Deal'»

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No Garbage, No Pools, No A/C: Summer Days, Baby

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By rebecca, June 24, 2009 11:03 am

I was all set to write the long-awaited, much-anticipated, well-past-due follow up to last month’s scoop on the Liberal government of Ontario’s failure to implement full-day kindergarten by 2010. Especially since all the buzz lately is about how the gov has announced that it will begin to unfold a full-day program starting in 2010 after all. So either my sources were completely wrong (possible) or the government has just managed to put a very nice spin on being well behind on the original 2010 promise. I even pulled up the Pascal report and planned to sift through it to let you know what I think.

But you know what I think? I can’t believe how hot it is in here!? Full-day learning, or whatever they’re calling it now, will have to wait because all I can muster up right now is a tirade against the weather. The weather and the other forces that have conspired to make my life one big punch line. Continue reading 'No Garbage, No Pools, No A/C: Summer Days, Baby'»

categories Miscellaneous Musings, Reports | tags , , , ,

Bad Mothers and Good Fathers

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By rebecca, June 19, 2009 3:44 pm

img_2062I just got back from a picnic lunch in the park with a neighbouring mom-friend and her daughter. She brought along a portable craft carrier replete with coloured paper, crayons, glitter and more. “Have you guys made your Father’s Day cards yet?” “Uh. No.” The tradition in our home is to wait until the morning of and then hastily fold a printer sheet in half and scribble on it. But whatever. We’ll try it this way. Continue reading 'Bad Mothers and Good Fathers'»

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Another Toronto Daycare Shortage Story

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By rebecca, June 5, 2009 2:05 pm

Here’s another page from the lack-of-daycares-keep-women-down book. A woman moves to Canada from Slovakia and works as a live-in nanny. She meets her husband-to-be, another Slovak emigré, and becomes pregnant. She takes her year-long maternity leave and doesn’t know what to do next. She knows that she won’t be able to land a job that pays enough to cover the cost of full-time infant care, and the wait-list for subsidized spots is eons long.

So she stays home and her young family makes do with a small (but quite lovely!) basement apartment. She puts her hopes of gaining experience in the Canadian job market on hold. Then her daughter turns 18 months, making daycare rates are a bit more affordable and the prospect of increased socialization more appealing. She gets on the list at a local daycare and waits and waits. Finally, last week, mere days before her daughter’s third birthday, she gets the call. Now she just needs to land a job before July 15th or forfeit her spot. Continue reading 'Another Toronto Daycare Shortage Story'»

categories Miscellaneous Musings, Reports

McGuinty Full Day Kindergarten Promise FAILS

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By rebecca, May 26, 2009 12:53 pm

UPDATE

Politicians have pulled on working parents’ heart and purse strings only to let them down hard once again. During the 2007 election campaign, the Dalton McGuinty-led Liberal government of Ontario had pledged to turn the province’s half-day kindergarten program into a full school day with before and after school care by September 2010. This would mean no more shuttling kindergarteners to and from daycare and school. It would lift a huge financial burden off working parents’ shoulders and allow even more parents to work outside the home. It would represent an institutional commitment to early childhood education and an acknowledgment of the value of families in our society. It would have, rather, because it ain’t going to happen. Continue reading 'McGuinty Full Day Kindergarten Promise FAILS'»

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Head Injuries Too Common For Comfort

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By rebecca, May 15, 2009 12:21 pm

Hey you! Yes, you with the kid on your shoulder. And you throwing that baby into the air and then catching it. And you kids riding bikes without helmets. Stop it. All of you need to just stop.

At the risk of sounding like . . . no, scratch that, I know that I’m going to sound like an overprotective old shrew, but it is worth repeating. I guess that’ s why us moms sound like a broken record a lot of the time — we will just keep repeating this stuff until somebody listens. Or until it gets so far under your skin as to ingrain itself in your very essence and you will never, ever be able to engage in that behaviour without feeling fundamentally uneasy. (Now that I’m a parent there’s a whole torrent of warnings from my childhood that I simply cannot stomach: kids on balconies, kids running onto elevators — what if it’s not there?!, ink on skin, and young babies bearing weight on their legs, to name a few.) Some of these nagging warnings are just our own particular peeves, but some are real hazards. This is hazard number one. Continue reading 'Head Injuries Too Common For Comfort'»

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Does Crawling Matter?

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By rebecca, May 8, 2009 11:30 am

Learning to crawl. I love this. L’il I flips over onto her front just as soon as she hits the ground. She lifts her head up high and reaches out toward a toy or some piece of junk that Young C’s hauled out of who-knows-where and left on the ground. She reaches and squirms and wriggles herself just a little bit closer. She starts screeching with frustration before long, I know, but her stamina is improving.

Young C never did this. He rarely rolled over and hardly played on his front at all. I do remember him sliding backward quite a distance over ceramic tiles once or twice, but he never did get the hang of moving forward on all fours. He was always focused on lifting his head up while on his back and trying to do little baby sit-ups. (Until he finally succeeded in rolling from his first sit-up into a somersault off the bed. But that’s another story.) He would insist on being pulled into a sitting position and did eventually develop a half-crawl, half-walk scoot move that would propel him a couple of feet toward a stray toy. Continue reading 'Does Crawling Matter?'»

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