Archive for May, 2008

I’m officially on vacation

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

We are not going anyplace exotic — I mean I personally don’t consider Albany NY exotic. But I’m off for a week and a half, we’re going to see Brianna graduate. It should be nice. :)

Cure autism?

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

So I am watching Vh1’s Rock the 80s hour - a commercial comes on about VH1’s autism campaign.  People need to really start thinking CRITICALLY about what these cure autism campaigns are telling you:

  •  All of a sudden all of these kids are being diagnosed
  •  No one knows where it comes from
  •  THERE IS NO CURE

So, does that mean perhaps in previous generations, autistic kids were misdiagnosed with something else? Do the kids grow out of it? Is it possible autism is genetic? Is it possible there is no cure because it’s a different way of being?

The site is actually better than the commercial - which is very horrible. We need to stop thinking in terms of a cure, and start thinking in terms of education about differences. We need the full spectrum of people in order to have a fully functioning society.

Velvie

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008



050708_20121.jpg

Originally uploaded by gminks


loves to chit chat

Polycythemia Vera treatment in NW Fla seems to be not-so-good

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

My dad has Polycythemia Vera (PV). It’s a form of cancer basically. It is an abnormal increase in red blood cells due to excess production of the cells by the bone marrow. It usually strikes people in their 70s (my dad is 65), and is supposedly a “rare, chronic disease“. But my dad and two of his brothers have had it (maybe the other brother had it too, but he was captured in Vietnam and he got left there when the US pulled out).

So, my dad goes to doctors down in Pensacola FL who are complaining that the insurance my dad isn’t paying them enough. UGH!! I want to go smack someone.

I think they need to come up here to Dana Farber.  My mom needs to learn how to talk to those doctors so they take her seriously. Y’all just don’t know how important class is to get services in that part of the country. I wish I could go for just one visit.

I just wish they would come up here for a little while. Before it gets cold and they wouldn’t want to come.

Psychiatric problems in adults lead to autistic kids

Monday, May 5th, 2008

A study found that having a schizophrenic parent or a mother with psychiatric problems roughly doubled a child’s risk of being autistic.

OK, so is it possible that the adults who had these problems and then had autistic kids were just misdiagnosed as well? Maybe this just proves autism is genetic.

The article I linked to specifically says: “The association between a child’s autism and mental illness in the parent was strongest with schizophrenia”.

For the record, my ex-husband was diagnosed with schizophrenia.