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Revisiting “13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do”

Wish I Knew Before

During this time of “shelter in place,” I’m tempted to give myself a bigger break than usual when it comes to parenting. Then I remember two things: one, we don’t know how long we’re going to be dealing with this, if this is, in fact, the “new normal,” and two, if I relax my parenting now, I might be giving myself more work for later to fix habits I’ve undone in a couple of weeks. So to help me stay “strong,” I’m falling back on some great guidance I once found in “13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do” by … Continue reading Revisiting “13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do”

Education, General, Health, Kids, Parenting1 Comment
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Lessons Learned in the Time of Coronavirus

Wish I Knew Before

I’m home with my family this morning, following guidelines for self-isolation and social distancing. It is so surreal, but here are the actionable items that I’ve learned so far from living in the time of coronavirus. Most of us will survive the coronavirus, and this is why these learnings are important to me. #1 Respond at the first hint of trouble, not at panic time Determining what constitutes as “the first hint of trouble” is open to debate, but I will say that I responded somewhere in the middle between “the first hint of trouble” and “panic time.”  I went … Continue reading Lessons Learned in the Time of Coronavirus

Allergies, Health, Kids, Parenting, Uncategorized7 Comments
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Stopping OIT at One Nut

Wish I Knew Before

I have to take my mind off coronavirus somehow, so I thought I would provide the latest update on our experience with oral immunotherapy for food allergies.  We’re done for now We have stopped oral immunotherapy updosing, after having reached a dose of 1 whole nut for each child (see why in the section below, “New information since we started OIT”). So now we are entering maintenance phase at a daily peanut for one child and a daily cashew for the other. Our allergist said that after about 3 months on the 1 nut dose, they would be protected from … Continue reading Stopping OIT at One Nut

Health, Uncategorized1 Comment
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5 Reasons Not to Rely on Doctors

Wish I Knew Before

Just to be clear, this post is not about bashing doctors! We see many amazing, caring doctors. This post is about an over-reliance on what doctors in our healthcare system can do and taking charge of our own health. Maybe you already know different, but I grew up thinking that the doctor’s word was the final word. Unsure about anything? Go see a doctor. Nowadays, I still see a doctor, but I go online, research some more, and I take the doctor’s opinion into consideration as I decide what to do. Here’s why: #1 They’re not always up to date … Continue reading 5 Reasons Not to Rely on Doctors

Health, Kids, Myopia, Parenting, UncategorizedLeave a comment
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Can You Control or Reverse Your Myopia?

Wish I Knew Before

In my quest to quell my child’s myopia, I discovered the myopia reversal community online. It seems there are many adults who are trying to improve their vision naturally. Yet while the medical eyecare community has not reached the point where they will even consider that myopia reversal is possible, myopia control for children is a growing sub-specialty and reaching mainstream eyecare practices. Considering that myopia control didn’t exist when I was growing up, (and yet here it is), I’m wary of dismissing the possibility of myopia reversal too quickly. My takeaway Researching and comparing these two “fields” was helpful … Continue reading Can You Control or Reverse Your Myopia?

Allergies, Health, Kids, Parenting, Uncategorized1 Comment
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10+ Things to Know About OIT for Food Allergies

Wish I Knew Before

Recently, we decided to have our children try oral immunotherapy (OIT) for nuts. OIT is just one of many treatment options emerging. This was a huge, agonizing decision for us and we went back and forth several times for months before we finally committed. Read this post for where we are with OIT today. My takeaway This post is a summary of the key information (but a long list, nevertheless) that I found helpful in making our decision and knowing what to expect once we started OIT. I gathered it through reading online resources, quizzing OIT providers, and lurking on … Continue reading 10+ Things to Know About OIT for Food Allergies

Education, Health, Health Insurance, UncategorizedLeave a comment

5 Health Insurance Traps

Wish I Knew Before

I’m still on my health insurance rant. How many ways can the health insurance system screw you? If you’re a health insurance user, chances are you’ve been scammed, duped, or basically not given the coverage that you paid for because the health insurance system in this country has been intentionally/unintentionally designed to make sure that you won’t know how to use it and getting enough reliable information to avoid costly errors is practically impossible. I’m sharing so that hopefully the same thing doesn’t happen to you. Here are five things I’ve been screwed on: #1 Health insurance representatives and provider … Continue reading 5 Health Insurance Traps

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Health Insurance Plan Comparison Spreadsheets

Wish I Knew Before

Recently, we were choosing between a variety of health insurance plans. Before I thought to look online, I had already made my own, but I guess that’s all well and good because it was a nice, eye-opening experience to think through the ridiculous rules of each of the health insurance plans myself.  Later on, I found a few different health plans spreadsheets online that I thought were helpful and collected the links here. There are also various calculators and comparison widgets on health websites, but they hide the logic and calculations they’re using to compare, so it’s not as useful. … Continue reading Health Insurance Plan Comparison Spreadsheets

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Got Body Odor? And Will Your Child, Too?

Wish I Knew Before

I’d been sniffing the hair on my children’s heads – yes, moms do that. And found that they smell very different. I can’t even describe the smell though – one like vanilla soup and the other like citrus tea. That got me wondering what they might smell like as teenagers and then adults. Would my deliciously smelling kids become stinky people with various body odors? Would I need to arm them with deodorants? Was I going to need to do a 3 week research project on finding the best, non-toxic deodorants?  I’ve noticed that men and women and folks of … Continue reading Got Body Odor? And Will Your Child, Too?

Health, Kids, Myopia, Uncategorized2 Comments

Can Axial Length Be Reduced?

Wish I Knew Before

This is a niche post for those of us trying to explore the causes and cures for myopia. Since the causes of myopia are not fully understood, the treatments are still under discovery and experimentation. If you search online, you probably won’t find much evidence that the axial length of the human eye can be reduced – this is a key measurement that folks are using as an objective way to determine if axial length myopia can be reversed. However, I suspect that there exists some evidence – it just hasn’t reached Google’s top search results. I discovered that the axial … Continue reading Can Axial Length Be Reduced?