Just Too Little Time

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been going to the hospital/lab for various reasons. Here, take a look of what I’ve done lately that medical/doctor related:

1. Jan 18 ~ Brought my baby to pediatrician due to coughing
2. Jan 22 ~ Accompanied my mom to her ophthalmologist in the morning, she was diagnosed having macular edema and need IVT injection
3. Jan 22 ~ Brought my eldest to pediatrician in the evening due to coughing
4. Jan 23 ~ Brought my mom to the lab for hematology test and thorax x-ray as requested by her ophthalmologist
5. Jan 25 ~ Brought my mom to her doctor due to stomach pain
6. Jan 29 ~ Brought my mom to her ophthalmologist for IVT injection
7. Jan 30 ~ Went back to my mom’s ophthalmologist for checkup. I took time to check my eyes as well turned out I need to change my glasses
8. Feb 01 ~ Brought my baby to pediatrician for scheduled immunization
9. Feb 03 ~ Brought my mom to her dentist to see if she had tooth cavity that causes her eye’s inflammation, the result: she has tooth infection and need follow up treatment
10. Feb 04 ~ Brought my mom to her ophthalmologist for checkup
11. Feb 05 ~ Brought my mom back to the lab for another hematology test this time is requested by her dentist

Some scheduled appointments for following weeks:

• Feb 09 ~ My mom’s dentist for follow up treatment
• Feb 18 ~ My mom’s ophthalmologist for checkup

Though my family’s health is one of my priorities, there were times when I felt sick and tired seeing those physicians. And today is one of them. I’m screaming for better weekend. Can we go somewhere far away from hospital?

I found two interesting articles concerning pregnancy and having children. I quote the articles here and let you decide which one you want to believe

First, a five-year study run by Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction proves what many in the scientific community have always suspected: having children significantly lowers the IQ of both male and female parents.

Dr. Hosung Lee, director of the study, was not surprised with the findings. “The research proved that our hypothesis was correct. Having children does retard one’s brain activity, and since both parents lost intelligence, we must assume that this loss has a psychological rather than biological cause.”

The IQ tests show that when a child is born, the part of the brain that makes one think objectively takes the biggest hit when it comes to losing brainpower. “This explains why every parent thinks their child is the smartest kid in class or the best athlete, even if that child is as dumb as a box of rocks or needs a calendar to time their forty-yard dash. People who before were intelligent and open-minded turn into raving lunatics who want to blame a teacher or coach every time their mediocre child fails,” said Lee.

Lee says the Kinsey Institute will continue to test the couples participating in the study to determine if the loss of intelligence is reversible once children grow up and leave the nest and if parents who continue having children lose even more intelligence.

Second, a recent study performed at the University of Richmond and Randolph-Macon College in Virginia illustrates that pregnancy brainpower actually doesn’t decline at all during pregnancy.
(more…)

After two times rescheduling, finally my mom had the IVT injection on Friday morning. It was a quick procedure, only took about two hours. She was scheduled at 8:30 AM and we had to be there by 8.

My mom was at a good condition so there was no pre-treatment before the injection. Unlike when she had lucentis injection, her blood pressure was high at the time and took almost 4 hours for the anesthetic just to lower it. This time her blood pressure reading was 130/80 which was considered “normal” in my mom’s case. At 10:30 AM she was already released from OR.

On Saturday morning, the next day, we came back to the hospital for checkup. Her ophthalmologist said so far the IVT worked fine. The increase of intraocular pressure (IOP) as the side effect of IVT didn’t occur on my mom’s eye. Her tonometry test result showed 11 mmHg which still in the normal range of IOP.

She was scheduled to have another checkup on Thursday morning to see the progress. Hope everything would turn out fine.