Cold and Flu Season

It seems that every time we go anywhere where there are other children my son seems to get a cold. we were at Grandview yesterday and now he is sick. Germs are everywhere and with toddlers always having things in there mouth it seems they are always getting sick. This is why I make sure my son gets the flu shot. I have heard a lot of controversy lately about the shot and that viruses mutate so quickly that the shot may be ineffective, but the virus needs a host to be able to learn the immune system and mutate to protect itself. When we get the flu shot we are stopping the virus from having a host therefore slowing down the mutation. Also I have heard so many people say they get sick because of the flu shot. What they get is enteric or the common cold, which the flu shot is not meant to protect against in the first place. When they get the real influenza virus they are sick for weeks and I have seen many elderly people die from the flu but never anyone who had the flu shot. That is enough of a case for me to get one and to vaccinate my son.

Hearing Test and Toddlers

My son had his hearing test and passed with flying colours. It was interesting to see how easy it is to perform this test with children. First they get a measure of how the ear is receiving sound, they put a small probe in the ear and send a signal. The ear will then vibrate and based on these vibrations,they get a graph of the results. If little "mountains" appear then the conduction is good. Next you go into the sound proof room and much like how they do an adults test they have sounds on one side or the other at different tones and pitches and loudness. The child looks toward the sound and is rewarded with a little toy playing drums. It was really neat to see because I have always wonder how they do the test in little kids who can't hold up their right or left hand. So one down and one more appointment to go this week. I feel relieved that he hears good, so when he doesn't listen to me he is just being two. Only 20 more years of that to go ha ha.

Private Care

After finding out that the wait for public speech therapy was 12 months we decided to take my son to private care in the mean time. We do have minimal insurance $350 per year and found out our first visit would cost $315 dollars so I hope we do not need any more visits this year. This means that we will have to do a lot of the work at home because we can only afford to go once per month at $125. My son is worth the time though and we are fortunate enough to have an appointment next week. I am also beginning to realize how hard it must be for parents who don't have insurance this entire ordeal has made me more aware of the diffrent concerns families may have when accessing resources in our community. Our son also has an audiology appointment this week and an ENT appointment to see about tubes in January. I will post the results of all this when we know. I am also going to try and locate some financial resources and post them as well. If you know of any additional information please feel free to leave a comment.

Child with Speech disorder.

This is a child with Speech Apraxia. His mother is doing at home speech therapy with him. Parents are taught by speech therapist to do a lot of therapy at home to provide maximum benefit of the therapy. Parents need to be on board and work in partnership with the child's health care team in order for the child to reach their maximum benefit.

Assignment for ICT class

Is technology improving or hindering communication in healthcare?

In my opinion technology is improving communications in healthcare. It helps to eliminate wait time in communications between healthcare providers. For example doctors can fax or email nurses prescriptions and directions for patients care. Also technology helps nurses to communicate with each other in different departments very quickly. It also all healthcare providers to have access to all information quickly and efficiently which provides patients with safer care. Also in remote areas communication via technology may be the only access to more critical care instructions for nurses. Technology had created improves communication methods and less wait times for important information.

Resources from a nursing perspective.

The focus of my blog may be a personal issue but I still think it can be useful to nurses. Sometimes we have clients who may ask us where they can go for help with their concerns about their children, it is nice to know where to refer them. One of the most difficult things about getting help is being about to access the proper resources. It would reduce a lot of stress if we could direct them in the right location.

Blog Focus Child resources in Durham Region.

Okay so things with me have been a little distracting lately. I have had so much on my mind with school and just when my assignments are coming to an end, my son gets sick. It is not that serious, he has had the same ear infection for 2 months now and this is our third course of antibiotics if this does not work then we need to look at tubes in his ears. The worst thing about all this is that we have been noticing a lag in his speech for some time, now we are told maybe he is not hearing right. We will be having a hearing test and where placed on the very LONG waiting list for speech pathology. I have also started to notice some behaviour problems, if we go to play group he just wants to run, if we try to sit in circle time he screams like I am killing him. The doctor says it could be anything for behaviour from ear pain to ADHD to who knows what. I am freaked out. I should not have to wait months to get help for my child. He does have some verbal communication and a lot of non verbal so I am sure we can help him, when we get THERE. So the focus of this blog will be on parent resources for preschool children and toddlers in the Durham region. I will post anything I find out and I am persistent. If you have any info please share it in the comment section. Anything helps.