Raising Boys

Blood–what’s your type? November 11, 2005

My husband and I picked up the results of the blood typing tests on our sons Dylan and Lennon at the clinic this afternoon and learned that Dylan is AB+ and Lennon is A+. That’s to be expected I guess because blood type is inherited and I’m AB+ while my husband believes (he’s not sure) he is B+.

We had the tests done on our children because we thought it would be handy information to have.

I wanted to learn more about blood types so I looked it up on the Internet and found out that a person has two blood alleles, one each from the biological parents. A tutorial on the University of Arizona biology project website said “an allele is one of several different forms of genetic information present in our DNA at a specific location on a specific chromosome.”

There are three different alleles for blood types: A, B, and O. It was Austrian scientist Karl Landsteiner who classified blood according to the distinct differences he found when he examined samples under a microscope.
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Health care provider issues October 28, 2005

I just ended an exasperating (on my part, at least) phone conversation with a representative of the health maintenance organization (HMO) providing health insurance to our company. Our HMO, ValuCare, had initially refused to cover a fasting blood sugar (FBS) test that my gynecologist recommended I undergo.

The silly reason given by our HMO was that the doctor who recommended the test was not in ValuCare’s list of accredited doctors.

This is not my first experience with the unreliability of this HMO. In August, it refused to honor my sick son’s coverage for reasons it only knows. Last week, I brought my sons to Valucare’s accredited testing center for the yearly regular medical check-up, which would only run from October 13 to 31, only to be refused by the center because of some fiasco that was either the fault of my company or the HMO or both.
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Ovarian cysts and manly traits August 28, 2005

If illnesses behaved the way doctors and medical books said they would, I’d be bald, obese, have acne, and maybe even a beard. It’s a good thing they don’t always do, my gynecologist said when she told me I have polycystic ovaries or simply that I have cysts in my ovaries.

As it is, I’m still all of 100 lbs., my long wavy mane (which I straighten out with a hair iron) is as thick as ever, my eyebrows on the other hand are still as sparse, no growth on my upper lip that could be mistaken for a beard (and I look in the mirror every hour just to be on the safe side), and there is not a single pimple on my face.

My obsessive research on this subject has led me to a forum of near hysterical women seeking a cure to this or that symptom. I guess I’d be hysterical if I were balding, 45 kilograms overweight, and have hair on my upper lip.

I was tempted to join and ask if there was room there for a skinny, beardless female still grappling with the realization that her hormones had gone haywire but stopped myself just in time. I obviously do not fit the stereotypical patient so why add to the confusion.
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Sick son and unreliable health care August 4, 2005

I pay a lot for my sons’ health insurance coverage although I won’t mind if I don’t ever have to use it but since “not ever” is not something you associate with growing children, “rarely” would do just fine.

Tuesday was one of those “rare” times–this being the first time this year–that I was forced to go to Mactan Doctors’ Hospital to have my son checked at one of the clinics there. Imagine my surprise when the card provided by our health maintenance organization, ValuCare, turned up as invalid when swiped through the card reader.

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Another bout with acid reflux July 15, 2005

I’m having another serious episode of acid reflux or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) . When this happens, I drop everything that I’m doing or I’m supposed to do and take a rest.

Unfortunately, today is the exception because although I asked to be excused from work a problem at the office demanded my presence for a short while. Acid reflux notwitstanding, that had to be taken care of ASAP.

In 2003, the first time I learned I had the ailment, I had already been hoarse for three months. The doctor told me that the acid component of the liquid that made its way back to my esophagus from my stomach, which is what acid reflux is all about, had reached and inflamed my larynx or voice box.

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Fever problems June 26, 2005

After Dylan, it’s now my other son who has come down with something. My husband and I took turns watching over him last night. His temperature rose to a high 41 degrees C and stayed in that range even after we’ve given him paracetamol and he has one those fever patch pasted to his forehead the whole time.

Lennon was crying and babbling incoherent words; he was shaking, too. I was so worried we almost decided to bring him to the hospital until I remembered what happened with his elder brother. The doctor had sent us home with a prescription.

Earlier yesterday, I brought him to my mother’s house and he had fun running after all the chickens there. He did not want to go home. He was all right then.