Category Archives: health

Why auditory processing is important for your child’s social skills

health, homeschooling, parenting

auditory processingYesterday we had an evaluation with a neurodevelopmentalist for our ds12;  given that I’ve learned so much about neurodevelopment in the last couple of years, I anticipated that she would tell me in-depth specifics particular to my child based on concepts I was already familiar with.  And that was true.  But I also learned something that really, really shocked me.

I’ve always believed that ds12 is an auditory learner and this is what I attributed him being a late reader to.  In the home educating environment, that wasn’t an issue; he continued to learn even when his reading skills were weak.  His comprehension and memory of what he learns is excellent, and what he seemed to be struggling with were visual skills.  I believed he learned best through hearing.

Well, guess what?  I learned that ds12 has very poor auditory processing skills, and that he’s compensating for this with his visual processing!  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  It’s like when you think white is black, and then learn that black is actually white. I was totally and completely wrong on this.

Why does this matter?  Poor auditory processing skills are hugely important and have consequences for many kids – I’m sure most of you have a child who isn’t processing well auditorily.   The ability to listen affects many life skills- here are a few:

  • speech and language
  • attention and concentration
  • development of appropriate behavior
  • learning and memory
  • development of social skills

Do you have a child who is lagging in any of those areas?  Even without a diagnosis like ADD, ODD, ADHD, depression, anxiety, learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorder, I’m sure at least one of your kids is struggling in one of these areas.  Some of these challenges are sometimes attributed to poor parenting or emotional issues and in fact, your parenting approach is very important at the root level.

Last year prior to pulling ds out of school, I consulted with a psychologist who trained with Dr. Gordon Neufeld.  Although I began to study (via his dvd trainings) Neufeld’s paradigm of viability and venturing forth over three years ago, I wanted her feedback in understanding why ds was so emotionally reactive.  I understood the role feeling safe, secure and supported makes for children, I understood the need to give a child space to emerge at his own rate, and I understood that we don’t push a child into a predetermined mold or expect them to be like anyone else.   But this wasn’t enough.

I’m very familiar with several different personality and energy typing systems and how each of these affects the nature of each of my kids.  I understand how my energy type interacts with the energy type of others and over time have tried to integrate all of this knowledge into my parenting.  But all of this wasn’t helping me figure out why ds12 (just had a birthday – it’s the birthday season for us now!) was still struggling to manage his emotions and had poor social skills.

Well, now I have what feels like the missing piece of the puzzle!  The evaluation revealed that ds12 processes auditorily at a level 5.  This is the level of a five year old.  Remember, I thought that his auditory processing was strong and therefore even though I was knew auditory processing was important, I didn’t think this was an issue for him.  Big, big mistake but that’s okay, we learn and move forward!

Okay, pay attention here because this is key!  What difference does your level of auditory processing make?  It directly correlates to your emotional maturity.

Someone processing at this level won’t pick up social cues.  They will overreact emotionally to things you wouldn’t expect an older child to react to.  They will be anxious in a  new situation because of the fear they aren’t going to get the cues of what is expected of them.  This isn’t about intelligence.  It’s about not having sufficiently developed this particular skill, and this will be one aspect of the program that is being designed for ds with the goal to get him up to an 8 – 12.

Are you wondering what your auditory processing skills are like?  The auditory processing of the average adult in the US has dropped from a 7 to a 6 in the last generation, and we can expect this to continue to drop with the high amounts of visual mediums that people spend hours engaged with daily.  This means we are an emotionally much less developed people than in the times that the Constitution was written, for example, when the first sentence of an article could go on for a page and half and speeches could go on for hours.

Nowadays, we can’t hold onto information long enough to process something that long. We need smaller and smaller bites of targeted information because we don’t have the patience or ability to process things that are more complex.   On online forums, people apologize for a long post when it’s three paragraphs- hardly enough to put together a complete thought!   When I think of what Twitter and Facebook must be doing to our brains (if not heavily limited), to our attention spans and our emotional state, it’s kind of frightening.

As I learn more about the importance of auditory processing, I’m grateful that even though this is something that needs to be improved, there are things I’ve done that have been very important for our kids even without knowing the technical reasons behind it.  A couple of these things are:

1) I’ve heavily limited screen time.  No computer games, no handheld games, no ipods, ipads, no television.  I do use the computer for educational programming, up to four hours a week.

2) I’ve done a lot of reading out loud to my kids from the time they were small until they were much older, as well as providing them with lots of audio books.  For our oldest three kids, I stopped our regular read alouds when ds14 went into high school – his late return interrupted a reading routine we had for years and that was a real loss for us.  Both dh and I read out loud to all the kids except for dd13, though she listens in if she’s around.  Currently dh is reading The Hobbit with ds12, I’m a few chapters into Danny, Champion of the World (Roald Dahl) with ds8, ds6 and ds5.

We also provide them with a lot of audio books.  When I figured out how to access the US library system remotely to check out audio books, it was a very exciting for us all! Dd13 and ds12 listen to audio books almost daily.  When my oldest kids were younger, I purchased many cassettes of Torah stories that were a daily part of their childhood, and recently have found a way to provide our younger boys with something similar that they listen to several times a week.

Here are a couple other things I’m currently doing: I read a chapter of Sefer Yehoshua/The Book of Joshua out loud at breakfast.  (This works out to two or three times a week, not every day.)  I read part of the Hebrew text, then translate it into English.  Dh learns Pirkei Avos/Ethics of our Father at the dinner table in a similar way.

I just started doing something similar with ds12 last week with a non-Torah text.  I happened upon used copies of Harry Potter 5 in both English and Hebrew and bought them a couple of years ago.  I read part of a sentence from the Hebrew version and ds then reads me the corresponding translation.  We’re both enjoying this a lot even though we have the British version so sometimes I have to translate the British word into American English for something for him. 🙂

We should be receiving our neurodevelopmental program in the next day or so and will be adding in whatever activities are suggested to improve the auditory processing issue, and doing them as a family.  The more I learn, the more I see that we can all benefit from improving our processing skills.  I remember things best when I see them or write them down, and what I always thought of as being a visual learner means that I need to strengthen my auditory processing.

It’s exciting to know that something that seems so simple – our auditory processing – can actually affect so many things in our lives.  The next official evaluation will be in four months and at that time I’ll share what improvements we’ve seen.

Edited to add: A reader emailed me privately to ask if I did this evaluation through the Israeli health insurance system.  No, I didn’t.  I don’t want to sound negative but my feeling is that it would have been a huge waste of my time and money.  The reason is because what the system does best is slap a label on and then push for medication, which is not what interests me.  I want to find the core issue and address it, not cover up the symptoms.  

Everything for for my kids that I’ve found helpful has been outside of the traditional framework, unfortunately.   I’m working with someone privately in the US on this.  If you’re wondering how we are doing it from a distance it’s like this:  First I filled out a detailed 13 page intake form, and then sent in a number of videos of my son performing various activities that were requested.  After this, we had a ‘face to face’ appointment via Skype.  Then the program will be designed for him, it will be sent to us, and we’ll be sent training videos of how to do various activities with him.  

Avivah

Today’s medical testing for Yirmiyahu

health, Trisomy 21

ekgYesterday I mentioned that I had some doctor visits for Yirmiyahu and a couple of readers were concerned about what was going on.

Today we went to check out two things, his heart and his kidneys/bladder.  When he was born his heart was enlarged (not typical for T21) and he had a bladder malformation (also not typical for T21).  I had his heart checked when he was six months and was told to come back to check it again, which I did today.

When he was in the intensive care unit at  8 months old, they found that Yirmiyahu had developed a urinary tract infection as a result of the bladder malformation that led to a situation called hydronephrosis (swelling of the kidney due to back up of urine).  At that time they said the malformation was a level 5 out of 5, five being the worst, and that they anticipated having to correct this surgically.  They told me to wait until he turned a year old to do the surgery since he was so small.  At the 12 month check there was some improvement and the nephrologist said there was no longer an immediate need for surgery and that his kidneys were fine.  The urologist told me the chance of the structural problem improving without surgery is 20% (which I found encouraging since originally we were told there was no option to surgery).  They both told me to keep an eye on it and get further testing done to see how things are going.

So that’s what today’s doctor visits were about.

First his heart.  We started with an an EKG and then did an echocardiogram.  After reviewing the results, the doctor told me everything looked good.  I asked for more details and he told me,  “There’s no sign of any heart problem. Whatever was there isn’t there anymore. ”  I asked if I need to come back in six or 12 months to check this again, and he said, “No, there’s no problem.  His heart is perfectly healthy.  You don’t need to come back ever again!”  I feel like I should highlight and bold that statement and then make it really big letters because to leave it in normal letters isn’t really representative of how I feel.  I think I’ll repeat it.  “His heart is perfectly healthy.  You don’t need to come back ever again!” 

Now about the bladder and kidney ultrasound.  I have been and remain apprehensive about this situation.  When they found the UTI last year, I hadn’t see any signs of it (the only one I would have seen was a fever but it must have been low grade) and I worry that I could miss it again.  This concern is constantly in the back of my mind, that something could be wrong that could affect his kidneys and I wouldn’t be aware of it.

The person who did the scan didn’t discuss the results with me; they give you a disc of the scan and email the doctor the specifics.  I was waiting for the disc when another father waiting for his disc came to complain about the long wait.  (I had to wait an hour and forty minutes for my disc!)  The person responsible for distributing the discs told him that if there’s no problem it will be sent in the mail.  Then he started to tell me to go home and wait for my mail, and the person who did the scan came by as he was speaking and interrupted him, saying, “No, she definitely needs to get her results now.”  So clearly there’s something wrong.  I already know there’s a structural problem and I’m hoping this is all he found but I’ll have to wait until the coming week to find out more about that.  It’s a little frustrating to me that he couldn’t tell me anything about what he found and keep me from worrying for another week.

Whatever the results, I’m glad to have gotten all of this testing done today.  Obviously the wonderful results are wonderful, but I try not to close my eyes to things that need to be dealt with.  Hopefully the results of next week’s doctor’s visit will be good as well.

Avivah

Combatting the sniffles with natural antibiotic tea

frugal strategies, health, home remedies,

feeling-sick[1]feeling-sickYesterday a few of the kids along with dh and myself woke up with the sniffles and a sore throat.  I had all the ingredients for this natural antibiotic tea on hand and decided to make a double batch to combat the germs going around.  This is a recipe for the brave and adventurous!  When you see the ingredients, you’ll understand just why.

 

Powerful Antibiotic Tea

Cup-of-tea

  • 1 t. cayenne pepper
  • 1 t. fenugreek seeds
  • 1 t. powdered ginger or 2 T. raw ginger
  • 1 t. fresh garlic, minced
  • 1 licorice root
  • 2 T. mullein

MIx all the ingredients together in a pot.  Pour 2 quarts of boiling water on it and let it steep about thirty minutes.  Strain the tea mixture through a cheesecloth and add the sweetener of your choice.  (I usually add the stevia leaves to my tea mixes but forgot to add it this time.)

Drink this throughout the day until it’s all finished.  The best time to take it is as soon as you feel you’re coming down with something but it’s helpful even after you’re already feeling under the weather.  This is very spicy and is best drunk as quickly as possible!

Avivah

feeling-sick[1]

Vehicular heat stroke – summer safety video

health, parenting

Every summer, children all over the world die after being forgotten in cars.  The two year old son of a close friend of ours almost died several years ago when a friend who was doing carpool for the parents that day forgot he was in the car.  She wasn’t used to having him with her and locked the door behind her when she went into a store to do her shopping.  That’s how easily a responsible and caring person can forget a little child and put their life in danger.   She found him unconscious when she opened the back door to put her shopping bags in the car and started screaming for help.  He was immediately taken to the hospital, and though his situation was very serious, thank God he survived with no lasting injuries – but even a couple of minutes more would have been fatal.

A car gets very hot, very fast on a sunny day.  A young child can die on a hot day in as little as fifteen minutes in a closed car.  Please be super careful with your children!  And be aware of other little children who may have been left behind.  If you see a young child in a closed car, don’t assume that they’ll be okay or their mother will be back in a minute.  Do something!  Get help immediately, break the window – every minute counts and can be a matter of life or death.

There are always those who can’t imagine how anyone could forget their child, but don’t think that it’s beyond you.  Things happen and people can become distracted.  Some tips to help you remember to make checking for your child a habit (I saw these on the comments below the film) include:

– put your purse next to or with the strap through the car seat  – for moms I think this is the very best idea

– strap in a stuffed animal in the front seat next to you every time you travel with a child, as a reminder to check for the child

– make it a habit after getting out of the car and taking a few steps, to turn around and check if your child is still there

Please watch the short clip above, and take this message to heart. There are too many horrible deaths in this way every summer and with the increased awareness of us all, we can prevent some of these tragedies.

Avivah

Update on dd18

health

I’ve gotten a couple of emails this week asking about how dd18 is doing, asking if they should continue saying tehillim for her.

I’m very grateful to share that dd18 is doing much, much better.  Her full recovery will take time and it is currently anticipated that she will remain in the US for an extended period, but we are optimistic that she will continue to improve with time, and believe that a complete recovery is not only possible but probable.

For all of you who have been saying tehillim for her, thank you so much!  There’s no question in my mind that your prayers and concern for her have had an impact in her recovery process, and I am so grateful to you all.  The tehillim circle that was begun is officially now over.  However, knowing the power of prayer we would be grateful if you would continue to keep her in your thoughts.

At this time in which I’m sharing my gratitude with you for our daughter’s progress, I’d like to request your prayers for two others who are going through difficult health situations right now: Yonatan Simcha ben Leah Rivka, an eleven year old boy in my community just diagnosed with lymphoma, and Chaim Dovid Reuven ben Chana Rochel, a father of several children who has stage 4 lung cancer.

May all those in need of healing have a full recovery in every way!

Avivah

Formula fiasco

health

I told you about how Yirmiyahu now has a special formula that is dairy and soy free.  What I didn’t tell you about is what a pain in the neck it is to buy this, but I’ll tell you now since it’s directly related to what happened on Shabbos.

In order to initially buy this formula, we needed a doctor’s note saying Yirmiyahu couldn’t eat anything else.  But our regular doctor couldn’t give it to us; she said we needed testing by a pediatric allergist.  When I called, I was given an appointment two months later.  In the meantime, he continued having the formula that was clearly causing him to be sick – I explained the situation to the allergist’s secretary and told her it was urgent that he get an appointment right away but she told me there’s no such thing as urgent in their office, everyone waits for the appointment they are given.  In the end, I missed this appointment since it was the day I was flying home from the US, but since he was immediately hospitalized after arriving, the hospital ended up being able to provide us with the necessary paperwork.

So that was the first obstacle overcome.  We  bought his formula and was doing relatively well on it.  However, you need to get a new prescription to buy it every three weeks.  That means you need to stay on top of how much you have and plan ahead. (You would think with all of this tight control that they’re giving it away, but in fact we pay over 800 shekels a month – over $200 – with no reimbursement from the health insurance company.  It’s really frustrating that they act like this is gold and make it so difficult to purchase but there’s no other way to get it here.)  Planning ahead is something I tend to do pretty naturally, but this time despite my efforts it didn’t happen.  I called for an appointment with the pediatrician on Weds. when I still had a full container of formula, but that day they told me they were closing at noon and it was too late for me to come in. The next day Yirmiyahu went to Jerusalem for therapies and we got home after they closed.  Friday she wasn’t there.  So the first appointment I could get was Sunday.

Looking at how much we had left, I realized we might run out before his appointment.  But I had a container of soy formula that our chiropractor muscle tested on him while we were in the US – we went to Target and tested every single formula, and bought the one that tested best. So although I didn’t think this would be as good as what he usually gets, I thought it would be very tolerable.  I hadn’t used it since he had gotten the specialty formula but figured it was a good backup.

I was so, so wrong.  An hour after having six ounces on Shabbos morning, Yirmiyahu began massively throwing up.  Then he had these horrible diapers that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  As the day went on – and it wasn’t that many hours – he was looking weak and apathetic.  And I really didn’t know what to do since the answer was to give him his special formula but there’s nowhere to buy this formula except from the health clinic’s pharmacy and only then with a prescription that I didn’t yet have.  That wouldn’t be open until the next day.  It’s not the kind of thing people have around in their kitchen that you can borrow.  He wouldn’t drink the soup I gave him in a bottle, wouldn’t eat any food, and took hours to drink four ounces of juice.

I was getting very, very worried because how he looked reminded me of what happened in the beginning when he got sick in the US, except then it was triggered by a virus and this was an allergic reaction.  Although all the health clinics are closed, we found out that there is an after hours clinic just a five minute walk from my house and I immediately took Yirmiyahu there. This was very strange for me since I had to pay them and give them his insurance card on Shabbos – but we asked how to handle this before I left and I acted according to the rabbinic guidelines I was given.

The doctor there told me to immediately take him to the hospital ER; by this time it was the late afternoon. I wanted to go home before leaving to the hospital to let the kids know what was happening so they wouldn’t be anxious.  When I got back the house was silent – ds14 was with my mother at the hospital in Haifa for all of Shabbos, dd16 was studying with a friend in a different neighborhood for her yahadut matriculation exam, and all of the other kids had left to the park.  I called the ambulance and asked a neighbor to give the kids a message about what happened, but dd12 came running from the park when she saw the ambulance drive by with flashing lights since she realized it must be for Yirmiyahu so I was able to tell her where we were going and not to worry.

We were admitted to the hospital and after a couple of hours, Yirmiyahu was finally given what he needed – this specialty formula.  He still was weak but we were told he had stabilized and could be released the next day.

The next day – this morning – I spent over two hours trying to contact the pharmacy to be sure that they had this formula in stock.  We had ordered it several weeks ago so it should have been there, but I didn’t want Yirmiyahu released until I was positive I would be able to get formula for him. When I finally got the pharmacist on the phone, she told me the order was never placed and there was nothing in stock.  I was so frustrated – why is it so hard to get my baby the formula he needs?!?  I asked her if she could check the closest location that had it, and though at first she told me she was too busy and to call back, I told her that I had been calling for two hours and already called back once since someone else said she was too busy to check if the formula was in stock – and I needed that information right then to determine if he needed to stay in the hospital another day where he would have something to eat.  She checked the computer system and said there might be three cans in a different pharmacy in Karmiel.

I requested the doctor write up the prescription and leave it at the front desk so that I could pick it up later in the day when we got home from the hospital.  When I got there, I was told that it had been entered into the computer.  Using the computerized prescription I was able to buy the three cans in Karmiel and order enough for the rest of the month.

This computerized prescription option is very, very new – and will be extremely helpful and important to us in avoiding a scenario like the one above in the future.  From now on, we’ll be able to request the new prescription by phone every three weeks and since it can be directly entered into the computer, there’s no longer a need for me to pick it up.  It’s still annoying to me to have to get a new prescription so often, but if this had been an option a few days ago (or if I had known it was an option – I’m not sure what day this new policy began- several weeks ago they told us they wouldn’t accept it faxed in, only the original), we wouldn’t have gotten into the situation we did – they could have inputted the prescription the day I called and within an hour I would have bought the formula  and had it in the house, before we came close to running out.

Thankfully, Yirmiyahu is doing much better though he’s still under the weather.  I had been wondering before this if this formula was really worth the money, since he’s still reacting to the corn syrup in it, and it’s aggravating to spend so much on something that still isn’t allergen free for him.  But this has made it really clear that even if it’s not ideal, it’s still really important that he get this.

Avivah

“Mommy, when will I die?”

health, parenting, personal development

Yesterday I was sitting next to ds5 on the bus on our way home from our shopping trip, when he suddenly asked me: “Mommy, when will I die?”

I looked at him and said, “When you were born, Hashem (God) gave you a neshama (soul) that has a special job.  You’re going to be alive as long as your neshama has a job to do, and hopefully that will be for a very long time.”

He was satisfied with that answer and didn’t ask anything else.  But that jolted my thoughts.

When Yirmiyahu was taken to the hospital and even more when I was told how he nearly didn’t make it, I was wracked with guilt.  I kept thinking over and over, ‘Just a few more hours, what if we hadn’t taken him then, why didn’t I take him sooner?  Why didn’t I pay more attention to my gut feeling that something was wrong?”   Over and over.  I kept thinking: ‘I have to let go of this, I did the best I could, I was far from negligent about the situation…’  But still my mind would start playing, ‘what if, what if, what if?’

Then I heard those words come out of my mouth to answer ds5 and they gave me a burst of clarity: Yirmiyahu didn’t die, not because we got him to the emergency room on time.  He made it because his soul has a purpose and he needs to be here. That means that Hashem made sure he’d get there on time.  And if it hadn’t been us taking him for medical care, He would have sent another messenger to make sure that Yirmiyahu got the medical help he needed.  Because Yirmiyahu needs to be here, not just as the light of my life, but as part of God’s plan.

I can’t tell you what a gift and relief this was, to have peace of mind and let go of this huge emotional weight on me.  I don’t know if I’ll ever  totally let go of that fear of ‘what if’ or wipe out every vestige of guilt that I didn’t do something differently.  But this reminded me that God and His plan aren’t part of the picture; they are the picture.

Avivah

The unexpected benefits of being in a hospital – you can get so much done in one place!

health, miscellaneous

Last night dh came to the hospital to switch places with me for the evening, since we learned that Yirmiyahu will need to be here longer than I anticipated when I came on Sunday morning.  (I thought he would be released the day I came or a day later and only came with the clothes I was wearing.)  He stayed here while I went home to shower and bring back some clean clothes and toiletries.

I didn’t think I would bring my laptop because I don’t like having to worry about the theft risk, and I also enjoy the quiet time to spend with Yirmiyahu and then to rest without any competing agendas. Hospitals really aren’t the best place to catch up on a serious sleep deficiency, but I’m trying to take the opportunities I have here and there between staff coming in and out all day and all night.   But at the same time, I enjoy being able to post and connect with others and I’d like to start preparing for the seder and Pesach in general…so the laptop is here but I hope to be cautious about how much I use it.

I was only gone for three days at the hospital but that was after being home just three days after returning from the US.  I really missed the kids and it was nice to spend time with them again.  While I was home today, I took ds3 and ds5 shopping for Pesach groceries with me – this is a three way win-win: they enjoy going shopping with me, so they’re happy.  I’m happy because I get to spend time with them and I can do something that needs to be done at the same time.  And the older kids are happy because then the kids who need the most active maintenance and oversight aren’t around, so they don’t need to watch them and can spend time getting things done that they want to do.

As far as Yirmiyahu, we are hopeful that we’ll be able to come home on Sunday or Monday afternoon, just in time for Pesach!  My oldest three kids who are home (ds19, dd16, ds14) are working together to get things ready for Pesach, with dd12 and ds10 helping out.  I’m lucky to have such amazing kids and I feel incredibly lucky that this situation coincided with school vacation, which has made everything much easier for us all.

A bonus of this hospital experience is that I’m able to take care of some medical checkups that were due around now – I missed several appointments last week because of the trip to the US.  As part of his blood workup in the intensive care unit, they tested for the hematology issues and happily there’s no trace of leukemia.  He had a heart echo done a couple of days ago, something that I would have had to do after Pesach; usually there’s a six month follow up recommendation with this but because an issue with his lungs as part of this bigger issue he came in with has caused extra pressure on his heart, we need to check it again in a month.  But it looks fine right now.  Another of last week’s missed appointments was an ultrasound for his kidneys and bladder, and yesterday we had that taken care of as well.

After the ultrasound I spoke to the nephrologist (kidney doctor) yesterday – she is amazing, very caring and extremely competent and professional.  In the pediatric intensive care unit, no one really told me what was going on and I didn’t push it because I wasn’t able to talk to the doctors one on one, and having a sensitive conversation as part of a group of three to ten staff members wasn’t comfortable for me.  I got most of my information by listening in on the rounds when they discussed Yirmiyahu’s situation with the incoming staff at each shift change.  This was the first time that I was able to directly get detailed information.

When I learned that the main concern right now is a serious urinary tract infection, I was afraid that was another side effect of him getting so dehydrated.  But she said that it was caused by the kidney/bladder issue that we’ve been tracking since he was born.  So we’re lucky that it showed up now when we can take care of everything at one time and in one place.  Staying here longer is better than having had to come back another time!  I took him for the last ultrasound for this on erev Sukkos, and was told there was no sign of a problem.  When I took the results to the pediatrician, she told me that wasn’t reassuring since something structural wrong at birth and it didn’t disappear.  She said that many ultrasound technicians aren’t experienced with such small infants and because of that they probably missed the issue.  But she said it wasn’t urgent and I could wait another six months to  check it again, which is why I had made an appointment for last week.

The ultrasound results have showed the small malformation is still there, and the nephrologist felt we should bring in a urologist to consult with in case surgery is indicated.  I met with the urologist yesterday as well (I didn’t expect to be so busy at the hospital!), who will be doing a procedure tomorrow to track some things.  This procedure will determine if he needs surgery to correct this or not.  If he does need the surgery, we won’t have to take care of that for another month, so there will be a breather before having to come back to the hospital.

Yirmiyahu is still weak and his little arms and legs have bruises all over from all the blood tests but is otherwise doing great!  I don’t have a camera here but when I get home  hope to get a picture with a smile for all of you to enjoy after you’ve shared in the scary stuff we’ve gone through with him.

Avivah

Yirmiyahu is in the emergency room

health, miscellaneous

On Monday evening, my chiropractor made a space for me to come in for a visit before my return to Israel.  In addition to typical chiropractic work, she does energy work and asked me something that she never asked before: What do you want to work on today?

I told her that I feel like I’m handling things fine, but am afraid that suddenly something little is going to happen –  the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back – and I’m going to totally fall apart.

It’s a good thing we released some stress from my system since this morning would have been the point I would have cracked.

After a very stressful and draining day, I left the US on Tuesday evening.  It wasn’t an easy flight because of Yirmiyahu.  I’ve been very worried about him since he got sick on Shabbos; this has been different than anything else I’ve ever seen with him.  No matter how sick he was before, I could still see him but this time it’s like he’s someone else.  When I got back to Karmiel Wednesday evening, everyone in my family was worried when they saw him – ds5 asked me why he looks like a different Yirmiyahu than the one I took to America.

First thing this morning I asked dh to schedule a doctor’s visit for Yirmiyahu as soon as possible; I wanted to take him but was so exhausted and dizzy I didn’t think I could safely walk there so dh went instead.  He called me from the doctor’s office to say the doctor immediately put him on an iv and oxygen and insisted on directly transporting him by ambulance to the emergency room.  They’re at the ER now, and I’m waiting for an update.  Right now we only know that he’s very dehydrated (despite the large amount of liquids I’ve been giving him almost nonstop for the last few days).  For those who would like to pray for him, his name is Yirmiyahu ben Avivah Michaelah.

I’m very grateful that he’s there, and though I would have wanted to be with him at this time, I’m glad my husband is with him.  As tired as he may be, he has more physical and emotional resources than I do at this point.  Hopefully they’ll both be home soon.

Avivah

The importance of nature in our lives

aliyah, health, homemaking

When we were determining if we should stay in Karmiel or move to a different more central area that would have better access for the services for Yirmiyahu, I made a list of all the positives about Karmiel. One thing that was hard for me to think of leaving was the natural beauty of Karmie that can be seen at every turn – we don’t have to look far or go out of our way to find it.

This may sound material, but it’s not.  For me it’s a spiritual and emotional experience.  Whether I’m literally having an outdoor experience by camping in a forest or just taking a walk locally and observing the scenery around me, I feel happier, more relaxed and more centered.  Living here isn’t like living in a nature reserve by any means, but there are plenty of places for your eyes to rest on something beautiful.  So when I saw the book Last Child in the Woods about nature deficit disorder in today’s generation of children the concept immediately resonated with me and the title itself seemed to validate my feeling about the importance of nature in our livess.

Unfortunately, that ebook wasn’t available to check out from my library, but fortunately, the follow-up book was – The Nature Principle.  The book basically detailed different aspects of how people benefit by connecting to nature were discussed: physically, emotionally, pyschologically, socially.  It’s a worthwhile read.

But you don’t need to read a book to know the restorative power that there is in having some quiet time in a beautiful place.  I have my own special place just a fifteen minute walk away – the waterfall in Park Hagalil – and though I infrequently go there, just thinking about it makes me feel more relaxed and calm.

(l-r) Ds9, ds6, ds4, ds2 cooling their legs opposite the waterfall
(l-r) spring 2012 – Ds9, ds6, ds4, ds2 cooling their legs in pond by waterfall

Then there are the many parks and green areas, the rolling hills surrounding the city, the amazing views that I keep discovering in different areas – even a little area where we discovered a number of woodchucks living – I love these things.  There are edible plants all over (though I haven’t done much foraging lately I still love seeing them) and literally every single time I walk outside I see something that makes me feel happier inside.

Every time I come back to Karmiel after a day in one of the larger cities, I have this feeling of “Ahhhh, I’m so glad to be home….”

beautiful view from our porch - hills in the distance and our street in the foreground
view from our window

So often I think how glad I am to be able to raise my children in a place where it’s normal for them to experience the natural world.  Not having this would be a loss for me.  There are conveniences in bigger cities but there’s also a loss when the buildings are so high and the only view you have is of more buildings and more buildings and more buildings…

I spent today traveling to Haifa and though I had plenty to do at home when I returned, instead I chose to watch the kids playing in the park a couple of minutes away, knowing that it would do more to help me recharge after a tiring day than anything else.

park 1

Seeing the beauty in nature helps me connect to myself, my creator, to be more patient and loving to others…when I’m having a hard time, being outdoors helps me find the quiet and clarity inside.  I have a busy life and if I had to drive somewhere to have this experience, it would never happen.  But fortunately, every day during my half an hour walk to pick up ds5 from kindergarten I can see beautiful sights without going out of my way!

I don’t think that beautiful natural surroundings are enough to make a person happy if their other important needs aren’t being met.  I would have loved to live in a small village-like area but our family would have been unhappy with friends and schools for our kids being far away.  We found a good balance for our family by moving to a centrally located, low density neighborhood in a small city, but you can find natural beauty everywhere – sometimes you just have to look harder!

Do you relate to the feeling of nature filling you up with something good, something important?  What does it do for you?

Avivah