Monday, December 14, 2020Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2004. Mattie was two years old and as you can see he was trailing around after Patches, our cat. In the beginning Mattie would try to pull her tail and tug on her fur. Most cats would have reacted or hissed. Patches did not. She had an intuitive sense that she had to be on her best behavior with Mattie. Of course, I also had to intervene and teach Mattie the appropriate way to interact with a cat. Needless to say, they became buddies. In fact, when Mattie was in the hospital and dying, he wanted Patches to come to his hospital room. The hospital refused to accommodate that wish. Which is unfortunate, but I had no energy at that point to fight a system that did not get the importance of a child's last request.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 16,420,309
- Number of people who died from the virus: 300,420
What was this line? Try getting into the post office! Today I needed to mail a check for $46,000 to Children's Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore, MD. This check helps to endow our Child Life Program Fund, which pays for the salary of our child life specialist. I typically avoid the post office in December, but I had no choice today as I wanted to make sure the envelope went by certified mail. Needless to say it was a bitterly windy day, and standing outside wasn't on my top 10 list. Only 6 people are allowed into the post office at one time during COVID. Nonetheless, this is the post office which house's the Foundation's PO Box. The people who work in this post office are fantastic. Professional, efficient and very customer friendly. The US Post Office needs to clone this location, as I refuse to use my local post office in Washington, DC, given past experiences.
Meanwhile, I received an email today from a childhood cancer advocate. She wanted me to read the article entitled, Allostatic Load Associated with Poorer Health Outcomes. What is allostatic load? It is the "cumulative burden of chronic stress and life events on our physiological health." I haven't heard of this concept per se, but I am very familiar with the term caregiver burden. Caregiving has been documented to have physical and psychological consequences on the health of the family member providing care to a loved one. I agree with the article that physicians need to evaluate patients more holistically and understand the stressors they are under and how this impacts health and outcomes.
Toward the end of the article, the author states:
It is also helpful in understanding the link between maternal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and birth outcomes (i.e., pregnancy complications, preterm birth, pediatric cancer).
This sentence captured my attention immediately, as it did the cancer advocate who wrote to me. She was wondering my feelings on this and also became worried that her stressors in pregnancy caused her son to get diagnosed with cancer. Honestly if I did not know better, I too would have concluded that something in my pregnancy caused Mattie to develop cancer. However, no oncologist I ever met would condone this philosophy (and believe me I have ASKED!!!), mainly because new moms experience all sorts of stresses, even requiring bed rest. But that doesn't mean all these children get diagnosed with cancer. I find that statement in the article deeply troubling and counter productive for parents. Do I think what happens in the womb can influence a baby's health and development? Sure, but until I see actual data connecting these psychosocial issues of a mom to the diagnosis of cancer in her baby, I am not buying it.
The article left me saying..... where is your evidence? I also think as an author one needs to understand the consequences of her writings on the reader! It is my hope that other moms whose children have been diagnosed with cancer DO NOT read this article, because life is hard enough managing a childhood cancer diagnosis. But it is completely unproductive and inaccurate for parents to feel responsible for such a diagnosis, especially since the science doesn't substantiate the claim.
