AskDrRachel.com

Link: http://www.ketv.com/health/19166371/detail.html

Watch my interview with Omaha's Channel 7 news and hear the truth behind the hype.

Link: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/19305082/detail.html

Watch my interview with Channel 5 Boston and decide for yourself.

I posted earlier this week about parenting multiples without losing your mind.  Some may believe I'm the kind of doc who thinks she has all of the answers to raising kids.  What happened yesterday serves as the proof that this presumption is fallacious:

My twins have dental appliances called palate expanders right now, designed to widen their jaws so their teeth will grow in properly.  The orthodontist told us she recommends eight-year-olds have expanders that are fitted to the mouth with glue because kids lose them so often, and because they're REALLY EXPENSIVE.  Now, I believe my kids are responsible people, so we let them have the removable type because - eew - we couldn't imagine them being able to keep them clean otherwise.

For almost four months we (read: the children) have had no trouble keeping track of removing the expander, eating, and replacing expander.  We were also on summer break...

Third grade has started, and yesterday I got a text from Big Daddy saying an expander had gone missing in the cafeteria.  Twins had searched bags of trash during school hours and the principal kindly allowed this and also made an announcement over the PA system in search of the lost item.  No luck.

That afternoon, mommy decided she'd touched and smelled things in her line of work that are much worse than anything in an elementary school trash can.  Vinyl gloves and black plastic bags in hand, I went - GULP - dumpster diving in a public elementary school parking lot.  This school is in the middle of my neighborhood on a busy street that connects the homes with the school and with the fast food restaurants on the other side of the school.  And I had no shame - even waved at a few people as they wrinkled their noses at me!  To be fair, I'm sure I was quite a sight by the end of it... as my momma would say, "No well-bred Southern Lady would..."

Ten or twelve 55-gallon bags of half-eaten food and utensils later, I learned a few things about human behavior that I hadn't been taught in medical school:

1) Children DO NOT use napkins - why do we even try to push it and why are we surprised by the stains on their sleeves every day?  Why don't we just dress them all in sackcloth and throw the clothes away later??

2) Children WILL NOT eat their vegetables (well, OK, I learned this before - but not in med school)

3) Grown ups eat a LOT of salad with ranch dressing - it was easy to tell which garbage bag came out of the teachers' lounge

4) Twenty minutes is not enough time for most of your kids to eat even the stuff they like to eat - there was much more pizza in the garbage than I'd figured on.  No wonder kids come home asking for a snack...

5) Kids WILL EAT grapes - if they can get them out of the plastic baggie

6) Kids will TELL mom and dad they ate their sack lunch, but unless it's a prepackaged fun meal with cartoon pictures on it from the grocery store, they're lying to you.  They don't even drink the expensive fruit punch unless it's in the silver packet.

7) Kids will throw EVERYTHING away.  Don't expect to see the lunch box or the reusable plastic food containers again.

8) The lost dental appliance will ALWAYS be in the last bag at the bottom of the dumpster, after you've changed gloves three times and you smell like the back alley of Restaurant Row.  And your neighbors may be thinking about calling the police soon.

9) The fast food dinner your kids brought you won't look very good after you've spent an hour in a trash dumpster.

10) But, you find you would do it again if you had to...because you're a mom.

Link: https://secure.oumedicine.com//fmc/

Here's the latest news from the clinic.  Forget the phone - communicate by email!

Direct from the OU Family Medicine Secure Messaging web site:

"At OU Physicians we are taking innovation one step further and providing you with a safe and convenient way to interact with your physician, Secure Messaging.  This will bring a new level of care that will enhance the already solid relationships that our patients have with their physician.

OU Physicians uses the most advanced technologies and innovations to bring you high quality customer service that you deserve."

Latest update from the CDC regarding the novel H1N1 "swine flu" outbreak: over 1 million Americans have been infected, 8,000 hospitalized with culture-proven disease, and over 500 dead.

Good news first: the vaccine appears to be both safe and effective.  Studies in adults and elderly have gone well, and studies in children and pregnant women are pending.  Much of the hoopla over safety fears has been perpetuated by those who would refuse vaccines for any reason but has been compounded by the speed with which the vaccine has needed to pass through the vetting process for FDA approval.  The vaccine is made in the same fashion as the seasonal flu vaccine, and similar side effects are expected at this time.  In addition, neither the H1N1 vaccine nor the seasonal flu vaccine contain thiomerisol, a mercury-containing compound that has been the focus of concern in recent years with other vaccines.

More good news: for most people, the H1N1 virus infection has been mild.  Experts are now predicting that this fall and winter will see a similar pattern of infection as found in a normal flu season.

Now the bad news: seasonal flu kills people - over 30,000 per year in the US.  Those citizens under 50 years old who have not been exposed to a similar strain of the virus may be at risk for more serious complications than expected, and only time will tell.

Worse news: there does not appear to be enough H1N1 vaccine to go around this season.  Priority will be given to the following groups:

If you do not fit into one of these groups of people, please please please don't be angry with your doctor when she tells you she can't give you a vaccine yet.  Doctors are trying to keep everyone as healthy as we can.