Guest Post: Janet Hailstone / Nutribuff

The following guest post is written by Janet Hailstone. She teaches nutrition and cooking classes for Community Education at Dixie State College in Southern Utah. Please head over to her health blog and say hello!
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I've been a mother for the past 25 years. I'm also a health nut, so I haven't had to take my children to the doctor for illness for the past 20 years. But, that doesn't mean that I don't have to take them to the doctor. There are physicals for school, and then there are accidents.

When I had my first child, I brought him in for anything and everything. One time, he fell down some stairs and cut his lip. I was told there was nothing that could be done and that he would be fine. I soon got used to hearing that everything would be fine every time I brought him in.

I started to relax as a parent and knew that I didn't need to bring my child in for every little thing. I also waited to see if my children would get better on their own, before panicking over every little accident, flu, or cold.
Now, the ear infections were usually something my children didn't get better from. They just cried 24/7, and it was so nice to get the antibiotics that helped them get back to normal. And, while I did learn later that there were some simple home remedies for ear infections that were equally effective, it wasn't until my last child that I learned about the connection between dairy products and ear infections.

She was the only one who never got ear infections compared to the other three. The only difference was that while I was pregnant with and nursing her, I was trying the vegan diet. I learned how to get my calcium needs from greens, beans, grains, and vegetables. It seems that eliminating dairy was the cure for her to never get a single ear infection. Well, no matter how healthy your family may be, accidents can still happen. In my family of six; myself, my husband and our four children, only one of them was accident prone. When she was little, I noticed that she was slightly clumsy. She'd be dancing around and trip occasionally. She still loves to dance and is very good at it now though.

She just has a little problem with being the only one to have accidents while growing up. They've happened to her about five or six times through her lifetime. One time when she was around five years old, she was riding her bicycle in the cul-de-sac where we live. Somehow, she lost her balance and fell. She used her arm to steady herself. It looked broken. There was an abnormal bump sticking out of her arm.

She was crying, and we knew that we had to take her to the emergency room instead of a daytime doctor, since it was after hours. She was quiet and seemed calm while the nurse was taking her blood pressure. I remember being so shocked when they read how high her blood pressure was. I don't remember the exact numbers only that they were sky high.

I looked at her and realized that she was under a lot of stress, even though she just sat there pathetically. They did an x-ray of her arm and gave her a sling. It turned out that she only had a green stick fracture, where it's not actually broken, just bent. We were told at the first doctor visit to just take her home, and the arm would heal on its own.

We tried to do that, but every little bump was too tender and painful for her arm and she had troubles moving during the day and when sleeping. We made an appointment with another doctor the next day, who was kind enough to put a cast on it for her. This made her feel more secure and happier. I think she also liked the attention and ability to pick the color of the cast. It was a little scary when it was time to take the cast off. It seems like the saw was going to hurt her arm, but everything came off without a scratch. It's really nice to have doctors around when accidents happen or when there is a sickness or condition that can't be remedied at home.

Accidents and injuries can happen to anyone, even adults. If you like to exercise or run in races, anything can happen; kidney failure, knee or ankle sprains, and torn muscles. My previously accident-prone daughter works for a hospital as a house cleaner. She said whenever they have a big race or marathon here in Southern Utah, the ambulances are busy bringing people in and she has many more rooms to clean.

I'm sure you have your own stories about accidents that have happened to you or someone you know. Maybe you have spent some interesting time in the hospital, or getting treatment for a sickness or disease. You should share your story too, we'd all love to hear about it.