Author Archives: LanaMecoy

We went to the zoo last week with my parents, my sister and my nephew. It was really nice to get out and do a normal activity. But I have to admit, it brought back feelings of grief. Both my social worker and my family doctor have told me that I need to work throughContinue reading “Entry Twenty- The Zoo”

I have chosen to share a story about a blanket. To fully appreciate the importance of this blanket, I will have to take you back to the beginning. When Oscar was born there were “weird things” that I noticed but I was re-assured that they were normal. And of course you assume everything is normal.Continue reading “Entry Nineteen- The Blanket”

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that when I was a young child I was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer. Because I had this rare form of cancer, geneticists were interested in learning whether or not there may be a genetic component to this type of cancer so they askedContinue reading “Entry Eighteen- Statistics”

Until it happened to me, I didn’t fully appreciate the stress experienced by parents of children who struggle with eating. I was able to breastfeed Olivia without any issue. Oscar of course was different. Since the day he was born Oscar had to be supplemented with formula. I would first breastfeed and then top himContinue reading “Entry Seventeen- “The Outliers”- Eat”

I caught myself buying baby shampoo the other day. It was in the cart as I walked around the grocery store. Then as I was putting it on the conveyer belt to check out I thought, “why am I buying this?”. My son is 22months old. Does he still need baby shampoo? Recently, it seemsContinue reading “Entry Sixteen- Baby Shampoo”

I listen and then I execute. I do think that having a better understanding of why a treatment plan is being recommended helps to increase compliance. Education is huge. As a physiotherapist, education is a big part of my practice because I do notice that it increases that chances of a client complying with myContinue reading “Entry Fifteen- “The Outliers”- Therapy”

I am not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post or not, but I went to University in Texas on a tennis scholarship. I guess you could say that I was a good tennis player, but it did not come easy to me. I was athletic, but I wouldn’t describe myself as aContinue reading “Entry Fourteen- “The Outliers”- I Listen”

An outlier is defined as a person or thing that differs from other members of a group. I have been curious to examine this in relation to Oscar. With any diagnosis there is a spectrum of predicted outcomes; the people who do well and the people who don’t do as well. In the case ofContinue reading “Entry Thirteen- “The Outliers””

Is accepting good news hard for anyone else? It still is for me. It is weird. I think that from the outside looking in it is difficult to understand why accepting good news is tough. “Celebrate all the wins” is what people have told me. I did celebrate a “win” once and I got crushedContinue reading “Entry Twelve- Good News”

To be honest, I would have to look in Olivia’s baby book to remember when she said “mama” for the first time. But I do remember when Oscar said it. He said “mama” at 11months old. He called “mama” first thing in the morning to be picked up from his crib. He even started sayingContinue reading “Entry Eleven- “Mama””