Friday, 25 January 2013

So what day of the week is it?

I have had such a busy week that I didn't even realise that I was late at organising my blog entry until this morning. Only a few hours of sleep per night and being a stay at home mum and budding business woman makes the days of the week seem to blur into each other and make you loose track of which day you are really up to.
 
When people ring me to make an appointment of any kind, I always ask, "so what day of the week are we up to?" I can hear some people on the other end of the phone stop breathing for a moment with the thought..."what she doesn't know what day we are on?" As many mums at home understand, when you are physically not going to an external work environment each day and you are busy trying to do the washing, clean up the kitchen, make sure the kids are not getting into that one thing you said the couldn't have and your mind is still going...what else do I need to finish?...what food do we have for dinner?...what things do I need to buy at the shop?...why have the kids gone quite...THEY MUST BE UP TO SOMETHING THEY SHOULDN'T...and in most cases they are!!!! they are cheeky like that :-)  Any mum of small kids can tell you that silence is not a good thing to hear when the kids aren't having a nap...
 
Anyhow, with all these things going on in ones mind and many more tasks at hand, no wonder I need to ask the person at the other end of the phone what day of the week I'm up to. This question gives me a grounding point by which I can then schedule the latest appointment into my minds diary and it also gives me a moment to look at a calender, if I have one at hand. Things get extra hectic when you need to schedule in appointments for a Cheeky Boy and fit them into the school routine of a Cheeky Girl. There seems to be even less time in my day when there is the commitment of making sure you get to and from school on time especially when the school isn't just around the corner.
 
With the therapy classes and special therapy playgroup my Cheeky Boy will attend when school starts...I'm tired just thinking about it! There is one class we try our best to attend each week of the school term and that is Gymbaroo. I have been taking my Cheeky Boy to these Gymbaroo classes for a couple of years now and even though they're not close to home, we both enjoy getting there and giving it a go. Some days he's so tired from his seizures and medication that he doesn't have the best time but I have seen him progress over time with each class that it makes me smile, especially when he finally does something that he has had trouble doing previously. Just the simple act of having him lying still for a few minutes for the massage each lesson has be a great achievement and letting me move his arms through activities without resistance on his part has been a wonderful thing (doesn't happen all the time but I know he can do it when he wants to).
 
The Gymbaroo activities are aimed at helping children from 0 to 5 years old develop motor skills essential for their early childhood development. These activities are done in a fun environment and include music, dance, massage and working their way through physical obstacles. The routine set helps my Cheeky Boy and the support and understanding from the staff around his health has been wonderful. I can not thank them enough for their help over the past couple of years. I would recommend Gymabroo to all families with small kids no matter what developmental level they are at, there is so much fun to be had and the best thing about it is they don't even know that they are learning!
 
Here's the link to Gymbaroo please have a look:
 
Please note that there are Gymbaroo classes held all over Australia.
 
So to conclude, I thought I would add a love story...
 
A love Story (you're gonna love this)...
Humans have so much to learn from animals...

In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. The dog had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had quite clearly been abused.

In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a female greyhound, to the Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, which is run by a man named Geoff Grewcock, and known as a haven for animals abandoned, orphaned, or otherwise in need.

Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved. They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.

Jasmine, however, had other ideas. No one quite remembers how it came about, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It would not matter if it were a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or any other lost or hurting animal. Jasmine would just peer into the box or cage and, when and where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.
Geoff relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the center, and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."
"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them, and it helps them to not only feel close to her, but to settle into their new surroundings. She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs, and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."
Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, fifteen chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and fifteen rabbits - and one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, eleven weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster-mum role. Jasmine, the greyhound, showers Bramble, the roe deer, with affection and makes sure nothing is matted. "They are inseparable," says Geoff. "Bramble walks between her legs, and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It's a real treat to see them."


Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.
Pictured from the left are: "Toby," a stray Lakeland dog; "Bramble," orphaned roe deer; "Buster," a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; "Sky," an injured barn owl; and "Jasmine," with a mother's heart doing best what a caring mother would do.

Friday, 18 January 2013

So many hats...

So with a blink of an eye...another week has past. I guess what they say is true, the older you get the quicker time goes. So how has this past week been for me...busy, busy, busy. I have the feeling like I have too many hats on, not only do I have hats for being a wife, a mother and a carer, I then put ones on for when I am making Dog Tags, when I am a gemmologist, a jewellery valuer and a organiser of things to come...I think I am tired just thinking about these things!

With all these roles or hats, I work into the night and still have the role of making sure my Cheeky Boy is safe when waking with his 'nodding' seizures during the night. These have reduced in severity whilst his been placed on an extra regime of drugs but these drugs are slowly being reduced over the next few months to see how his body and brain are coping with all his seizures. Fingers are crossed for an improvement when the course of drugs are complete but one can never be completely sure if it will work or whether the decrease in drugs will equal an increase in seizures. Only time will tell.

So how do I feel about having all these hats... at this point in the week some part of me feels like a train that is going to derail from an increase in load and the breaks are having a hard time slowing it down. Then there is the other part of me which acknowledges the stress and feels that things always become easier with time. Everything ebbs and flows, everything comes with downs and ups. As long as there is more ups, then what is there really to complain about, life is good :-)

The other thing that comes with these hats is a feeling of guilt at times. I know all you working mums out there know exactly what I am talking about. It's a conflict at times between trying to put food on the table and earning the money to put that food on the table! It also creates guilt when you feel you aren't spending enough time with the kids but I do realise that ultimately it's the quality of the time we spend with them that is the most important thing.

I guess the ultimate goal would be to have a balance between the wearing of all these hats but as one can not predict all that is on the road ahead, one can only try their best to reach this goal. As I am only human, these hats will become unbalanced at times but I will keep learning and keep trying to get them right, that's all I can do :-)

In the spirit of wearing hats, I thought I may share with you a special dog tag I have made dedicated to all those who must travel away from their loved ones to work and must call the place they lie their hat their 'home'.

 
This Dog Tag I dedicate to all those who have loved ones overseas serving our Country, whether they be in the military, police, medical professions and is also dedicated to those many other professions who have this role. Thank you!

Please click on the link below if you would like to take a closer look at the details of this tag. As some of you may already know that with every Dog Tag I make and sell, a portion of the money goes directly to the Friends of Brain Injured Children ACT Inc (FBIC). This wonderful small charity helps with paying some of the medical bills beautiful children like my Cheeky Boy have during the year. Thank you FBIC.

http://www.rozart.com.au/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=174&category_id=52&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=29

On a final note for this week, here is a link to a video that I received which shows us how a man who has a 'disability' is able to do 'normal' things. What an inspiration to all...
The video is titled The Blind Handyman and his name is Phil Parr from Lefkin Texas

http://www.coolestone.com/media/5193/The-Blind-Handyman---Inspirational/

and he even runs his own radio program called the The Blind Handyman Radio Show. Please take a look at this, a group to inspire:

www.acbradio.org

Please enjoy and never let what other people see as a 'disability' stand in your way :-)

Thursday, 10 January 2013

The Simple Things In Life

Glad you could join me. I have had a week of readjusting to being back at home and the 'real' world catching up with me. I think many of you will know exactly what I am saying as Christmas and New Year celebrations come to an end and we head back to our homes and waiting for us is a pile of bills...my question to you is, why can't these people go on holidays with a 'good will' gesture of not reading the gas & electricity meters? oh if the world was so simple...

As I reflect on the time we spent away visiting family I look at it as having been an enjoyable time and what is 'normal' for us - things never quite going to plan. When you have a Cheeky Boy like mine, having a 'holiday' almost never happens without a visit from the wonderful people from the local Ambulance Service and a trip to the closest hospital able to best deal with his seizures. This Christmas break was one that required our plans going out the window for a little while, once again.

My beautiful boy woke up happy as usual, then when he went for a morning nap he woke up after 10 minutes and my mum bought him to me (I wasn't too fast on my feet as I had had an operation on a toe three days prior) and I said to her, he is having a seizure (one of his big ones where he looses awareness of what is going on around him). With this I took him and our usual routine kicks in with me placing him on a bed on his side and administering a dose of medication that is to help stop him seizing. The Ambulance service is called and we wait for their arrival.

Typically his large seizures last around twenty minutes or more even with medication being administered by me and as this medication has the potential to stop him from breathing, I ring an Ambulance every time. Also, I can not predict if my dose of anti-seizure medication will work so at times the Ambulance Officers are required to give him more to cease the seizure and other times it takes Doctors at the Emergency Department to give him other doses and combinations of medications to stop them.

This time it took the Doctors to sort advice from his Paediatric Neurologist to make decisions as to what medications to use and when, as my Cheeky Boy ended up having a four and a half hour seizure. As I am his eyes and ears during these events, the Doctors rely on me telling them about the supple changes of his seizure and they rely on my judgement as to when the seizure activity has stopped. This is due to his seizures of late consisting of him coming in and out of consciousness and the seizure activity staying within his head, only his eyes tell us when he has stopped.

So with all of this, my true indicator that my Cheeky Boy had come back to full consciousness, though drowsy from all the drugs, was by him blowing me a raspberry! Cheeky Boy indeed :-)

With him coming conscious, he was transported to Sydney Kids Hospital without having to be put on a ventilator, which was nice. He sat in the Ambulance watching Peppa Pig, like not much had happened for the last five hours! After a couple of days in hospital and the adding of more drugs to his regime we got to spend Christmas with the family and he enjoyed the simple pleasure of ripping off and up the wrapping paper and laughing at the noise it makes :-)

When you have a child with special needs, the simple things in life are joyous. It makes you see the beauty in things we would otherwise take for granted. Just like watching his pure joy of making paper make a sound when ripping it. Like watching him over Christmas lunch find amazement at the sound parrots make as they are flying past. Like watching him laugh hysterically at his cousin who pops up from within a big empty box and says "boo" over and over again.

The simple things in life are what we miss when we rush around all day. Many people don't see the simple joys of life, too busy doing something... My son despite all he has gone through fines these simple pleasures and it allows all of those around him to stop what they are doing and immerse themselves in these moments. How wonderful is this! I am truly blessed to have him to remind me of such pleasures.

Children are the ones who are not clouded by what's going on in the world around them. We need to place ourselves in their shoes more often to bring us back to the simple things in life.

I received a video earlier in the week of a customers son, he is seven. In this video, he describes how he feels about receiving one of my Skull & Cross Bones tags. Here's his picture:


If you would like to have a closer look at this Skull and Cross Bones tag please click on the link below:
http://www.rozart.com.au/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=207&category_id=50&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=29

I enjoy making these Dog Tags, the simple joy it brings to others is wonderful. Please watch my YouTube video and tell me you don't agree:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrRkZnK2e2w&feature=youtu.be

and to finish things off, here's a link to a story I received on Facebook yesterday. It's entitled:

A Dog's Purpose? (from a 6-year-old)

This is another story by which we can learn so much from the thoughts of a child. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/UltimaNR/photos_stream#!/photo.php?fbid=203083906458804&set=pb.102563086510887.-2207520000.1357821145&type=3&theater

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

Here's to the Start of a Great 2013

Here's to the start of a great 2013... that's not to say that will not be times that are challenging, tiring, with tears and times one wishes to pull ones hair out but you know what, these times are part of what will make the year great. How you ask? because these times make me appreciate even more all the happiness, laughter, proud moments, and the things that make our lives 'normal'.

Just to give you a little background of who I am... I'm a creative spirit, a wife, a mother of two, a full time carer for my 3 year old son, a teacher, a business woman, an organiser, a dreamer, a person who dreams of a the day when I get a good night sleep! and an optimist.

I am a mum of two beautiful children, a cheeky girl who is 5 and a cheeky boy who is 3. As I mentioned above, I am my sons full time carer. He is a beautiful boy who had a 'normal' start to life but when he was only four days old, this all changed. His blood sugar level (BSL) dropped so low that his brain started shutting down and as a consequence he as an acquired brain injury (ABI). To say the least from that day, our lives changed forever but despite all the challenges that he has faced and we have faced with him, he is a most beautiful, cheeky and strong spirited little boy.

As a consequence of the ABI, my cheeky boy has some challenges in his life, these include having several forms of epilepsy and some developmental delays. With one type of epilepsy, he has seizures everyday as he wakes from sleep, including daytime naps. I call these 'nods' by which he muscles contract involuntarily causing him to nod forward and puts him at risk of hitting his face on things or to fall over. These seizures also cause him to wake several times at night and therefore I sleep in the same room as him to try and keep him safe from any accidental injuries. We also have ambulances visit our house at least once a month due to his other epileptic seizures. If you would like to have a read of  My Sons Story please do.

As of the 1 January 2012, I made the decision to start a new business within the year. I had an idea of what I wanted to do but my New Years Resolution was to start it. I wanted to produce jewellery for people and their pets with a portion of every sale going directly to the Friends of Brain Injured Children ACT Inc. (FBIC) charity. With my commitment, family support and the support of people who believe in my vision, this has come true, as of October 2012 my new website has been launched www.rozart.com.au

Throughout this process I have had even less sleep as I try to complete products at night for the site. I am also committed to a radio ad campaign which launched in October here in Canberra. The whole point of me doing this has been to get the message out about the wonderful FBIC charity that has given some financial assistance to my son for his medical expenses. My son does not receive any government funding for medical expenses besides the basic Health Care Card due to his 'conditions' not fitting into any of their 'guidelines'.

Now that my website is up and running it is now time for me (as of the 1 January 2013), to commit to spreading the message throughout the social media networks about children like my son and the small charities who try their best to help such children and their families. Hence the start of this blog.

I also wish to share everyday stories with you about being a carer of a child with special needs and how I am committed to him, my whole family and to the following of my dreams. I hope you all will join me on this fantastic journey...

Here's a photo of how beautiful the 1 January 2013 was for me and my family as we visited the Central Coast of NSW: