5 Months between updates! Well, it’s been an interesting few months.
Personal Life
I’ve mentioned before my son has eczema and food allergies. In February (I had started to type up a post but never got around to it) on my Wife’s Birthday, my Son had an anaphylaxis reaction to something. Whilst he didn’t have the reaction to later in the day (2pm), we think it might have been caused by some cashew nuts which we had at the movies earlier in the day. Even after changing clothes, washing our hands thoroughly and brushing our teeth / using mouth wash, which we thought would be enough, he had a reaction which led to him being administered with an Epipen.
The experience was an eye opener to my wife, our families and me. Having to watch everything my son touches when we are out to making sure food doesn’t include nuts (and the other number of foods which my Son is allergic to). A couple of things have caught me off guard. One instance was a Carrot cake at work. Only realising when getting to the edge that there was a walnut sitting on top of the cake, whether there were any nuts in the cake I’m not sure, but as soon as I saw it I quickly washed my hands / mouth and desk.
Since then, we finally got in to seeing a doctor which a number of people who in passing in shopping malls etc have suggested we visit, Dr George Samra in Kogarah. To give you an idea, it took 6 months to get the initial appointment. His initial consultation led to taking beef and dairy foods out of his diet and us getting two blood tests done (Note: getting a 3 year old to get a blood sample took 7 people in total in the room). One test was for airborne allergens, the other for food allergens. The food allergens test done by Australian Biologics Testing Services. The 210 test tests how the blood reacts to 210 different foods. A number of the foods at the top of the list (which indicates that his body works the most of process them), were his main diet. Being Oats, Cow’s/Sheep/Goat Milk, Soy/Rice, wheat, potato & yeast. Cows milk ruling out ALL dairy. As a milk substitute, we are using Elecare. The only cheese which he is OK to consume is Buffalo. As for a replacement to bread, we have found corn cakes/tortillas. Even with those, we are limited because some brands/products include sesame seeds or other foods which he is allergic to.
After we changed his diet to cater for everything which was indicated by the 210 test, he skin did start to change. The redness started to disappear and open ‘wounds’ on his face started to get thinner as it they were sitting on the surface as opposed to under it. That’s the only way I can think of describing it. It appears that the diet change is working.
Having gone to the RPA Allergy clinic for 2 years and having seen very little result, to see such a change over the course of a month was quite breathtaking.
We went back to the Allergy clinic for a routine check up and to ask them about the 210 test and as to why they don’t use it for diagnostics their response was quite amazing. Now the consultant whom we spoke to (think title was Dr.) indicated that in the past, 10 years ago was mentioned, the clinic had sent blood samples to see if this test was worth it. Giving blind tests, in some instances 2 lots from the same person, the test didn’t give the same result for each, there was a variation. Initially when I saw the results of the test I wondered as to its accuracy, ie most of his diet were listed at the top of the list, mind you that might account for his skin. All that I know is that once we removed all the food which his body reacted highly to in the test and started him on the ‘safe’ foods, his skin changed. Ironically, the Allergy clinics dietician’s response was ‘Well the diet change seems to be working for him”.
What to do? Well we are going back to Dr Samra and we are goin to go by his guidance, even though the allergy clinic classes him as a ‘fringe doctor’ with his methods. All I know is that it’s working for us. And if his track record is anything to go by, it’s cleared up a number of other children as well.
More recently, in the last week my Son was in hospital due to a chest infection. He was on Ventolin, oxygen (his blood oxygen level was down) and a number of antibiotics to get rid of the infection. Subsequently his skin improved almost to the point his face was clear! In the week since, unfortunately it’s partly returned to the way he was before his hospital visit.
WWW Stuff
Prior to my last post, I had spent some time creating a new website for a client, Yarnandkisses, a yarn store specialising in Malabrigo yarn.
In the last month, I’ve rewritten a fair bit of code on another website I maintain for an annual Swing dance event, the Sydney Lindy Exchange (SLX). What started as a basic site with a registration form (which was emailed) has developed in to a basic CMS / event management site along with a basic newsletter module.
Whilst the code I’ve written for SLX isn’t in a state to be released to the public, I’ve spent the last couple of months considering writing my own CMS (truth be told, it’s really been years). The decision has and is a rollercoaster ride for me whilst a question whether to write my own CMS or start writing plug-ins/modules for others, but I’ve started to write down ideas, notes, workflows and start to code it. Now, whilst my knowledge of PHP/MySQL is only basic (it’s expanding every day), that’s all a CMS really needs to be, basic (but with the functionality!). The main goal will be to make it small & modular, with a number of modules available when I make it public. I’m going to be posting my progress here.
Music
Unfortunately at the moment, my music is on hold. I haven’t touched my guitar or piano in about 2 months or more. I played around with a few songs in the months before, but nothing completed.
Outlook (not the application)
I plan on getting the CMS mostly started, myself started up on my MCSE/MCSA (finally) and then getting back in to it. It sounds strange, but putting it down for the moment has actually taken some stress off me. I know when I pick it up again I will be refreshed and I’ll come out all guns/guitars blazing. Oh and blogging more!