Monthly Archives: January 2012
Celebrating the New Year – ABC-style
In my last post, K and I wished you all a hearty Gung Hay Fat Choy, in honor of the Chinese New Year. Well, today, J, K and I all went down to Chinatown to watch the Lion Dance festivities.
And a Gung Hay Fat Choy to you too
It’s Chinese New Year, a time of celebration and togetherness. This and K’s birthday are probably the two times of year that I most regret not living close to my family.
Neuro-what?
Last week, I talked about one aspect of the 180-lb tumor story. But besides the Flight, Fight or Fright conundrum, I was also struck by something else:
Of the 200+ articles I found on the web, my trusty Google News search suggests that only eight actually named NF as the cause of the tumor. 8. Out of more than 220. The rest merely referred to a “rare genetic disorder.” What’s more concerning is this: the CEO of the hospital where the operation took place told CNN that it was the same disease as that of “The Elephant Man.” Except the latest research suggests that Joseph Merrick, popularly known as “The Elephant Man,” is suspected of having Proteus Syndrome – a completely unrelated disease. If the medical community doesn’t even understand NF, and the press doesn’t report on it when provided an opportunity to educate, it’s no wonder that so few people have ever heard of the condition.
Holy Crap, I’ve Hit 100
Move along, move along. Nothing to see here.
Unless, of course, you’re interested in hearing my self-congratulation. Because, really, that’s all this post is about. So. A few stats:
- 100 blogs. Wow. Totally thought I would have quit blogging by now. Oops. Probably shouldn’t have admitted that.
- 7,500 page views. (wow – thanks guys)
- Five most popular posts to date in order:
- Five most commented on blogs:
- Five posts that I think *should* have gotten more traffic (in no particular order):
I’ve been having fun with it so far – have you? And to make this post not entirely all about me – tell me which topics you like best and which topics you’d like to me to tackle more often.
I’ll see you again at 200.
Like this:
Keeping Perspective: Flight, Fright or Fight
For you news junkies out there, you may have heard about the 180-lb tumor that was removed from a 32-year-old Vietnamese man, Nguyen Duy Hai, in Ho Chi Minh City. If you saw it, you probably had an “oh my god,” “gross,” “wow that’s incredible” or a “can you imagine?” moment. I’ve had those moments too. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve also had the “I’m so glad it isn’t me” reaction. I think all these reactions are perfectly normal. It’s one way that we remind ourselves that despite all our complaints, there are still many, many people who have it worse than we do in some way, shape or form.
But for me, this story was an unpleasant reminder of what could happen to my little girl. Just six short weeks ago, I talked about the struggle for calm in the face of my daughter’s neurofibromatosis (NF type 1). Because it turns out that this Vietnamese man also has NF1.
5 Reasons Not to Post a New Year’s Resolution Post
As a blogger, I feel this unreasonable compulsion to write a New Year’s Resolution blog. A blogger is by nature someone who is self-involved or self-important enough to think that whatever they have to say is of value and/or interest to other people. Such people tend to be particularly prone to making new year’s resolutions. (sorry if I offended anyone there. Of course I don’t mean you!) Read the rest of this entry
