MARCHPHOTOADAY .... the second half.... enjoy!

Once again had a lot of fun with FatMumSlims #marchphotoaday on Instagram.
Thinking about doing April, still not sure yet. The question is do I need the distraction?
I do love the creativity and getting my brain going each day though.
Please enjoy the shots, taken each day with my phone.
~V~

Sunglasses  

Green

A corner of your home (or 3)

Funny (he makes me laugh daily)

Before / After (puzzle time)

Delicious (especially straight out of the tub)

Kitchen Sink (tough one to make interesting)

An Animal

Breakfast

Key (the few things left of our Kinglake home)

Your Name (great work Bambam)

Trash (rubbish and yes guilty as charged)

Feet (giants feet!!)

Toy (for young and old)

Where you relax ....

It's all about Attitude!

Hi everyone, sorry I have been a little slack on the blogging side of things. Life is just crazy isn't it!?! I have to tell you there are moments in life that make you stop, stand still and say .... 'Why am I complaining, life is actually pretty good.'

Yes the lack of privacy and constant whinging and competition between my boys drives me crazy. I would also love a bigger house where more than one person can fit in the kitchen, and I could have an office to run my business from rather than the kitchen table. But you know what life is all not that bad. The boys are healthy (touch wood), hubby is loving his new career, and we are planning a holiday full of sun, surf and sand. :-)

Sometimes I have conversations with people that just rock me. For instance the other day some friends came back from Fiji and were telling me about the local villages that don't even have access to hot showers. Then there is my dear friend who is doing the fight of her life and will probably have to learn to walk again after being in a coma. I mean really what AM I complaining about?! Mostly though what I love seeing is people giving when they have so little. I've been collecting books for a friend who is taking them back to primary and secondary schools in PNG. What has amazed me is that those that have donated are often people who have very little. I love this so much and it has re-vamped my faith in human nature. In the end it is all about attitude.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest and I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes:

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. "                                   

                             

~ Charles Swindoll

Happy Monday everyone!

~V~

MARCHPHOTOADAY ...... half way mark.....

Loving the challenge once again of FATMUMSLIM's March photo a day
...... here's the first half.



UP

FRUIT

YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

BEDSIDE

A SMILE

5PM

SOMETHING YOU WORE

WINDOW

RED

LOUD

SOMEONE YOU TALKED TO TODAY

FORK

A SIGN

CLOUDS

CAR

~V~

FEBPHOTOADAY .....2012

Thank you for following my photos for the month of February and seeing a glimpse into my world. I've had so much fun being creative and sharing them. All photos were taken by me and apart from two photos they were all taken with my phone.

This was the challenge ....

In no particular order these were my photos ......

~V~

J is for ..... JELLYFISH

These magical creatures take my breath away! Having studied Zoology at Uni I was fortunate enough to be a part of some fantastic aquatic trips/camps that involved much water activity. We ran research on anything from seaweed and sea cucumbers to turtles and crabs. We snorkelled near some amazing blooms of jellyfish. Must say though, many of my memories do involve camp fires, crazy games and much student bonding. Not sure that any of those activities were on the initial information letters that went home to the parents.

A little back ground on these very cool animals:
- Jellyfish are a stage of the life cycle of Medusozoa
- They are found in every ocean, including down in the deep and up the top at the surface
- They have been around for at least 500 million years or more
- No brain, heart or bones
- Their body consists of over 95% water
- Box jellyfish have 24 eyes (360 degree view, how cool!)
- In Japan they are considered a delicacy
- They use their tentacles with stingers to capture their prey, usually plankton or small fish
- Jellyfish are not actually fish!
-   ....... the list is endless!!

Those of us that live in Victoria are very lucky as we have no dangerous jellyfish in our waters. Jellyfish in Victorian waters rarely cause serious illness but they can cause immense pain. Many of us Melbournites love to take trips up north, so it is important to be aware of what can be found in our northern waters and the necessary first aid. The Box jellyfish found up north has been known to kill more people than any other marine sea creature each year. Thanks to TV and movies we know the near fatal effects of swimming through a jellyfish bloom (Marlin and Dory on Nemo). My boys have even learnt from The Octonauts to put vinegar on a jellyfish wound.

Recognition of Blue Bottle and Non-box Jellyfish stings:
- pain to stung area
- sting marks that are often white and red around the edges
- pain in the groin or armpits
- headache
- nausea, vomiting
- breathing difficulty

Recognition of Box Jellyfish stings:
- immediate severe pain
- irrational behaviour
- ladder pattern in stung area
- loss of consciousness
- breathing stops and leads to cardiac arrest

First aid Management:
- when in doubt treat for worst case scenario!
- all victims of a jellyfish sting should be observed for at least 30 minutes
- assist patient from the water
- do not rub the stung area
- observe airway and breathing
- Box Jellyfish: flood the stung area with vinegar (this inactivates the stinging cells)
- Non-tropical jellyfish: apply hot compress or hot water immersion to help relieve the pain.
    (no hotter than 45C and review after 20 minutes) If not available then use cold pack.
- Tropical jellyfish: ice packs and topical anaesthetic agents may help reduce the pain
- pull off tentacles, this is not dangerous to rescuer, and rinse with sea-water
- In general keep the patient calm and still
- if unconscious follow DRSABCD
- seek urgent medical assistance

IN SUMMARY: Due to the large number of different types of jellyfish, and the limited ability to identify the culprit, there is no universal treatment for jellyfish sting. If you are in the tropics then think worst case scenario and treat with vinegar. In other cases outside the tropics with non life-threatening stings treat for the pain with either heat or cold.

Some facts about jellyfish in Port Philip Bay can be found here.
Australian Resuscitation Council also has some great information here.

~V~

Infant Convulsions

'Infant Convulsions', sounds frightening doesn't it? For those that have ever gone through it I can only imagine how terrifying it must be. Touch wood, neither of my boys have ever had one but I do have close friends that have gone through it. One friend in particular has given me permission to share her story with you today. 


Firstly a little background, what are infant convulsions, or as they are also known, febrile convulsions? These are epileptic type seizures in children usually between the age of 6 months and 6 years. They are caused by high temperatures usually due to viral illness. Often the illness may be something like a cold, throat or urinary tract infection. The good thing about these convulsions is that they are rarely dangerous if first aid management is quickly started. They are not harmful to the child and do not cause brain damage. The Royal Childrens' Hospital state that these type of convulsions occur in 3% of healthy children.


How to recognise an infant convulsion:
- hot and sweaty skin
- lips become blue as may skin
- stiffness to body
- head and back may become arched
- frothing of saliva from the mouth
- eyes may roll
- little one may hold breath
- development of projectile vomiting


What to do:
- protect from danger by removing objects and laying little one on the ground
- turn on side to keep their airway open
- try not to panic
- minimal clothing, only nappy or light layer
- lightly cover with sheet
- seek medical advice


The advice is that if convulsion lasts longer than 5 minutes or one quickly follows another then ring 000 as soon as possible. More information can be found at the Royal Children's Hospital website.

My lovely friend Manda had them as a child and she recalls stories of how scared her Mum had been going through them with her. Amanda now has her own little tribe and has gone through 4 convulsion episodes with her oldest and 2 with her middle little man. She says the first one with her oldest was probably the scariest. Manda is a fellow first aid educator and can recognise the signs and knows the management for infant convulsions. Even with this training and knowledge she still says as a parent convulsions are horrible to watch and very distressing. She says she was a mess after each and every episode. 


When Manda's first born was 10 months old he was suffering from a bad cold. Both her and hubby were up all night with a feverish bub that they had been treating with paracetamol.  Hubby was cuddling the little man on the couch when he screamed to Manda that bub was 'fitting'...the eyes rolled back, there were jerky movements in all of his limbs and he had gone quite grey in colour, and he was also boiling hot to touch. They immediately called 000 and Manda figured he was probably having a febrile convulsion given that he had a temperature. 


Manda says there wasn't really a warning to the convulsion and the doctors told her they are caused by the sudden spike in temperature and not just a high temperature. This little man had 3 other convulsions at 18 months, 20 months and 2 years. Manda didn't go to emergency with the middle two as they only lasted about 30 secs but took him to the doctor the next day (all happened at night). The last one lasted for almost 4 mins though and he was quite blue around the lips by the end of it so they called 000 again. He hasn't had one since, not even with the high temperatures he had when he had pneumonia, so she thinks he might have grown out of them.

Manda's second bub had convulsions but they did not last for as long and the signs were a little different. There wasn't as much jerking of the limbs, but he instead he would go very floppy and unresponsive with his eyes rolling back. Again though, it co-incided with high temperatures. Because of the unresponsiveness they took him to hospital both times.

Acting on instinct Manda placed her little man onto his side in the recovery position while he was convulsing, holding him gently until he stopped. Afterwards he was very agitated and stressed, crying and screaming for about 30 mins before he could be settled. Her second little man would seem to 'come out of it' after a convulsion but then wouldn't respond to his name or touch, which to Manda was a lot scarier.


These experiences have definitely given Manda a certain perspective on life and she feels so very lucky to have three gorgeous little munchkins to keep her entertained! 

What strength Manda and her hubby have shown to deal with these situations, and to positively move forward always thinking it could happen again. Once again makes me realise that everyone has their own stories and problems they are having to deal with in life. I can not thank Manda enough for sharing her experiences. Brings me to tears every time I read her story and amazes me how tough we become as parents. Sometimes we need to trust our instincts, and most importantly remain strong and calm for our little ones. Toughest job I've ever had that's for sure!

~V~

HANDY Emergency Numbers and calling for HELP!

Welcome to this weeks blog! Did you know that we are already in the 8th week of the year?!
Included this week are some tips on ringing for help and some emergency numbers that you MUST have on hand somewhere like the fridge, and definitely programmed into your phone.

Some tips about calling 000 or 112:
- Ask for the appropriate emergency service eg. fire, ambulance, police
- Give the location, street name and number, nearest main rd etc
- Pass on a brief summary of what has happened, number of injured, type of injures etc
- Talk slowly and clearly, stay calm and listen to what they are asking or telling you
- Never hang up until the operator does!

For those of us in Victoria here is a great list of numbers to have on your fridge. Very handy!

If you are the only first aider at an incident then briefly assess the situation and then send a bystander to call. Make sure this person reports back to you with any feedback or information from the emergency services. This ensures they have definitely made the call and gives the bystander a feeling of importance and responsibility. If you are by yourself then it is important to know where the speaker button is on your phone. You can be talking to emergency personnel and using both hands to help the injured.

Never heard of 112? That's ok, 112 is a great one to remember as it can be used with your mobile phone from anywhere in the world with GSM coverage, and is automatically translated to that countries emergency number. In Australia, ideally ring 000 first, and if this doesn't work then try 112. Often if your service provider is not available then 112 will take you through to one that is. Saying that, 000 is the best to ring as then the emergency personnel are more likely to be able to identify you and where you are.

Another good thing to know is about the ICE programme. This stands for 'In Case of Emergency'. It means that emergency personnel at the site of an incident can look in your phone and find next of kin or an emergency contact person. They can then contact these people and obtain important medical information and/or pass on information. All you need to do is enter the acronym ICE into your address book in your phone and list the name and number of your emergency contact person.

We have listed above the 'Nurse-On-Call'  number. I have to say that we have used this number numerous times and they have been absolutely fabulous! So calm and informative. They provide 24 hour a day, 7 days a week health and medical advice from a registered nurse. They had all our calls and incidents on record so knew our history, which is great as the last thing you want to do is to spend valuable time giving background info. How fantastic are our nurses!!

Thanks for reading and hope you're having a great week everyone! 

~V~