Of Saints and Miracles

Saints are, according to the ultimate information source Wikipedia, those who have been called to holiness.

If you are Roman Catholic, you believe in Saints, and you probably know at one point were educated on the process by which one actually becomes a Saint. For those of you who want the detailed version, it is right here. But the Cliff's notes version is that there is investigation, some other stuff, and miracles -- for someone to be a saint, they have to perform at least one miracle.

A story ran in the St. Louis Post Dispatch yesterday, with the story of a girl who had cancer. Due to the multitude of funerals that I attended for friends over the last few weeks, this story caught my eye. But when I read more into the story, I realized that I knew this girl that the story was written about. She was a student of my aunt, and someone that I had met once, when she was first diagnosed.

Since her initial diagnosis, the girl has had more than one relapse, but continued to defy the odds. In November 2002, she was discovered to have a tumor in her spine, lungs and heart. The prognosis was fatal, and she was given a few weeks to live.

On May 19, 2004, surgeons removed the tumor from her chest cavity...and discovered that it was dead.

This Monday, May 19, 2009, she has been cancer free for five years. When you have been cancer free for five years, you are considered cured. And if her cure is considered a miracle by the Vatican, Chaminade will be canonized...and become a Saint.

My background is obviously in health care, and I do believe in the powers of science and the major advances in medical science that have helped to cure diseases in multitudes of people.

But sometimes I still believe in miracles.

Today

So this morning I woke up and was NOT in a very good mood. Too little sleep = not a very happy Maggie.

So I was doing what any mature tired person would do and was stomping around as I went about getting ready for my day.

And because I am a creature of habit, I turned on The Today Show to see what Matt was up to. I LOVE Matt Lauer. I do not, however, love Meredith Vieira. Oh Katie, why did you have to leave? But Meredith wasn't there today, so crisis averted.

And what do I see on TV, but a story about a limbless boy talking about how 'anything is possible'.

And NOTHING makes you feel like more of a jerk for stomping around that you had to get out of bed than a story like that.

So then I was mad that their heartwarming story about the limbless boy ruined my bad mood. Seriously - WHAT is the matter with me?!

Pregnant Man

I used to be an OB nurse. And nearly every time I worked, I would be completely shocked at the things that patients (or visitors) didn't know. SHOCKED. So I would routinely provide the requested information and then also explain that they could say 'they knew me when' since I was going to get my own tv show, in order to inform the masses of much needed information.

I haven't gotten around to finding someone who wants to put me on tv, but I have a blog. And now will subject you all to all things newborn and obstetrical, otherwise known as "the things I think everyone should know about". You're welcome.

The first thing is not anything that I have any first hand knowledge of, but it is something that I'm sure everyone will be buzzing about by this time tomorrow. Mostly because Oprah's doing a show on it tomorrow. Shut up. You know that you want to know about it too.

So anyway, in case you haven't heard, Oprah is doing a show about a pregnant man. And because I was awake during at least part of my college education, I can inform you of just how such a thing happens.

You have to have a uterus to be pregnant. Shocking, no? And there is pretty much only one way that a man can have a uterus. Which is the same way a woman does - he has to be born with it. Which means that he was born a hermaphrodite. **I stand completely corrected. I either misread or saw incorrect information (you mean all things on the internet aren't true?!) about Mr Thomas Beatie. He was not born a hermaphrodite and instead had sexual reassignment surgery. However the end result is not much different. He is a man with a uterus. Having a baby. My deepest apologies for the incorrect information, I was WRONG. Feel free to mark this as something to come back to, just in case I ever dispute that fact.

Image from: The National Ledger

When a baby is born without an obvious gender, it is typical for the parents to select the gender in which a child is raised. The other gender parts are typically removed (although clearly not always, as he has kept his uterus) and hormone therapy is used to suppliment the missing hormones.

So anyway, this man (who kept his female parts) was inseminated and is now pregnant.

So he is legally male, but he has female parts. My personal feeling is that while calling him a pregnant man is technically correct, it's also misleading. Because this particular man has quite the unique set of circumstances.

So there you have it....the story of the pregnant man. This concludes installment one of "things I think everyone should know".

The Business of Being Born

So I just finished watching The Business of Being Born, a movie about home birth and midwifery. I had heard various things about it, and was quite curious to see it myself. I also knew myself well enough to know that I would be best off not going somewhere to watch it within earshot of others.

Honestly, as a movie, I think that it was well done. Did it change the way I feel about things? No. I don't support home birth. Because do you know how many bad outcomes you have to be a part of to feel that way? One. And then forever more, the very mention of home and birth in the same sentence will conjure up immediately the image of a family completely devestated by an outcome that could have been prevented.

Is that the way that all or even the majority of home births go? No, it isn't and I know that most home births are exactly what the participants are looking for. Which is great for them; but their experiences added together still aren't enough to replace the one that springs to my mind.

I'm sure that everyone takes something different from seeing the movie. The thing that stuck out to me the most? They interviewed a physician about his thoughts on home birth, and he said that he felt 'having a home birth is no different than me saying to someone that they don't need a seatbelt in my car because I'm a good driver'. And honestly? I couldn't have said it better myself.

Tuesday Randomness

• There is actually an article that says that oogling is something that you can't help. It also, drumroll please, said that you were more likely to oogle at someone attractive that someone who is not. Umm, not to point out the obvious, but isn't the point of oogling to be looking at someone attractive?

• Last night I got to go to Found vs. Post Secret, which was really interesting! I enjoy looking at Found Magazine, but I ADORE Post Secret - I just think it's fascinating. If you haven't ever checked it out (and if that's the case, where in the heck have you been?!) then you should. It's worth it - really, it is.

• I just let the boys have cookies before breakfast. While watching a movie. Clearly I am a total sucker today. Oh well...I suppose that my justification will be to make them eat lots of veggies with lunch. That evens it out....right?

• And in case you need an idea for a Halloween costume for next year...Police in Arizona said a man in a black Chrysler sedan pulled up to a Burger King worker on the street late one evening and took the uniform he was wearing at gunpoint. [East Valley Tribune, 9-25-07] Hey, it's just a thought....

You're Welcome

My Gift To You

Like I said, you're welcome.

Things In The News

*The current big debate in St. Louis -- should the white and affluent parents who accidentally left their baby in the car (and the baby died due to the heat) be charged with a criminal offense? Keep in mind that each of them thought that the other would take the baby out of the car, meaning that neither of them knowingly left the child in the car. While this is a horrible thing to have happen, it wasn't on purpose - it was an ACCIDENT. The lack of charges has nothing to do with the fact that they are white or affluent, simply due to the fact that they did not KNOW that the child was in the car. You can read all about it here.

*There is a man who wants to adopt his cousin's baby, who is currently in the MO foster care system. He was apparently rejected due to the fact that he weighs over 500 lbs. So he had gastric bypass surgery and is losing weight. And the courts still will not allow him to adopt the child. I understand that peope who are morbidly obese have health problems that can lead to an early death, but this guy (and his significant other) actually WANT this baby to adopt and rescue from the perils of growing up as a foster child. And yet even after he undergoes major surgery to assist in the weight loss, they still won't let him? I'm not quite sure I understand that. I'm sure there are other factors, but from the way that it sounds right now, I can't quite understand why the child isn't at home with his very wanting (prospective) new parents.

*Need a reason not to go skydiving? How about having trouble with your parachute and landing face first on a parking lot? Sounds like a good enough reason to stay in your plane seat to me - although I have always secretly wanted to go skydiving...just once... That's what happened to this girl - and then she found out she was pregnant. And somehow she AND the baby have survived - talk about lucky! They had an update on her and her now 14 month old son on the Today show.

*Apparently living in the midwest has it's downfalls - I've never heard of (or been to) a water bar. As in a bar that serves only water. Don't get me wrong here, but one of the main attractions of a bar is that they serve ALCOHOL. And I can't possibly be the only one who feels this way. But apparently this woman sells "80 different types of bottled water" - some for up to $55 a bottle! Um...what's wrong with turning on the tap?!

And that is all -- because how can you really top Bling H2O?

Meth

One of the stories on the news this morning is about how Meth increases your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Just a thought, but I don't think that knowing this is something that is going to reform too many Meth heads. "It's illegal, highly addictive, makes you crazy....but wait, it can increase my risk of cardiovascular disease? Well in that case I had better stay away!" Somehow I doubt this is their inner dialogue.

You know, just a thought.

Stephanie Tanner, everyone's favorite (former) Meth Head

Obviously someone wasn't paying attention when they told her what her brain looked like on drugs....

Sunday List #9

1. I take the MCAT on Thursday. Which means that by Thursday night, there will only be a pool of mushy goo left of me. Sad, isn't it?

2. I spent all yesterday at a birthday party for a one year old. And even though the birthday boy went to bed 5 hours before the party ended, we were not detered. Good times. And, I learned a new card game...if you're nice to me then maybe I'll teach you!

3. There are Buddhist monks at Union Station were halfway done making a mandala. And when they left one night, a two year old danced right through it! Oops! And then, to make things even worse...the mother left with the kid and didn't tell anyone about the little dance her child had just finished! Apparently she thought that it would be a nice surprise for someone first thing in the morning... But you have to give the monks some credit, the only thing that they said on camera was that "he was just a little kid" although I have to wonder if there weren't a few more things said off camera about the whole thing. Probably there wasn't, yet one of the many reasons that I am not a buddhist monk...

4. I am excessively nerdy. One of my favorite shows is Numbers. But what makes me nerdy for liking it is that it is a show all about math. Seriously...sometimes I wonder if it's time to break out a pocket protector.

5. I'm sure that by now anyone who knows who Josh Hancock is has heard about what his father is doing. The cliffs notes version is that Josh Hancock was killed in a car accident when he rear ended a tow truck that had stopped to help someone else. After a few days, it came to light that Hancock was drunk. And now his father is suing the restaurant for serving him alcohol, the driver of the tow truck for being in the left lane helping someone else, AND the driver of the stalled car for crashing into the median in the first place. I'm very sorry that he lost his son, but let's be honest...you can't blame a guy who had the bad luck to hit the median for a grown man's poor decision. Seriously, let's take some responsibility here folks!

The sun has set on yet another day. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end, just like every other day. But this is a day in the wake of yet another school shooting. Which makes it different...at least in some ways.

This was a school shooting at a college instead of a high school, with more victims than before. This one comes just days before the 8th anniversary of Columbine, the school that held people that I knew once upon a time, before I wondered who else might not live to see another sunset because they didn't make it home from school.

I was in high school eight years ago, amazed that anyone would ever come up with an idea as horrifying as shooting classmates. Today, I'm in college - again - and a little less amazed that someone could have such a horrifying idea. A little less amazed, but just as devastated for all the people involved.

One of the many things that seems to be a common thread among school shootings is that the one who holds the gun was - or at least felt like - an outsider or a loner, like they didn't fit in with the crowd. Does that make it okay for them to do something like shoot up a school? No. And does it mean that the people that the shot at deserved it? Absolutely not. It just means that it wouldn't hurt for people to be nicer to each other. Would someone offering a smile in the morning have changed anything? Probably not, in the same way that putting a band aid over a bullet hole doesn't solve the problem. But enough kind words might just keep the bullet hole from ending up there in the first place.

When the sun rises tomorrow, the tragedy will still have happened, and the grief of those involved every bit as painful as it was today. And there are no words to make any of it go away - if there were, they would have been said a million times over by now. But when the sun rises tomorrow, there will be another chance to be a little bit kinder. Because of the many things there are to be gleaned from something so horrible, one is that it never hurts to be a little bit kinder to people...because you never know when it could make all the difference.