Does your child have bouts of wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath? Have you talked to your child’s doctor about these symptoms? Could your child have asthma? While these are some of the symptoms of asthma, your doctor may want to perform other tests to confirm the diagnosis. One of the tests that your doctor may recommend is a lung function or breathing test. This may be able to rule out other causes of these same symptoms. Sometimes doctors try prescribing asthma medication for your child to see if it reduces or eliminates the symptoms. If the medication works... more

Are you considering adopting a premature infant? Women having a normal pregnancy can delivery prematurely; but some types of drug abuse commonly cause premature birth. A new study indicates that the side effects of premature birth last long after a baby leaves the neonatal intensive care unit. Other studies have focused on the immediate risks of premature birth where this study focused on adult life of premature children. Premature birth is defined as delivery that occurs before 38 weeks of gestation. In... more

Would you be surprised to learn that one out of every 278 children have Cerebral Palsy (CP)? CP is the most common cause of childhood motor disabilities. CP rates are higher among boys, black Americans, and low to middle-income families. The study looked at eight-year-old children in 2002 in three different states in the U.S. A problem in the brain causes CP. This problem affects children’s ability to control their muscles. The part of the body affected depends on where the problems are in the brain. While genetic conditions may cause cerebral palsy it can also... more

A few weeks ago, I took my eight-year-old child to the doctor for croup. The doctor noticed that he was also wheezing. Our son had infantile asthma when we adopted him and occasionally has still has episodes of wheezing. We have a nebulizer at home for treatments and I used to take it with us if he was having a day of difficult breathing. I asked the doctor if my adopted child was old enough for an asthma inhaler. I explained my concern about not having an emergency treatment with us during hockey or soccer games. The doctor assured me that he was old enough and agreed... more

There are certain gene mutations that predispose a person to cancer. Through the miracle of modern medicine, genetic testing is available to identify gene mutations that may lead to cancer. A person armed with information about being predisposed to developing cancer can take preventative measures in some cases to prevent its development. If you have an adopted child without much medical history, then genetic testing may help answer some of your questions. For example, women with a harmful mutation in the BRCA1... more

Several years ago, before we matched with Amigrace’s birthmother, we tried to adopt a new born with Cystic fibrosis. We did quite a bit of research on this life threatening disorder and even found out where our local support groups met. We understood that the disease causes severe lung damage and nutritional deficiencies but we were committed. Therefore, we were quite disappointed when another family was chosen to adopt the baby girl. However, God had another plan for us so that one wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes that is hard... more

Today’s children who are becoming teenagers are using inhalants more often than marijuana or prescription drugs. A new government report shows that inhaling common household products is the preferred way to get high for those becoming teenagers. According to health officials, household products like shoe polish, glue, aerosol air fresheners, hair sprays, nail polish, paint solvents, degreasers, gasoline, and lighter fluid are all possibilities for getting high. The results of the study were presented on Thursday at the National Press club in Washington, D.C. The National... more

Sexually transmitted diseases are in the news again shocking people with their skyrocketing numbers. A new government study suggests that over three million teenaged girls have at least one sexually transmitted disease (STD.) They say that boils down to one out of every four teenage girls having an STD. There is worse news yet if you look inside of those averages. Nearly half of all African American teenage girls have an STD compared to about 20 percent of Caucasian teenage girls. Then when we look at statistics for the sexual... more

A recent example involved treatment with a new cutting-edge drug for brain cancer. This promising treatment for medulloblastoma brain tumors short-circuits tumor growth at a molecular level. The drug, HhAntag, is a signal transduction inhibitor (STI) which has been successful in treating about one-third of brain cancers in adults with non-toxic safe results. HhAntag targets the so-called "hedgehog" pathway and shuts down a signaling mechanism critical to the proliferation... more

In December 2001, we spent a week in Utah for a neurofeedback intensive with attachment therapist Larry VanBloem. During that week, Super Dad and I received training in how to operate the neurofeedback equipment we would be leasing for the next year (or more) and using at home.

Neurofeedback is like brain “training”, much like having a personal trainer for fitness. It literally trains your brain to hold the brain waves to a more “normal” range.

The first, and by far the most amazing, result LuLu had from neurofeedback was her ability to sleep. At this point LuLu had been home with us 3 ½ years. Her nightly sleeping patterns were to sleep about 3-4 hours (awakening at... more