I got into nursing school!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got into nursing school. I got into nursing school!!!!! i got into nursing school!!!!!!

Do you think they read my ode to a Neutrophil and that tipped the scales in my favor?????

I got into nursing school!!!!!!

I feel like I did as a high school senior the first time I was accepted to college! Only that time I wasn't the one worrying about how to pay for it. No worries tonight though because I GOT IN!!!

More on neutrophils

Hey you're my captive audience. I love this stuff and I have to choose very carefully how much of this stuff I make my family listen to. Now, i have my outlet. How cool is that!

So here goes, your lesson on neutrophils in breastmilk...

So colostrum resembles pus because it has sooooooo many neutrophils. Under any other circumstances that number of neutrophils would cause acute inflammation redness, swelling, pain etc. Now some newly lactating moms feel that but it isn't the kind of response we would expect with that number of neutrophils. Not only that, that many active neutrophils dumped into the baby's gut should just about liquefy the lining of the baby's intestines. Obviously that would be a very very bad thing! So what's going on? Well, it turns out that those neutrophils are turned off my a very specific protein that is also in breastmilk. They don't work at all! not only that the protein that turns them off also turns off any neutrophils it comes into contact with effectively turning the volume way way down on that baby's inflammatory response to immune challenges. Normally inflammation is what makes us feel sick. It is the beginning of the healing process. And it is important for the healing process. Turning off the inflammatory response is what steroids do for people with autoimmune disorders. Which also leaves them more vulnerable to infections. (Just listen to the remicade commercials "This drug make make you more vulnerable to tuberculosis!" Let me run out and buy that one.)
But in a baby the turned down inflammatory response combined with the immunity protection of a while nother system in breastmilk means, get this, it's so cool, that babies can be exposed to some nasty germs, generate an immune response, acquire some level of immunity for a lifetime, WITHOUT EVER FEELING SICK!!!!!!! One study done in Mexico found the shigella bacteria in the diapers of breastfed babies who were just as happy as could be. Shigella is a bit like e. Coli, makes you very very sick and is life-threatening for most infants. A baby with shigella in it's diapers should be so really really sick but these babies weren't. So breastfed babies have this window when their immune systems seem to be open to challenge without the baby actually getting sick from it. That is really really amazing!

So now are you just thrilled with your baby's breakfast, neutrophils and all!

Rat Enemas and Neutrophils

First an update on Beans: He's still obsessed with food. Oh Well. James says that is to be expected. "I mean, you took away his ability to think about girls, what else is a guy going to think about?" The man has a point!

I was listnening to this La Leche League podcast while i was running yesterday by a guy named Stephen Buescher , MD. He's a pediatric infectious disease expert and was lecturing about the anti-inflammatory characteristics of human milk. It was a fascinating topic and he was a super speaker. But a couple quote just have to be shared...

"If you need help giving a rat an nema, I'm your guy!"
(He was doing this experiement where he induced inflammation in rats with vinegar nemas then measured the reduction of inflamation with various diet therapies. Rats fed human milk significantly reduced their inflammation compared to those fed formula, and rat chow.)

"If you're a strep pneumo you DO NOT want to meet an angry neutrophil."
(Strep pneumo is a bacteria that causes pneumonia. Neutrophils are cool little white blood cells that will kill it in a variety of ways. Neutrophils also induce inflammation which leads to our next quote....)

If you are nursing your newborn go no further just leave now and come back in a couple weeks...


On colostrum...."Any other body fluid with that concentration of neutrophils would be called PUS."

The cell in the middle is a neutrophil! Pretty, huh?



Enjoy your breakfast!

The surgery didn't work

Oh Beans is a Eunuch alright. Or as the Vet tech said, "Beans lost his beans today." BUT the first thing that cat did when I let him out of the cat cage when we got home, still drunk on anesthesia, is wobble his way to his food bowl and MEOW loudly for it to be filled.

Oh well, fact is he fits in well around here. We all get a little cranky when food is delayed!

Two wonderful things happened today!

First, Harold the yard guy came and mowed the grass. The backyard was a mess!!!!!! It looked like a jungle. And the neighbor's behind us said they saw a snake go into our yard on Sunday. Now they said they think it wa a Copperhead but in my experience EVERYONE who see's a snake thinks they have seen a poisonous snake. But still, snake or no snake, the yard needed to be cut soooooooo bad. I got one of the over gown flower beds cleaned out before he came so he mowed over all the weeds i pulled. This means i didn't have to bag them up so that's a good thing!!!

The other wonderful thing is that Beans the Tomcat got the little snip snip this morning and is now Beans the Eunuch! If that will make him quit being so hyper about his food bowl being empty it will be worth every penny fo the $85. I swear he thinks he is going to starve to death if his bowl is empty for more than 90 seconds. He cries and rubs on my legs until I step on his tail then he hisses and spits at me. He's a NUT! I seriously think he's related to GARFIELD.

Hacking Magan's blog (by Bean's the Cat)

Someone has to help me. I'm on Magan's computer while she's not looking. (I regularly mess her up while she's trying to do stuff by walking on the keyboard, heheheheh). I have a sneaking suspicion that something terrible is going to happen to me today. They didn't let me eat or drink anything all night! That in itself was TERRIBLE. I DO NOT like being without food. Magan knows I don't like being without food. She's always hollering, "Someone feed this insane cat before he STARVES to death." I personally think one should not have to wait more than 90 seconds for the bowl to refill with food. But I digress....

They also have the cat cage out. Nothing good happens when the cat cage is out. NOTHING! It usually means I'm going to a ride in the car and that is PURE torture. James has been giving me these weird looks like he's scared for me or something. Yesterday, when I was in his lap he said, "I'm sorry buddy but it has to be done. It's been nice having another guy in the house."

If anyone in cyber space gets this and can rescue me before I go for the ride in the cat carrier I'd be grateful....I just have a very very bad feeling about my day!!!!!!

How my mind works

So hears a little peek at how my mind works.

Today Natalie and I went to get my Easter outfit shortened (see the last post!) and when we walked back to the car there was an identical minivan parked next to mine. At first I thought the woman was somehow closing my door but then realized same style different van. As i walked around to my side of the car I noticed that her driver's side back door was open and there was an infant car seat in the back. I also noticed that I could only see the baby's feet and a bit of her profile. Assumed the baby was pretty young, under 3 months.

Then as I pulled away I glanced into the other van and saw the mother holding a large brown bottle in her hands that had four letters on it that I could see "REEK".

And at that I knew everything about her...

She's a new mom and is having milk supply problems. Her baby is about 8 weeks old and just went to her eight week check up and the pediatrician said, "Not gaining!" Or the baby is about 4 months old and she's been back to work for a month and can't keep up with the baby while she's pumping. So here she is at GNC getting a bottle of Fenugreek to try and up her milk supply.

And she doesn't even know that she was parked next to a lactation consultant...

Things to do on Tuesday

1. Grocery Game - Haven't done it for a couple weeks, the cupboards are rather bare.
Went to Kroger, spent $97 which represented a 53% savings. Thank you very much!
2. Hit Wal-Mart for the other stuff that wasn't on GG this week.
Got what I needed while talking to my mom. Grocery shopping and talking on the phone are two things I just can't do at the same time. I went round and round in circles trying to read my list and pay attention to my mom. I know better. On a good note, I couldn't stand the idea of standing in line so I did self check out with 31 items AND I didn't screw up the computer even once. For Sharpie lovers, just a note of caution, if you go thru the self check out you'll get flagged to be carded!!!!!
3. Finish watching House: Maybe the 12 year old diver blew out her cribiform plate on a dive and some of the nasty bacteria from her nasal pharynx got into her brain? Hmmmmm
Nope! She's, get this, pregnant! And suffering from some complication I've never heard of. Have to look that up!
4. Get Easter Suit shortened. Maybe after I pick up Natalie. Bought shoes to go with it yesterday. They are cute and were cheap but I'm thinking they are going to be rather uncomfortable. As a short person I just can't pass up high heels. As I get less tolerant of discomfort (gasp - does that mean I'm getting OLD!), I hesitate more before buying the, Imagine me trying on various silver high healed sandals after slipping off my pink and green CROCS flip flops, ultra chic vs ultra comfy.
5. Pick up E and A and Isabella at school. Means I have to figure out a good snack for them. Maybe pretzels, apples and some cheese cubes.


That's enough for now!

Currently watching House!

I love this show!!!!!! House is such an A$$ but, oh heavens, it totally hits my biology buttons! That Anatomy and Physiology class and Microbiology class, I actually get to put them to use watching this show. They throw around phrases like "Elevated Neutrophils" and I think "IT'S A PARASITE!!!!!" and the patient had a tape worm, thank you very much!!!

So why do I care about all this stuff?

Well, I'm currently trying to get into nursing school and have taken a couple biology classes as prereqs for that. I was expecting to persevere through A&P and micro and found out that I LOVE IT!!!!!! I loved physiology especially. Learning how the body works and why it works the way it does is fascinating to me. And I have made more than a few friends and family members sit through and impromptu lecture about why something aches or pains and how very interesting that is. Most of the time they humor me because I have some really kind friends and family but I don't think they think it is as interesting as I do!

So here I am watching my fav show, House....And loving every lumbar puncture!!!!!

All I wanted was to sign Teri's blog comments

I have been sucked into blog world! HELP!!!!!!

All I wanted to do was comment on Teri's blog and suddenly I have a blog of my own. How did this happen??????????

Shouldn't a blog come about as a result of serious thought about what interesting, funny and profound things I have to share with the world? Not as a result of a cyber-mistake?

Well, maybe it is better this way. No pressure and all....

Oh and Teri, you can use the ham bone to make a killer ham and bean soup!