Nanuq

The first time I saw him was nearly fifteen years ago on Hallowe'en night. Fort Liard's kids were making their rounds on a snowy night, going door-to-door collecting candy. A tiny white pup struggled behind, trying to keep up. Not many days after, the bylaw officer showed up at my house. He knew I was looking for a dog; would I be interested in that same little white ball of fluff?

I was.

It wasn't easy at first. I was up every couple of hours to let him out to pee. His bladder was so tiny. I was exhausted. It got better, of course. Now, fifteen years later, it seems like we've come full circle. He's not the same little white ball of fluff, but he needs to be let out every couple of hours throughout the night. He has difficulty getting up. He spends most of his days sleeping. He can't get up and down stairs anymore. Walks are limited to short, slow strolls to the mailbox. It's a far cry from the adventures we used to have together.

Nanuq was my adventure buddy. We went places together and saw things. We explored. Just him and me, out in the wilderness, sleeping in the alpine or huddled under the trees at night. I had his back and he had mine. I kept him from being swept off by a falcon, and he stood his ground around bears, warned me that I was hot on the trail of a pack of wolves, and kept me from being trampled by bison twice (ignoring that I was only out to give him his evening walk and wouldn't have been in that situation otherwise).

My kids have known him their entire lives. Little do they know that some of my parenting techniques were practiced and refined during Nanuq's puppy-hood. Seeing them suffer with their first big loss is perhaps what makes this as hard as it is.

 Today is Nanuq's last day.

This afternoon, a vet will come and, with Nanuq's family gathered, we'll watch the aches and pains of an aging dog drift away. I'll miss him terribly and while I don't know what happens when a good dog dies, I hope that his spirit gets to go on many more adventures.

 He deserves it.  Good boy.

We were not alone.

We didn't really know how to ask for it, but when Jade was having her seizures and when we were struggling to beat them, we had a lot of help. It came out of the woodwork.  It came from friends, neighbours, medical professionals, acquaintances, strangers, and other parents who were or still are fighting childhood epilepsy.

Even small things were big things for us. And, still, I don't really know how to express my gratitude to all those who helped us - sometimes before we even realized we needed it.  Even when people couldn't help but wanted to, it was amazing just to know that we were not alone.

It was that kind of support that helped us to achieve an outcome like this, which was recently covered by Dave Croft on CBC North.  The article was shared widely, even making it onto the front page of Yahoo.ca.

And it was this coverage that made it even more clear that WE WERE NOT ALONE.

In response to the article, Fawn has been contacted by numerous parents and guardians who are losing their children to epilepsy. There are far too many.

Fawn was also contacted by Jim Abrahams from the Charlie Foundation.  If you're not dealing with childhood epilepsy, you might be familiar with some of Jim's work. If you are dealing with childhood epilepsy and, in particular, the ketogenic diet, you are undoubtedly familiar with some of Jim's work.

Jim has been telling stories of battling and overcoming childhood epilepsy for a while now. If you haven't seen this Golden Globe-nominated movie he directed (starring Meryl Streep), you really should.



Jim closed his message to Fawn with the following:

"Thank you for sharing your story. I can promise that as a result other kids will get better."

He's right.  Sharing our story helped us, too. Sharing our story helped us to realize that we were not alone.

Thanks, Dave Croft, for helping us to tell our story so other kids can get better, too.

The Tooth Fairy Mystery

The moment the 7am alarm went off in my room there was a knock at the door.  It was Jade.

"The Tooth Fairy didn't come and take my tooth."

Ah, yes, Jade's second tooth.  The tooth we thought would never come out.

The big front tooth that crept across her gums until it was parallel with the floor but hung in there for weeks and weeks until it was finally - and painlessly - dislodged by an apple.  

The tooth the Tooth Fairy kept reminding herself that she had to collect when Jade was asleep because she didn't want another close call like last time when the Tooth Fairy remembered the very first tooth just as she was crawling into bed. The tooth that, in spite of the constant self-reminders, the Tooth Fairy completely forgot about when she crawled exhaustedly into bed after a busy evening of cooking and cleaning and packing lunches for summer camp the next morning because she's single-parenting while her wife is singing on tour in places like Yellowknife and Iqaluit and Ottawa.  That tooth.

"That's weird," I said with a genuinely sad and perplexed look on my face. "Are you sure?"

"Well, the tooth is still there," she said.

"Hmm..." I muttered as I walked off down the hall and she went into the bathroom.

It was then that the Tooth Fairy hurriedly snuck outside wearing nothing but her pyjama bottoms to raid the change tray in the truck for a couple of measly quarters and dimes and then raided the change tray in the minivan for quarters and loonies.  The Tooth Fairy felt horrible for the oversight and wanted to do whatever she could to make amends for her failure to do her job properly. Deftly, the Tooth Fairy snuck back down to her room and inserted the mitt-full of coins under the lowest of her two pillows - one layer below the tooth-bearing pillow sandwich - and exited the room, leaving the tooth behind. 

Strolling back down the hall, with Jade still in the bathroom, I asked, "Are you sure the Tooth Fairy didn't leave anything?"

"I don't think so."

"Did you look under both pillows?" I asked.

We walked into her room together and she checked under the first layer.  The tooth was still there, safely tucked into the giant zip-loc bag where she had placed it.  But under the second pillow? An entire three dollars and twenty cents!

"But why didn't the Tooth Fairy take my tooth?"

"I don't know. I guess it's a mystery."

We've been discussing this mystery all day.  It just doesn't make sense.  Why would the Tooth Fairy leave the tooth behind?

Mysteries are good.  I like mysteries.  Jade likes mysteries.  Little sister Halia likes mysteries, too, judging by the number of possible reasons she's concocted for the oversight.  In the end, Jade concluded that there's only one way to find out and that's to demand an explanation from the Tooth Fairy.  Smart kid.  That's why Jade wrote a note this evening asking the Tooth Fairy why she left the money and didn't take the tooth.

And so, the Tooth Fairy began writing this blog entry, which should take just enough time for Jade to fall fast asleep, at which point the Tooth Fairy will replace Jade's note with a note of her own.  The note will probably blame the oversight on the hired help (one just cannot find good substitute fairies these days) and will thank her for keeping the tooth safe until she could come to collect it herself.  She might even let Jade keep the additional dollar and twenty cents for her troubles.

She might do that. Or she might just take the tooth and let the mystery linger...

Kissing Ketosis Goodbye?

Around that time that Jade's seizures were at their worst, I wrote this entry on Finding Strength.  (Go ahead and read it.  This post will be waiting for you when you get back.)

That was a little over five years ago.  Five long years and just a little before we started Jade on the ketogenic diet.  Thank goodness we were able to find the strength to get us through the storms because the good times have arrived!

Long-time readers of Michael's Meanderings will know that we achieved seizure-freedom for Jade a few years ago and last September she had a squeaky-clean EEG.  We owe so much to the ketogenic diet and to the team at BC Children's Hospital who helped us to administer it - but gosh darn it the diet is a pain in the butt (still better than the seizures, though) and after so many years of having to kowtow to the diet's demands, we dreamed of a day when we would be free to prepare a meal without having to weigh every ingredient to the tenth of a gram, or plan our every waking moment around Jade's snacks and meals and supplements.

Well, I am pleased to report that the day has come.  Actually, it has been several weeks now, but it takes a while to do the wean off the diet and I didn't want to jinx anything.  Jade is out of ketosis and appears to be thriving.

Here she is, being allowed to eat as much protein as she wants for the first time in five years.

I'm tickled by how much she enjoys being able to eat new foods and by how much she enjoys eating as much of it as she wants.  She has so much more energy! She's growing (She's very short compared to her classmates: A "side effect" of the diet)!  I'm also tickled that we don't have to use the scale anymore! She can eat when she's hungry and isn't constantly begging for food! We don't have to prepare multiple meals at supper! We don't have to lug her meals around with us or prepare them in advance!  Oh, the freedom!

So much freedom, thats we're going to Disneyland! I kid you not!  While possible on the ketogenic diet, the logistics of traveling from Whitehorse to Disneyland while administering the diet sounded as reasonable as packing the car for a weekend trip to Mars.

Now, we're not out of the woods yet.  Yes, she's off the diet.  Yes, she appears to be doing well, but that doesn't mean there aren't things going on in that noodle of hers that we can't see.  We'll be going back to BC Kids in February for another EEG and, hopefully, everything will look great.  If not, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  For now, we'll revel in the glow of what feels like a fairy tale ending and hope that there's no sequel.

Halia's 10 Helpful Tips for Good Table Etiquette

This evening, we had a discussion on good table manners.  Halia, age 5, had these helpful tips to share:

1. Don't hum.
2. Don't pick your nose.
3. Don't touch your eye.
4. Don't touch your bum or your vulva or your penis.
5. Don't suck on your Kleenex.  Even if it's tasty.  Mine is pretty tasty, actually.
6. Don't stick your fingers in your cup.
7. Don't mix food with your drink.
8. Don't eat the ceiling.
9. Don't eat like {name of friend}. Grabs fork with both hands and begins shovelling food into her mouth.
10. Don't sit in a "W". Kneels and splays both feet out to the side so her legs make a "W" shape.

Should I ever have the opportunity to dine with the Queen, I feel that Halia's advice will serve me well.

She is...

She's stubborn and determined and imaginative and playful and clueless and curious and is always experimenting with the world around her.  She's friendly and helpful and and rambunctious and smart and when she isn't driving me crazy, she makes me laugh my head off.  She has a giggle that pierces the ears and warms the soul.

She's Halia, and today she's five.

Anniversary Math

1 + 1 = 11?

1 person plus 1 person equals 11 happy years, that is! Happy Anniversary to my wonderful wife!

Pictures from my iPod

My iPod went missing a long, long time ago.  I thought I'd lost it in the snow somewhere.  It was eventually discovered under the cushions of our old green couch.

I don't often carry a proper camera with me anymore, so it's nice to have the iPod to take pictures of things that tickle my funny bone or make me go "Hmm...".  Here are a few pictures from my previously-missing iPod that had me doing just that.

Whatever you do, don't pluck it up.

Kids love the the West Edmonton Mall's Fantasyland Hotel, with its fun (and tiny) theme rooms.  That's why its the perfect place to hold a National Child Maltreatment Symposium where they discuss... how to mistreat children?

I took this picture in St. John's, Newfoundland.  I'm certain they're the inspiration for this.

At one time, it was "No Skate Boarding Permitted".  Now?  Go right ahead!

It's "The Trooperdore"!  Canada's Armed Forces calls in this musically-trained soldier with his military-grade guitar when conventional tactics are ineffective.  What is this brave soldier's name?  Is he a corporal? A general?  No.  He's only a private.  World, meet the greatest guitar-wielding soldier of all time: Private Performance.

Believe it or not, this is a picture of a poster hanging in a local high school.  It is a poster about how to survive a zombie apocalypse.  It's nice to know our kids are getting an education that prepares them for the future!

Jade: 5 Years on the Ketogenic Diet

In May of 2008, when she was about 2-and-a-half years old, my eldest daughter, Jade, started having seizures.  About a month later, she was diagnosed with Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy.  Medications didn't stop the seizures and by October she was having hundreds - if not thousands - of seizures every day.  We had to use emergency anti-convulsant medications almost daily.  Our previously-bright and cheerful daughter had become a shell.  We were losing her.

At the end of October, Jade was inducted on the ketogenic diet at BC Children's Hospital.  We noticed an improvement immediately, but her seizures persisted.  The following March, we had to make an emergency trip to Vancouver because she relapsed.  We weaned her off the anti-convulsant medications shortly after that and aggressively increased her fat to protein and carbohydrate ratio until her body couldn't take it any more (twice going to a 5:1 ratio, but on a 4.75:1 ratio most of the time).  

It worked. 

About a year ago, one of the doctors said Jade "had" epilepsy, which is not to be confused with "has" epilepsy.  We were stunned and thrilled and the slow process of reducing the ratio and weaning Jade off the ketogenic diet began.  Of course, reducing the dosage of her "medication" has risks, because it could mean the return of her seizures.

Last August, Jade and I were back at BC Kids for her latest EEG.  It came back squeaky clean.

Jade is now on a 2:1 ratio, which will be reduced again today.  The doctor expects she'll be out of ketosis and off the diet by February.  We're watching her closely, but in my very core I know she'll be OK.

Jade accepts the diet in stride - and even seems to be proud of it - but I'd be lying if I said the diet is easy.  I think it's often made out to be harder than it really is - and it is, truly, a pain in the butt at times - but it saved our daughter.  Jade, who was once reduced to a drooling, twitching shell, with vacant eyes and an uncertain and frightening future, is now a bright, happy, and personable 7-year-old who loves school, drawing, singing, and reading.  She's always got her nose in a book these days.  Her eyes gleam with mischief, adventure, and love.  

And we couldn't be happier.

Previously on Michael's Meanderings…

I didn't quit blogging, but I took a much-needed hiatus. The reasons were numerous and varied, but mainly it just started to become too much like a chore, and I already have enough of those. So, I'm going to start blogging again, here and there, and see what happens.

With Facebook and other social media/micro-blogging options available to people, part of me started wondering if anyone reads blogs anymore. I read a very select few, but don't comment on them like I used to. A couple of comments left here by "Anonymous" has convinced me that someone is reading, so if anyone deserves credit for my return to blogging, it "Anonymous".

Because the hiatus went on for so long, I won't attempt to retroactively cover all the things I've been up to since the hiatus began. I may mention some of things from time-to-time, but to try to recount and write up all of the interesting stuff? Nuh-uh. You'll just have to use your imagination.

I will, at least, do an update on Jade and her ketogenic diet. Coming right up…

Something else to remember.

Four years ago today, I watched a woman catch a baby that was falling from the insides of another woman.

One tends to remember things like that.

Happy birthday, Halia!

Ten.

As of yesterday, Fawn and I have been married for ten years.  A lot has happened since we got married and a lot has changed.  What hasn't changed is that I keep loving her more every day than I did the day before.  What also hasn't changed is that she keeps putting up with me, which might have something to do with the previous non-changing thing that I mentioned.

Happy anniversary, my dear.

Spontaneous Human Combustion and the Whitehorse Ketogenic Connection

There are at least three kids in Whitehorse using the ketogenic diet to control intractable epilepsy.  One of them is mine.

Because Jade has been on the diet for almost four years now (during which time we have successfully managed to eliminate her seizures. YAY!), I haven't done much research on the diet as of late.  It's old hat.  Recently, however, someone posted an article from NewScientist about a researcher who theorized (and tested) that spontaneous human combustion is caused by a dangerous build-up of acetone in the body - Acetone produced through ketosis.  (Go ahead and watch the video.  It's two-and-a-half minutes long.  If you want a longer one, here's the full hour-long video on youtube.)

After reading the article I thought, Good heavens!  Is my child at risk of spontaneous combustion?

While she was, for a time, on a remarkable 5:1 ratio (the diet is normally administered at a 3.5:1 or 4:1 ratio), and the ketone bodies could be clearly smelled on her breath, and the ratio was so high it was negatively-affecting her other organs, she never burst into flames - thank goodness.  She is now on a 4:1 ratio and we're hoping that, after her next appointment at BC Children's Hospital, she'll be reduced to a 3.5:1 ratio.  The good news is that people who have spontaneously combusted were incredibly ill and possibly in a deep, deep state of ketoacidosis, therefore, the likelihood of my daughter spontaneously combusting is, fortunately, unlikely. Not good news those poor, sick people combusted, of course, but good news that Jade is unlikely to combust spontaneously.

But it did get me on wikipedia looking up ketosis.  Until now, I'd only bothered looking up "ketogenic diet".  It turns out that there's some controversy around being in ketosis and what's preferred by the human body: burning carbohydrates (glucose) or burning fats.

Here's an except from the ketosis controversy section on Wikipedia:

Some clinicians regard restricting a diet from all carbohydrates as unhealthy and dangerous. However, it isn't necessary to completely eliminate all carbohydrates from the diet in order to achieve a state of ketosis. Other clinicians regard ketosis as a safe biochemical process that occurs during the fat-burning state. [...]  The anti-ketosis conclusions have been challenged by a number of doctors and advocates of low-carbohydrate diets, who dispute assertions that the body has a preference for glucose and that there are dangers associated with ketosis.

Now, that's not a huge surprise to me.  In our increasingly polarized diet world, I see people taking positions on "carbs good/fats bad"and "fats good/carbs bad" all the time. What did surprise me was the attention that the Wikipedia article gave to Arctic explorers and "hunter-gatherer" societies.

Because of the experience of Arctic explorers like Vilhjalmur Stefansson who adopted native Inuit diets which derived as much as 90% of energy from fats and proteins, many have held up the Inuit people as an example of a culture that has lived for thousands of years on a ketogenic diet. Conversely, it is speculated by Nick Lane that the Inuit may have a genetic predisposition allowing them to eat a ketogenic diet and remain healthy. According to this view, such an evolutionary adaptation would have been caused by environmental stresses. This speculation is unsupported, however, in light of the many arctic explorers including John Rae, Fridtjof Nansen, and Frederick Schwatka all of whom adapted to native ketogenic diets with no adverse effects. Note especially Schwatka, who specifically commented that after a 2- to 3-week period of adaptation to the ketogenic diet of the native peoples he could manage "prolonged sledge journeys, "including the longest sledge journey on record, relying solely on the Inuit diet without difficulty. Furthermore, in a comprehensive review of the anthropological and nutritional evidence collected on 229 hunter-gatherer societies it was found that, "Most (73%) of the worldwide hunter-gatherer societies derived >50% (≥56–65% of energy) of their subsistence from animal foods, whereas only 14% of these societies derived >50% (≥56–65% of energy) of their subsistence from gathered plant foods," suggesting that the ability to thrive on ketogenic diets is widespread and not limited to any particular genetic predisposition. While it is believed that carbohydrate intake after exercise is the most effective way of replacing depleted glycogen stores, studies have shown that, after a period of 2–4 weeks of adaptation, physical endurance (as opposed to physical intensity) is unaffected by ketosis, as long as the diet contains high amounts of fat. It seems appropriate that some clinicians have acknowledged this period of keto-adaptation the "Schwatka Imperative" after the explorer who first identified the transition period from glucose-adaptation to keto-adaptation.

Wow.  This Schwatka guy had a lot to say about being in ketosis, eh? He even has a period of keto-adaptation named after him!

Wait a minute... Schwatka... Schwatka... that names sounds familiar...

In Whitehorse, we have a small lake called Schwatka Lake.  There's even a tour boat called the MV Schwatka that starts and ends on the lake and travels through scenic Miles Canyon.

Picture of the MV Schwatka in Miles Canyon, lifted without asking for the kind permission of  visitwhitehorse.com

Schwatka Lake was named after Frederick Schwatka, a US Army Leutenant sent to assess the military strength of the native peoples along the Yukon River in 1883.  Along the way, he named just about everything he saw - ignoring, of course, that everything along the way already had a name.  (What's up with that?) Many of the Yukon's most distinguished landmarks bear Schwatka's names today, including Miles Canyon (pictured above).

If you're interested in learning more about Schwatka, here's an article by ever-impressive local historian, Michael Gates.

So the whole point of the blog entry is that I thought it was neat that there's an historic Whitehorse connection to the ketogenic diet that I never knew existed before.  Perhaps you don't think it's as interesting as I, and if you made it this far into the entry, than I apologize and only hope that you thought the spontaneous human combustion part was interesting because, seriously, people just... catching fire all of a sudden?  Wow.  Crazy.  But true.

Seoul-Incheon Airport: Best Airport in the World?

Seoul-Incheon airport is the very best I've ever been to. It has free massage chairs, free showers, a cultural museum display, free places you can actually sleep, free, decent Internet, and much, much more.

 One of the things I think they're doing totally right is their hands-on cultural showcase.  There, you can listen to live, traditional Korean music, try your hand a print making and crafts, learn about Korean history and culture, and browse and purchase exquisite Korean-made items.

Here's Fawn making a print of the Korean alphabet.  The 9-hour layover went by in no time!



Korea was just a stop-over for us, but I'm inspired to go back.  Excellent job, Incheon International Airport!

Phuket Wedding

Well, Phuket is certainly a beautiful place to have a wedding...


... but it's quite hot, as the official wedding photographer can attest.


As can the best man wearing a wool suit.  What was he thinking?  Here he is teaching the wedding planner how to tie a slip knot to secure the rings while making them easy for the bride and groom to remove.


This is where the wedding took place, in the full glory of the mid-afternoon sun.


Speaking of hot...

Love must be fostered with soft words...

... and dead fish.

Who designs this stuff?

Dunkin', Dunkin', Everywhere a Dunkin'

Remember when I went to Russia?  I was so pleased that I was able to read the Dunkin' Donuts sign.

Beyond the obvious part that says "Dunkin' Donuts", I have no idea what these Dunkin' Donuts signs at the Phuket airport say.  I don't know how to pronounce any of the Thai letters and, as hard as I tried to decode any sign that I saw in Thailand, I was never successful at figuring out what sound any of the letters made.



A strange and mysterious language!

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na...

...ARTMAN!



Can you believe this stuff if for sale?  Who in their right mind would want to part with it?!  I would totally keep a giant, metal, long-torsoed, short-legged, Horus guard in my living room.  Right beside my giant meat dress.

Check out the window in the last picture.  The mannequins are so awe-struck by the metal art that they've stripped down to their underwear!

Phruit in Phuket

If I had taken pictures of all of the fruit in Phuket, I'd... have a lot of pictures.

This freakish looking fruit is a mangosteen, which grows on a tropical evergreen tree - and I could eat them alllllll day.  Delicious.  (You eat the white part, not the dark exterior part.)


Bananas!

A baby banana!  Now with 100% of the flavour and 80% less packaging!



This is Durian.  Very frightened durian.

"Please don't eat me!"

There were carts all over the place selling durian.  It is a very pungent fruit.  So pungent, in fact, that you're not allowed to bring them onto the plane with you.  So pungent that when I stuck my head in a vehicle that had a durian sealed in a plastic bag in it, I wondered what had died in the vehicle.  In spite of the smell, they're delicious and, when dried, make very tasty (and less smelly) durian chips.

Ladies and Gents!

Sometimes the washroom signs didn't have the words.  It nearly got me into trouble once.