Hi there.
Hope your day was splendid. Hope they all are.
Today I went into my office to see two people I've known for years with substantial skin concerns. The waiting room, which has been bustling for years was still empty.
After seeing my two people in person, I "saw" many others on a screen. "Evisits" they're called. Have you had one ever?
I have to admit, though so many physicians have complained for years about electronic record and how it detracts from the doctor patient relationship, today I was so grateful for it. It was beyond nice to see familiar faces, faces of people I have cared for and cared about for years. It's emotional, to say the least.
I have always been lucky to get to do what I do.
But you can't be in two places at once, so I missed my babies, my own troublesome trucks.
Today Scott was steering the homeschool ship. It's like the opposite of smelling salts. Sobering, maybe. Today was supposed to be his day "off" from work. It just makes me laugh to think about it.
Today they discussed "object permanence" amidst broken dishes.
My middle boy continued to work on writing his book today. It's about a girl who doesn't like school. He writes that she doesn't like anybody. The book has embedded photos and videos and it is super adorable and funny.
He used all of his allowance to buy a camera. He has been saving for a year and now that camera is everywhere in our house, snapping shots for the storyline.
The boys have these sweet SAVE, SPEND, SHARE piggy banks, and he was so proud to fish out his money and hand it over to us to get the camera.
Maybe it's fitting though that the only one I could find tonight was this one...
I got to read some of his book tonight, and It did make me wonder about his motivation for writing about his little antagonist. He talked about her many flaws- how she is grumpy, irascible (my word not his) and generally a sourpuss. But the main character (him) takes a chance on her anyway, and they become friends.
Do you think he wrote that because he is thinking of friends and missing them? I wonder why he made her so sullen. I wonder a lot of things these days.
Anyway, my third boy did some structural design and build stuff and his big brother continued his Kingman Reef project. We have completely stalled on the socks. They had previously been coming along great and then school closed. Any ideas? Maybe I should show you all his mess up and then someone could explain how to fix it? That or I'll be FaceTiming his handwork teacher again.
It's hard because there are so few hours in a day and so many things to do. And this was his birthday week so we are still coming off that high. It helps that we waited to open some presents.
Tomorrow we have some more Zoom meetings but we will for sure find time to get outside, and maybe even a FaceTime playdate. Maybe one day soon it can be at a park!
Today it snowed. I'm ready for the warmth at this point.
Speaking of it, someone asked me if she should take Vitamin D for her eczema. She was wondering whether it would be helpful. In Northern New England so many of us are deficient in D. It's the price we pay to live up here, so close to Santa's workshop and all.
It turns out that low Vitamin D is implicated in so many conditions. The vitamin is not only for the development of our bones though it's an essential worker there.
For a long time doctors didn't know how to answer that question because many of the studies that investigated its use were flawed. But really there is no perfect way to do a study. Even the very best studies have flaws and bias. So do the very best people, in books and in life. But you take a chance sometimes, and if you're lucky, the outcome will be good.
Truth is, there is some evidence for Vitamin D, and she is going to take it. I hope she is better soon. Once more, I hope for a lot of things these days. Starting with splendid days for us all.
xo, Dr. Swae