Lousy blogger that I am, I forgot the update to the Protect Medical Research campaign.
Fortunately for me, most of those minutes were in the presence of Andrea, a mum I often see around the area. We agreed that this had moved out of reasonable behaviour and called 000. Just as the police were dispatched, the mum turned up, was fairly uncooperative about the 000 operator's request that we check the baby was ok (fortunately bub wiggled for the first time just then), and rapidly drove off in tears.
It was an odd situation that I hadn't been in before- calling 000 is definitely an unfavourable judgement on someone else's parenting decision. I was really grateful that Andrea turned up when she did- I was never going to leave the baby alone, but knowing the point at which I could say "there is no reasonable explanation for this" was definitely a 'problem shared is a problem halved' situation.
Part of Maxabella's Grateful linky.
Image: ALEF.net
I heard a rumour this week that the Federal Government is planning to cut medical research funding in the May federal budget, as part of the broader savings agenda needed to pay for flood rebuilding and other spending commitments like the NBN. While I have no problem with paying for these important projects, I do have a BIG problem with the apparent presumption that Australia can afford to cut medical research funding. Facebook and Twitter campaigns have already started to spread the word about why medical research needs ongoing funding- and as of Sunday there is a website! Things are moving quickly!! I thought it was worth using this week's Maxabella-inspired Grateful Post to say why I'm grateful for medical research:
Born in 2008, saved in 1928. 100 years ago I don't know if Little Bro or I would still be around. When I was 37 weeks pregnant I had bacterial pneumonia and spend a few nights in hospital being pumped full of penicillin and other antibiotics. If it hadn't been for medical researchers who developed penicillin as an antibiotic, including the Australian Howard Florey , who knows how Little Bro and I would have fared. There's so much that we take for granted in our lives- immunizations, lying babies on their backs to reduce SIDS deaths, cardiac pacemakers, humidicribs, taking folate while pregnant, IVF- which are the result of medical research.
2. Medical research is good for the economy.
I'm not an economist, but those in the know (like Access Economics) say that for every $1 that the government puts into medical research, $1.17 is returned to the economy. Medical research improves the health of the country, reduces medicare costs and decreases hospital stays.
Medical research is the best investment in your life.
Are you grateful for medical research?
Disclaimer: my entire career has been paid for one way or another in large part by the Australian and US research budgets. But I'm grateful. Very grateful.
PS. And I'm top of Maxabella's linky list!! Howzat?!
PPS on Saturday. Thanks for your supportive comments. The Discoveries Need Dollars Facebook page has just posted a touching story about Ava, a little girl given the gift of hearing with the Australian-invented Bionic Ear.
- happy beginnings. Not coincidentally, my end of old job coincided with Big Bro starting at "Big Boy Kinder". He had been looking forward to it since the open day last August, when he discovered they provided scissors for the pupils' use (big plus point for Big Bro). I had been looking forward to it for, oh, almost two years when I visited it and decided it was THE kinder for us. (Because, y'know, attend the wrong kinder and your life goes down the toilet... Not). So I was very grateful for Big Bro having a happy- if tiring- first day.
- oldie-but-goodie recipes. We ended up hosting two lunches last weekend so I happily applied myself to the oven, stovetop and drinks cabinet. I'd forgotten how much of a doddle pavlova is, and also got round to making a Pimms cocktail, which went down very easily in 38 degree weather (fortunately I realised this would happen and went half strength). Good food, good company: it's the Good Life :)
- time to cross some items off the never-ending list. I'm currently in-between jobs (!) and discovering that even without children there are only so many things you can fit into the day. And the internet hasn't been one of them- I've barely been home! It's nice to feel productive, but at this rate I'll need a holiday from my not-quite-holiday!
With mention of deaths of friends and husbands in the blogosphere, and the shock of the Queensland floods, by Thursday I was definitely feeling grateful for the basics- a dry house and a loving and healthy circle of family and friends. On Friday I was grateful that the two personal stories of the Brishbane floods that I had been following ended- in both cases- about 2cm on the side of relief. One of the stories was via The House That A-M Built- I felt terrible on Friday to be checking a blog that is supposed to be about building beautiful homes, expecting mention of the destruction of a home. It was a little ray of sunshine through a dark cloud to read about a near miss.
I'm also grateful for 24 Hour Viruses- not that seeing your child go from healthy to listless and a 40 degree fever in 2 hours is anything good, but to see him pull out as suddenly the next day is something to be grateful for. I just don't know how parents of chronically ill children cope.
Coming up next week (whether I blog about them or not is another matter): the end if a career-era and a childcare era, the attack if the mystery seeds, how rockets make fire, and perhaps even a ripe tomato. And Lego Brickventures- bring it on!!
This week's Maxabella-inspired Grateful Post, and it starts with an Maxabella-inspired phenomenon: I'm grateful for new followers after this lovely plug from the lovely Maxabella. Hello to all of you- it was a thrill to suddenly see my followers number jump, and enough to jolt me out of my summer torpor!No surprises here, but I'm grateful for the kindness of family who've opened their houses, curried 4 kilos of prawns, served awesome homemade mustard, given the boys (and us) lovely presents (who've thought a toy checkout could bring so many hours of entertainment?), passed on outgrown books, and done all those family things that make Christmas special. And let us do a load of washing here and there, while we wait till January for a repair to ours!
And roses- surely the most forgiving of flowers? I finally got onto my Project to deadhead them, but if I hadn't then, sure, they'd have looked a bit scrappy, but come back good as new whenever I remembered to provide a bit of lovin'.
And I'm grateful for kind neighbours who, for the umpteenth time, have dropped by to let us know that our car battery is being drained by a light somewhere.
And I'm grateful for a bit of a rest from blogging- somehow when the pressure's off the juices start to flow.
And refreshed!
And very overdue with APrADa posts!! It's still happening!!
2. The Wiggles- not only did they get my kids ready in record time last Saturday, they put on a fab concert! For performers who must sing Hot Potato more than 365 times a year, they put on a good show of still enjoying it! Three little boys and two mums had an awesome hour of bopping, twinkling and the rest.
3. Santa- ok, I'm a bad mum, but the Santa-is-watching threat has been used this week. I even taught Big Bro Santa Claus is coming to town so he could hear for himself "he sees you when you're sleeping/he knows when you're awake/he knows if you've been bad or good". And there's nothing like a reminder that Santa likes helpers to get some focus in a four year old. Am I bad or bad? ;-)
I'm back! The double-header party last week left me without the energy for a Maxabella-inspired Grateful Post, but believe me that I was grateful for lovely people- minor and major- who helped the party run smoothly. Aren't friends great? 
Another week gone (and phew! What a week!) and time for another Maxabella-inspired grateful post. And this week I have a heap to be grateful for, much coming under the heading of
Jean grew up in Hobart, trained as a journalist, and was employed for a period within the University of Tasmania. With no formal scientific training she recognized that there were families in Tasmania that were prone to leukemia and with little support from the scientific community she took it upon herself to trace the family trees of these families for over 30 years- all on an unpaid basis- believing that one day the data she had collected would enable the discovery of the genetic causes of leukemia susceptibility.
Only recently, scientific technology has advanced enough to allow scientists to start using the data that Jean collected to start to discover new leukemia susceptibility genes. Jean was also passionate about the Tasmanian community and environment, and- even as an 80 year old grandmother- was a an unlikely campaigner for the Tasmanian Greens party and other environmental, heritage and community causes in Hobart. Her commitment to these causes was recognised by awards including a Medal of the Order of Australia, and Hobart Senior Citizen of the Year.
I knew Jean through my mother, who had worked with her occasionally and had formed a long friendship. I remember coming along to Jean's house as a child, and listening in on conversations, often about Jean's excitement at having scoured the newspapers and connecting two leukemia-prone families (the larger the family, the easier it is to find the leukemia-susceptibility genes) and her modesty about winning prizes- I recall one in the late 80s or early 90s, when few people would think about recycling, Jean won a prize for her strategy of covering cardboard boxes with used wrapping paper to make blocks for her grandchildren.
I also have a vivid recollection of another occasion when I went to my mother's office and the talk was all indignity about how a thoughtless researcher had been allocated an office that Jean had used while it was vacant. He had found boxes of records related to her research- irreplaceable medical records and notes collated over years- and had sent them for disposal. At the time that I walked in, Jean had driven up to Hobart Tip in the hope of locating the papers.
This incident was a perfect illustration of two sides of Jean- the dismissive contempt with which too many in the research community treated her because she was not a traditionally trained researcher, and the data she was fervently collecting were not immediately yielding results (because the requisite technology was not powerful enough), but more impressively, the dedication that Jean showed to her voluntary cause- at this stage she would have easily been in her 60s, yet believed in the importance of her work so much that she would dig through the tip rubbish to salvage the data. I didn't know so much about Jean's involvement in the Tasmanian Greens, and the Hobart Community Centre, but I have no doubt she showed the same zeal and vigour in every cause she believed in.
As a person, Jean was intelligent, modest and thoughtful. I saw her several times on visits to Hobart, because she had heard I would be around and mentioned that if we had any time would we like to drop by. When my mother told me of her death, she added that she had been her usual active self up until then. A notice from her school- another community she actively supported- sums up what I want to say about Jean:
Jean's untiring, active commitment to the Tasmanian community, the environment and her School made a difference and will remain an inspiration and example for girls who follow her.
Rest in peace, Jean. You made many differences.
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