AA Gifts & Baskets Idea Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Gifts’

Your doctor’s well-baby examination consists of many different parts, each designed to help her find certain information. You may have to watch closely to see her do each part of the exam because she probably has developed her own tricks and techniques. Some doctors like to have the new baby on the examination table; others prefer that the parents hold the baby. Sometimes the doctor will be talking to you while examining your baby.

Here are some of the major areas your doctor will consider and what she looks for in each category:

• General Appearance: cleanliness, nutrition, alertness
• Skin: color, rashes. Bruises, swelling, condition of hair and nails
• Head: Shape, softness of the anterior fontanel [soft spot]
• Eyes: redness, good movement, light reflexes [checked with an instrument called an ophthalmoscope, looking for problems with the retina]
• Ears: irritation or infection of the ear canals or ear drums
• Nose: congestion, discharge
• Mouth: gums, tongue, throat, tonsils
• Neck: swelling of the thyroid or lymph nodes, mobility
• Heart: rate and rhythm, murmurs
• Lungs: breathing rate, abnormal noises, air exchange
• Abdomen: bowel sounds [normal stomach gurglings], enlarged organs or tenderness
• Genitals: In girls-normal appearance of external genitals, redness. In boys-penis [if circumcised, check that it has healed well; if not, check that foreskin is normal], both testicles are in scrotum
• Arms and Legs: normal movement and color, absence of swelling and discoloration
• Pulses: equal femoral pulse [same on both sides]
• Neurologic: tone, muscle movement and coordination, strength

He had been an actor, and an activist, a bus driver, and an ice cream delivery man. When we knew him, he was living alone, and he was dying of cancer. His stories were always fantastic but sooner or later they checked out because it was a small neighborhood and

San Francisco is really a small city and everyone know everyone or at least they know the person who knows the person who knows. His name was Jake and when he was seventeen, he had answered an ad in the newspaper and was hired to perform with a local theater group. He needed a place to stay and someone gave him an address and there, right off of

Los Angeles and crashed on their couch. I didn’t mind at all, he said, and that’s how we met.

Jackson was just a scrawny kid who said he wanted to be a musician, and of course, back then, there, every kid you met said the same thing. They were all going to be musicians, but in his case, he could actually sing. He stopped and put on a record - yes, a record. The needle hissed on the disk, and there was the old familiar popping sounds and then the song started. The high soft voice was instantly recognizable and we listened. It’s about me, said Jake, rather forlornly, about us, and that summer in the house just before

Jackson split to go back south. My wife and I talked about it; about how we were not sure and then how we were certain it was all true. We checked the newspapers and sure enough, he was playing a concert near the city and we bought tickets and surprised him and he was so happy. He packed a small bag with a photo of the three of them together and when we got to the venue, we found a security guard and he asked, politely, if the guard would please pass on the note and the photo and the guard said yes. Mid-way through the show, the lights low and the spotlight on him, he sat down at a small electric keyboard and told a story about his old home; his brief time at a big old Victorian off of Haight that he shared with his sister and a friend. Then he sang the song - about what he called, the fountain of sorrow, the fountain of life. Jake cried, and so did we and the audience, who were just being entertained, clapped. He cried on and off all the way home that night and finally, at the door to his apartment, he thanked us. Walking home, my wife was quiet and then, she said: I don’t know what ripples will come from this, but you’ve done the right thing - giving a gift of time and connection is worth more than every penny we spent on those tickets. I knew she was right.

Someday I will remember the lesson she taught me when I'm needing a kids birthday gift for my own children.