Succinct .... made me remember my childhood as a 1971 baby growing up in 70s Athens, Greece, then South London from age 7 onwards and our family doctor ... a big nosed , giant who could rarely meet your eyes, but he knew his craft, he could diagnose accurately, he knew his conditions and diseases well, preferred dismissing everything with a wave of the hand its nothing, it will pass without reaching for the dusty prescription pad unless absolutely necessary and we had tried other ways first .. its only chickenpox, or measles, or mumps etc he would say .... fluids, fever down with wet sponge, keep lights low, a comic and hot chocolate as a treat etc ... this was how it was done, no panic or hospital ER visits because the fever spiked (far less by all accounts) , or the antipyretics werent working that well. The mothers around my friends and mother shared the same experiences and home nursing techniques, no doubt passed on by the matriarchal grandmother at some time past. They managed these common childhood illnesses, they had pox parties for heavens sake. We even ate nasty processed Findus pancakes, and sugar and E number laden everything, orange and yellow colours sending some of us into hyperactive overdrive .... but we didnt have these conditions everywhere ... although asthma had started its sudden increase.... But today its so different in many ways ... conveyor belt patient processing and devolution of empowerment to the professionals abounds and is a cause of great sadness at the loss of gnosis and understanding, history and an alternative reference ... Dimitri. ... Two decades ago most people thought eczema was a type of spread you put on a sandwich. Two decades ago, kids only ate one sandwich (and whatever was on it was not genetically modified). Two decades ago, kids played in dirt (and ate dirt); got common, temporary, childhood illnesses…which helped them meet developmental milestones; ate better food; and breathed cleaner air. They even slept in a bed with bumper pads (confession, my kids do too). Before that, they slept in the same bed with their parents or in dresser drawers. SIDS? Oh, you mean “Shot-Induced Death Syndrome?” Never heard of that either....
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 09:30:57 +0000
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