There are many things in my practice which I prefer to leave to experts, and it isn’t just brain surgery. Psychological and behavioral issues are complex enough to need not one but many specialties in medicine: psychology, psychiatry, behavioral and developmental pediatrics, neuropsychology — and, being a general pediatrician, I try stick to what I know.
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words; a moving picture, then , is at least ten thousand. Not being the fastest typist, I combed the cyberspace for the finest pre-recorded answers to common questions regarding teenagers, their care and feeding, and how to survive what seems like the longest years of their — and your — lives. A sense of humor is essential in dealing with teens; the answers are meant to stimulate this, rather than being taken literally. For technical reasons the videos are embedded as comments. Enjoy!
Yes, that’s right, kennel cough. Yes, I know that’s what puppies get when you lock them up all day in overcrowded conditions with many of them sick to begin with. So what does this have to do with pediatrics? I am glad you asked.
Let’s get one thing straight:
All flu is bird flu. Practically all new strains of influenza originate in China because that’s where the two species that get flu the most — pigs and ducks — live by the millions in close proximity. Every time a duck gets the flu from a pig, or pig from a duck, the flu virus changes slightly; and when one of these infects a farm worker, the new strain crosses over into the human population. It is by monitoring influenza emergence in China that each year’s flu vaccine is prepared. So far, over the last 30 years or so, predictions have been very accurate, with only one recent strain mutating somewhat on the way to the US — with the vaccine retaining partial efficacy. Still, of those not getting the vaccine, tens of thousands still die each year from complications of influenza.
I loved “Welcome back, Kotter.” It was a show about Brooklyn public school kids that ran when I was a Brooklyn public school kid, it was populated with what I later realized were Jungian archetypes of Brooklyn high school kids (and teachers), and some of its best characters were people you never saw onscreen.
Like Epstein’s mother.