http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/03/h1n1.kids.dangers/index.html

This is another example of emotion taking control of a logical decision. The ER doctors responsible in this case relied on an unreliable test and instead of treating a patient, they processed a number and moved her along the system.

Hayli Murphy showed flu-like symptoms and when she was brought to the hospital, they used a rapid flu test to determine she did not have the flu. Unfortunately, they use a test which is known to have a 50% inaccuracy rate.Technically speaking, guessing or flipping a coin could be as helpful as this test. And they did it twice.

After the misdiagnosis and treatment, her condition rapidly deteriorated and it took another two days before her H1N1 flu was detected. If they had treated her correctly at her first visit, her battle with the swine flu would have been nothing worse than the quick bout with normal seasonal flu - like it is for most patients.

We applaud Hayli's Mom, Julie, for listening to her instincts and telling the doctors what she wanted done. As parents, it is our duty to advocate for our children. Never forget that their care is ultimately and always our responsibility. Find a doctor you trust and work with them to heal your family. It shouldn't be a battle.

Over the last two years, this story has become less and less rare. Men's careers have been much harder hit by the recession than women's. We are laid off more frequently and if we are the sole provider for our families, that leaves us the additional task of continuing to find an income as well as health care benefits for the adults and children.

The economic and political situation is one in which most American companies -large and small- are reducing the size of their work force or just going out of business. The government loves to use the vague and misleading phrase "saved or created" when describing jobs that may or may not actually exist. Men who have been at their jobs for years, if not decades, are forced to look for anything that can pay a wage. Our nation loses a quarter to a half-million jobs per month and that's isn't expected stop any time soon.

So when a Father loses his job, and that job not only provided money, but also benefits to treat his wife's cancer, what is he to do? If you're Bill Caudle, you follow the example of Pauly Shore (well, his movie character) and you enlist in the United States Army.

Read the story of 40-year-old Bill Caudle who recently was sent to baisc training after signing up for a four-year stint in the U.S. Army as a means of providing income and cancer treatment to his wife and family. What do you think of his decision? Did he do the right thing? Go too far? Add your comments below because we'd like to know how other Dads see this.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/64677772.html
(Article sent to us by contributor, Meg Colburn)

This is a great moment between a Father and son. The writer does an excellent job of describing how hard the senior Chamberlain worked for his children and the beautiful moment when a newly crowned champion of baseball cut through the cameras and reporters to hug and cry with his dear old Dad.

Take a moment to feel good, share the happiness between a Father and son, and read this article. (Thanks to Meg Colburn for letting us know about it.)

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/World-Series-moment-Joba-Chamberlain-and-his-da?urn=mlb,200353

According to a new offer from Disney, they will allow anyone who purchased a Baby Einstein DVD between June 5, 2004 and Sept. 4, 2009 a refund of $15.99. But all you parents out there, don't be fooled with the prospect of easy money back. You have to go into a store, look a minimum-wage earning teenage cashier in the eye, admit your child is still stupid and your IQ isn't much higher because you believe everything you read. Now do you still want that $15.99?

At some point we need to reverse the course of our social stupidity and return to a level of intelligence that still incorporates a modicum of common sense. There are competing arguments that Disney did or did not do this as a result of an FTC claim in which it was shown that "screen media" does not educate infants. Are you serious? I thought MTV and Hollywood were responsible for every act of child violence in America. I thought Janet Jackson and Bill Clinton exposed unprepared children to a realm of sex and deviance never before seen in human history. Didn't Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne cause the Columbine school shooting? Oh wait. I suppose not. Screen media doesn't educate infants.

So here's how this scenario plays out... Daddy Dan wants his child to be a genius. He sees a Baby Einstein DVD that makes a marketing claim to educate children. Daddy Dan thinks, "hmmm, must be true. Its in print." He buys the full 26-DVD collection for a billion dollars (Disney isn't known for thrifty prices). A month later, his kids have watched every DVD but haven't quite split the atom or cured prostate cancer. Daddy Dan is furious, throws them (the DVDs, not the kids) into a box, marches back to the Disney Store and says, "I was lied to! I'm still a moron and so are my kids! I want my money back."

Some folks got more money than sense.

Reference article from Brandweek: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/retail-restaurants/e3i5d92320f49c835bcaac95e8f2cb9a156?imw=Y

Though we celebrate our supposed God given right to the pursuit of happiness only the most naive of people do not realize that the pursuit of happiness through divorce leaves a long, long trail of loss to all those involved ... this essay is one such Father's testimony as to what is lost and why.

To begin, the Good Father that you are divorcing will in all likelihood be snatched up post haste by a Good Mother who has either lost her husband to death, abandonment or justifiable divorce by reason of drugs, alcohol or abuse. This Good Father, like all Good Fathers, will continue to be a Good Father, but not just to your children, but to the children of the woman who now claims him as her own. As there is a shortage of Good Fathers you must be wholly aware that by divorcing yours you are giving him to another.

You may well find yourself thinking that you've done a real favor to some other woman and you really have ... but this Good Father is now also the Good Father of her children as well as yours and a Good Grandfather to her children's children. Now you can expect this Good Father to continue to love and sacrifice for your children for as long as he draws breath but you also must accept that you have given your children's father to another set of children who he will also now love and sacrifice for as well.

The good news is that such a good man as this has plenty of love in his heart and a strong enough back to handle the load ... but your children are now sharing the Father that they were never supposed to have to share. Just how this sits with them largely depends on a combination of how giving their hearts are and how confident they are in their Father's love for them. But under the best of circumstances they will eventually be aware, and possibly disappointed and hurt, when they see the love that would have been wholly theirs being shared with others.

The Good Father that you have fired as your husband will be keenly aware of all of this. He will both embrace the chance to be a Good Father to more children than he personally fathered and lament every moment that he senses your children's awareness of their loss of his total love, assets and attention. I personally shed tears for both the joy that comes with the love and admiration of children and grandchildren not my own and the utter sadness and heartbreak I feel when I sense distance between me and my own children because of it.

The worst part of all is that a Good Mother rarely has the same capacity to love other children as much as she loves her own, it is simply against the nature of most women to do so. Because a Good Father ordinarily loves and cherishes his new wife as much as or more than he ever loved his children's mother he winds up weeping alone in his heart every time he feels pulled between his new wife and his own children. Such a man will love all of his children and grandchildren but he will suffer privately because of it.

So, for whatever reason you are considering getting rid of the man who is being a Good Father to your children try hard to see past yourself and your own happiness just long enough to know that though you may find joy in getting rid of him completely you are also likely taking him halfway away from your own children as well. This Good Father to your children is most likely a very Good Man in general ... think twice, think thrice before you give him to someone else through divorce.

Succinctly stated, if your kids think your husband is worth keeping, he probably is ... if you've finally got a Good Man, a Good Father, in your grasp then hang on tight and do your best to love his kids too, it crushes his heart when you don't and emboldens him to love you and your kids even more when you do.

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The Fellowship of the Gitite