I think this important!

I received the following information from a work email. I thought it important to share!

Some knew about the red light on cars, but not the 112.

It was about 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her
and put his lights on. Lauren's parents have always told her never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road,
but rather to wait until they get to a gas station, etc.

Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called 112 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to
tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her. The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she was and there weren't, and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back up already on the way.

Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground. The man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes.

I never knew about the 112 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a safe place. *Speaking to a service representative at Bell Mobility confirmed that 112 was a direct link to State trooper info. So, now it's your turn to let your friends know about 112.

You may want to Send this to every woman (and man) you know; it may save a life. This applies to ALL 50 states

1. snopes.com: Cellphone 112 Emergency ��
Will dialing 112 connect you with an emergency call center when your cell phone has no signal?
...Claim: Even when your cell phone signal is blocked, dialing 112 will connect you with an emergency call center. Example: [Collected on the Internet,...
...your mobile phone has no signal (so even if you were in a tunnel) if you dial 112 it diverts to a satellite signal and puts you through to the 999 call...
...The global mobile emergency number, 112, is "special" in the sense that (unlike other local emergency numbers, such as 999) it will use any tower your...
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:18:08 GMT http://www.snopes.com/science/mobile.asp

Not Just Diaper Rash

In February of this year, my little boy, B (then 2 1/2 years old) got sick.  It resulted in him getting constipated, which caused him to start holding in his bowel movements.

In June, he was still holding in his bowel movements.  It had caused his poop to become extremely hard, and B would scream, cry, and thrash when he felt the urge to poop.  This had been going on for four months, and no amount of prune juice or other home remedies for constipation were working.  We brought it up with our son's pediatric gastroenterologist.  She prescribed a "clean-out" for our little boy, which consisted of one pedialax tablet followed by five doses of miralax finished off with another pedialax tablet.  Needless to say, B was "cleaned out".  For awhile, anyway.  We were told that "curing" constipation of this degree could take up to 1 year to alleviate, sometimes even longer (yay?).  We needed to get to the point where B didn't hold in his poops.

Let me include that during this time, B would have bouts of a TERRIBLE diaper rash - in a matter of one day, he would be sore, cracked, and bleeding on his bottom.  I would treat it with a medication I had been given for a similar diaper rash when B was a baby - it's called mupirocin (bactroban).  It would quickly clear up the diaper rash (in about one or two days.)

Bring us to now, November.  We are STILL dealing with this constipation, even though B is taking one capful of Miralax daily.  B has had two more clean-outs.  He is still holding in his bowel movements, and when cases are horrible, he screams and cries (and breaks my heart.)  And he is still getting those awful diaper rashes.

On Friday of last week, we took B in for his 3 year well-child checkup.  I brought up my frustrations about B's lack of pooping (and therefore lack of being potty trained) to the pediatrician.  At first, he just insisted that I continue  to give B miralax; "you have to keep the poop soft!"  I was quite persistent, informing the doctor that even on Miralax, and having soft - even RUNNY - poops, B complained/screamed/yelled of stomach pain and that his bum hurt. That caught the doctor's attention, and he asked to see B's bottom.  Upon looking at it, he said, "just a minute", and returned to the exam room with a swab.  About 5 minutes later, a nurse pops her head in the room to tell us that the swab came back positive.

My poor little guy has strep.

In his tummy, and on his bum.

Yep. Strep.  Perianal Streptococcal Dermatitis, to be exact.  The main symptom of this?  A bright-red, itchy, painful, bleeding rash.

Yeah.  Not just a "diaper rash".

When the doctor mentioned the diagnoses, I remembered that when B was about 9 months old, he had the same thing.  And I've been fighting it off now for about the last year.

It breaks my heart that my little boy has had STREP in his STOMACH for almost a year.  No wonder he won't poop!  No wonder he doesn't eat!  No wonder he complains of stomach pain!  (Our doctor told me, when I asked if it could cause stomach pain, that it most likely feels like what a throat feels like with strep.  So sad!)

Apparently this is a pretty common illness, and more commonly misdiagnosed.

After just one day on antibiotics and topical ointment, B isn't screaming.  Or crying.  Or holding in his poop.  And he's eating.  And not complaining of an owie bum or tummy.

I hope none of you have to experience this, but I hope if anything similar happens with your child, you'll know to ask your doctor.

I knew there was more to my boy's constipation than just constipation.  I'm grateful I listened to myself, and that I was persistent with the doctor - who listened to me.