More Awareness, Please?

You know how we don't have as much awareness about hydrocephalus as we'd like to have? How many people just don't understand what we're talking about? Well, each and every older lady in my town knows what it is. If you say, "hydrocephalus," they have no clue. But if you say, "water head baby," then they know exactly what you're dealing with. In modern times, if you say any term, people don't know what you're talking about at all.

I was in Wal-mart yesterday with Marley and Vincent, and in the check-out line behind me, and elderly lady was telling Marley how pretty and precious she was, getting little smiles. She asked me about Marley's helmet and why she had to wear it. So, I told her that basically her head was shaped differently and it was caused by her hydrocephalus. She said, Oh I'm sorry I've never heard of that. Then, surely enough, I repeated myself, "water head baby." And she nodded and said, "Oh bless her poor heart." I told her that Marley has a shunt to help drain the fluid, and she said, "Thank goodness they've come up with a way to treat it." She looked very sad, as if she'd had past experience with it. I'm thinking that people are now less aware because it is treatable, and the fact that people back then never had abortion as an option. I think most congenital cases are aborted before they're ever even given a chance.