The Medical Innovation Bill And What It Means To Me

When you're close to someone who has been diagnosed with a rare and terminal Cancer, like Myeloma, it can be very hard to watch them go through their treatment. I wrote about my Dad here, so I won't go into it again other than to say that he has been through a second lot of treatment, so that's two bouts of chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants in 4 years. It's a harsh treatment to go through and to witness. It takes months to complete and it takes months to recover from. Quality of life is not great to say the least.

For relatives and patients going through this it is really hard to see the wood for the trees. Life is in the specialists hands and you really tend to accept that their word is gospel, you believe in them to do their very best for you. Your energy levels are low and you or your nearest and dearest are fighting against the Cancer but you don't think to question whether enough is being done for you?

Well actually enough is not being done. We hear of progress and success in the treatment of some Cancers but the majority of Cancers do not have successful treatment rates and the methods of treatment are in a lot of cases 40 years old. The same practises have been used for so long, something that astounds me, apparently we're stuck in a rut with cancer treatment and new treatments are not forthcoming. The feeling in a lot cases is that people should accept the Status Quo - that is the patients and also the doctors.

So why aren't new treatments being introduced? Why aren't doctors being encouraged to innovate?

There is really one reason for this. The cost of litigation to the NHS has doubled in the past 4 years. Billions of Pounds are currently set aside from the public purse for compensation battles that the NHS feels it won't win. This burden has a knock on effect on the way Doctors work. They may well want to pioneer new treatments and try new methods but they're held back for fear of being sued. The fear of litigation and being called out as negligent is a real one and therefore they carry on with the Status Quo and follow standard procedures. Procedures that are actually archaic and medieval in their administration. The system is by nature 'anti-innovation' and because of that the same medical practises for Cancer treatment will be used over and over again. Einstein said that the definition of Insanity is the repetition of the same experiment over and over again and expecting different results. And that sums up the system for the treatment of cancer nicely.  

Things need to change and that's where the new Medical Innovation Bill comes in. Doctors need to be encourage to innovate. they need to encourage chance. Doctors need to be made to account for their actions, when they sit back and follow standard procedure. They need to be questioned as to why they are doing that and asked is that really the best course of action? If the Bill is to go through then Multi-disciplinary teams will have a chance to help patients. If one Doctor in the team suggests a new way of treating a patient then it's up to the other doctors to explain why that wouldn't be a good way and why standard procedure is the best way. It will encourage Doctors to feel like they can speak out and Doctors who don't will be challenged more.

It's important to point out that this Bill doesn't encourage recklessness. Patients and families undergoing treatment wouldn't be exposed to Mavericks who take risks. They would be part of the dialogue and they would be able to say whether they wanted to take new medications/ undergo different methods of surgical treatment. 

To me this Bill makes sense if it encourages Doctors to move away from always using the same treatments and explore new ones, that can only be a good thing for Cancer. New innovations are needed. I thank Maurice Saatchi for drafting this Bill. As someone who has a loved one with Cancer I thank him for using his influence and channelling his experience of the disease into creating this Bill and helping progress in Cancer treatment. The Bill won't cure Cancer, the Doctors will, but the Bill will give them the freedom to explore more pathways and achieve more in the field than is currently allowed within the law.

All Cancer deaths are wasted lives. Support the #SaatchiBill

Our Current 5 Favourite Books for Young Children

We got a few new books over the summer and some of them are pretty good for young children. Here are our top 5 recommendations:

The Bunny That Couldn't Be Found by Angela Mitchell

We love this one - it's a follow up to the book 'The Jelly That Wouldn't Wobble' with Princess Lolly as the main character. In this book she loses her precious 'Johnny Bunny' who rather than being a rabbit as you would presume, is actually a dog. The guards search the palace for her prized pet (a rabbit, or so they think!), all the while staring the puzzled dog in the face. Why are they calling his name but then ignoring him, he thinks? I love the illustration and the dog is the star of this book, with fabulous expressions on his face throughout.  

The Pet Itch by Elli Woollard

This is a bit of a silly one, but the kids love it. Mossy the Monster wants a pet Itch (no I have no idea what one of those is either!) and him and his sister concoct a way to get their family to let them have one. It is a proper story of how siblings gang up on and scheme against their family. Hmmm, who does that remind me of?

Things You Never Knew About Dinosaurs by Giles Paley-Phillips

We got given this book in our Britmums goodie bag and it's a good'un. The way it flows when you read it rather reminds me of Aliens in Underpants, which is one of our favourites too. We love Gile's books, they all have a small element of terror in them, this one is rather deceptive as I didn't think there was anything remotely scary in it until the last page. And just to say - it's not scary, scary, if you know what I mean. It's funny scary! 

A Royal Fairytale published by Egmont and based on the original storybook app by Ink Robin

I'd never heard of the app, so when we were given this book, also in our Britmums goody bag, I was new to it. I hadn't realised that there were children's books about the royal couple, but doh, of course there are - they are big news and products related to them sell well! It's a sweet book about Kate and William from childhood to meeting each other to getting married and having a baby. Prince George hadn't even been born yet when we first started reading this, so it's nice that the modern fairytale is now complete. I really love the illustrations, particularly the page with Westminster Abbey and it captures well the excitement of the nation over the royal wedding.

The Lonely Beast by Chris Judge - Me Books App on iOS

This one is great, it's on the iPad using the Me Books App (if you haven't got this app then GET IT) and both kids love it. The Lonely Beast is very rare (only 1 in every country of the world) and so feels alone. He sets off on a round the world trip over seas and mountains to find another beast. Our favourite bit is when he goes under the sea and gets his foot stuck in a clam. The artwork is gorgeous and the story is quirky. But the best bit about getting this book from Me Books is the voicing of the characters in the book - the beast has a great voice and the humour of the book is conveyed so well because of this. Check it out to see if the beast finds a friend.

We were sent/ given these books to review - all opinions are our own

The Bedtime Police....

On Saturday night I made the mistake of saying to the kids that they could stay up to watch some of Strictly Come Dancing. It's not a mistake while it's on, it's actually fun. They like dancing and jumping around and I get to see my favourite programme. However it meant that they were going to bed just a bit later than normal and that means that bedtime was going to be difficult as they're more tired. 

As the programme finished a car's headlights flashed into the front room window and Isla saw them and said "who's that?". I don't really know how this happened but the words "Its the bedtime police, and they're driving round the street to check that all the children are in bed...." came out of my mouth. Where did that come from?! Anyway I decided to finish what I'd started and ushered them upstairs in the manner that they needed to get upstairs and into bed quick before the police knocked on our door. Next came a series of questions about the police. Ooops. I tried not to make it sound scary, just that they were doing checks (I almost believe my own lies sometimes!) but when Isla, who was now lying in bed asked if she could go to the toilet I told her to make it quick. She ran off to the loo, and whilst on the toilet, had a really concerned look on her face, every so often furtively staring down the stairs to make sure they weren't at the front door! She dashed back to bed, jumped in. Both of them settled down quite quickly and Saturday night for me was resumed with a glass of wine in hand and the X Factor. 

The following morning I'd decided that the police trick was going to be a one off (it was a bit mean!) and I told them that the police were so happy with their performance at bedtime, they were the best children in the street and they wouldn't be coming by our house for a long time!
 

Walkers Mighty Lights - Review

We do love a crisp or two in this house so when we were offered some Walkers Mighty Lights to try we didn't think too hard before saying "Yes please"! We were sent a plentiful supply - 3 multi-packs in each of the 3 available flavours; roast chicken, cheese and onion and lightly salted. They arrived while I was at work, so being ravenous when I got home, I scoffed a packet of cheese and onion in 2 minutes flat! I thought they were pretty tasty, but I'm going to have to admit that they didn't touch the sides that first time! So of course I had to try them again, and again and again....

I thought they were were really tasty, they packed a good amount of flavour and crunch and were really fresh. I think a ridged crisp is generally crunchier and gives good texture. You can tell that the crisps have 30% less fat, they aren't greasy, have a drier texture - they go well with a cold beer I think - although that kind of undoes the benefits of less fat and all that good fibre!

The kids liked the lightly salted flavour, they weren't keen on the other flavours, but that's no reflection on the crisps themselves as they don't like flavoured crisps as a rule. I do like the way they tentatively try unknown crisps though - very lightly sticking their tongue on them to assess the flavour before accepting or rejecting them! I also am the luck owner of a licked crisp if they decide its a flavour they don't like! We took them on quite a few National Trust picnics and shared them out with other kids who also snaffled them quite quickly.

Now here are the facts! 

With 30% less fat than standard crisps, Mighty Lights are perfect for kids' lunchboxes. They are tasty, ridged crisps. All the flavours are suitable for vegetarians, and are available in shops nationwide. They're made from real potatoes with no artificial colours or preservatives -  and they're a source of fibre.

We didn't just eat the crisps on their own either, we used them to make a nice crunchy crumb on some homemade chicken nuggets. Now foolishly I didn't take any photos of these as they got scoffed before I remembered! But they are really easy to make and I'll be making them again like so:

Chicken Nugget Recipe:

Heat the oven to 190/ Gas mark 5

4 chicken breasts cut into chunks
1 heaped tablespoon of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of American mustard
2 bags of lightly salted Walkers Mighty Light crisps

- Mix the Mayonnaise and mustard together
- Coat all the chicken chunks in the mayo and mustard mixture
- Get the kids to bash up the bags of crisps with a rolling pin and then coat the chicken pieces in the crunched up crisps
- Pop in the oven for 12 - 15 minutes and turn halfway - should be lovely and golden when they come out

This one is great for involving the kids as they love bashing up the crisps!

We'll definitely be buying Walkers Mighty Lights again and with lunchboxes becoming a regular thing in our house with Isla starting school this September she might find them in her lunchbox occasionally.

If you want to check out the new Mighty Lights, take a look at www.walkersmightylights.co.uk 

This is a sponsored post

Compare the Market Launch #AgentMaiya

On Wednesday night I was very lucky to be invited to the launch of the new Compare the Market advertising campaign, unveiling female meerkat Maiya's secret spy past. Maiya is more than a schoolteacher, she is a kick ass Meerkat Intellligence Agency operative! The event was held in conjunction with Future Cinema, the experts in immersive cinema experiences at The Troxy in East London. What an amazing venue, with sweeping staircases and plush furnishings, it did feel like a step back in time to the 1930’s once inside. We were told to be ‘Dressed to Kill’ which made a change from a usual Wednesday night doing bath and bedtime routine!

Our ‘undercover spy’ experience started outside the venue when on arrival we were whisked away to the back doors of the Troxy and myself and my guest were split up and quizzed separately as to how we knew the Ambassador?! I thought on my feet and said I’d met him at a dinner party – I had no idea what I was getting myself into! We were fitted with our wristband for the night and told that it was a tracking device to keep us safe at all times, as there could be undesirables in attendance! This got us really in the mood for the evening, and made us feel part of the experience (to the point that we were suspicious of anyone that spoke to us!). We were taken through the dark corridors of the venue where there were spies all around us and then came through a curtain to see our beautiful venue for the evening:

We were entertained by a 3 piece band while we had drinks and a delicious Austrian meal of pork loin (amazing crackling!), dumplings and sauerkraut.  The ‘Ambassador’ came on stage and announced his wife would be up next singing for our entertainment. We took the opportunity to go and have a look at the new Agent Maiya toy and we came across a spy’s office where we *had* to have a photo opportunity!

Elizabeth Hurley was the celebrity host for the evening (a great choice given her spy background in Austin Powers!) and she came on stage and introduced Agent Maiya who addressed everyone by video link and told us all of her secret spy past. It was very engaging and the new advert was screened, followed by the screening of Mission Impossible. Throughout the film there were live re-enactments of key scenes, my guest managed to get herself right in the middle of the first one on her way for a cigarette, which made me laugh. “I’m just off for a cigarette while nothing is happening”, next she’s staring down the barrel of a gun and getting shoved out the way while the impostors were dealt with, hahahahahaha! 

Here is the advert just in case you haven't seen it aired yet - I really think these meerkats' deserve to hit the big screen soon!

We had such a great evening and I’m sure that Agent Maiya is going to be huge hit with audiences. And as far as immersive cinema goes I am desperate to go and experience another one very soon, Dirty Dancing is coming up next.....

I was given two VIP passes to this event, allowing us a fantastic evening of entertainment, free drinks and food. All view expressed are my own

Warburtons Krazy Kitchen

You may have seen a fun campaign on Warburtons Facebook page in the last couple of weeks where two families have been challenged to create delicious tasting lunches, competing against each other whilst negotiating the crazy goings on in the kitchen with chickens creating havoc, Mexican musicians adding some spice and at one point feathers everywhere! It's Mum vs Mum, Dad vs Dad and in the final episode the kids compete using Warburtons Sandwich Thins to make a Chicken Supreme sandwich!




Lunchtime isn't so crazy in our house (my kids are 4 and 2, so they're not too varied in their sandwich filling choices!) but today using the ingredients that I was sent by Warburtons I created two of the recipes that appear in the Krazy Kitchen Gameshow; Chicken Supreme (featured in the video above) and Tex Mex Mayhem (this should have been done with wraps but I used Sandwich thins).

Check out these videos to see how to make them yourself. They were both so delicious and I will be making them again.

Supreme Chicken using Warburtons Sandwich Thins

 

Tex Mex Mayhem (these will work better using wraps I think

 

 

 

 

I favoured the Tex Mex Mayhem as it had some real heat, something I don't usually think about doing in a sandwich - the sandwich thins were really tasty and they also didn't feel like a 'bread overload'! The recipe is as follows:

 

Tex Mex Mayhem

 

Ingredients:

Tablespoon of refried beans

handful of salad leaves

Half and avocado (original recipe said a quarter but I love avocado!)

Quarter of a red chilli - deseeded and finely chopped

2 tablespoons of yoghurt (I didn't have this, so used mayo and not such a large quantity)

Drizzle of Olive Oil

Squeeze of fresh lime

Jalapenos from a jar

 

Method:

Mash up the avocado, lime, chilli and olive oil in a bowl

Lay out your wrap or in my case sandwich thin

Spread refried beans on one side

Top with salad leaves

And the Avocado mash up and the yogurt or mayo

then top it with a few jalapenos

Add the top part of your bread or wrap if you used wraps

 

Enjoy!!!

 

The final instalment of the Krazy Kitchen airs tomorrow so head over to the Warburtons facebook page to check it out: https://www.facebook.com/Warburtons

 

 

This is a sponsored post and I was sent the items to make two delicious sandwiches.

  

Bowling - a fun Summer holiday activity

Isla starts school in September and from that point onwards we will be tied to school holidays for day trips and vacations. I'm so excited about her starting school but I'm also sad that the time I will be able to spend with her will be limited and that Noah will see his sister less. I can also say that this summer I feel like I have had a real taste of how long the holidays can feel as we get closer towards term starting. For a lot of parents there is a real pressure to keep entertaining the kids and stave off the words "I'm bored". Having to do fun stuff with the kids in busy periods can also mean that activities are more expensive but VoucherCodes.co.uk have set out to show parents that they can make days out and activities more affordable.

Vouchercodes.co.uk gave us £80 to use as we wished to entertain the kids and then report back on how we did and if we saved money. I decided that it might be fun to take the kids bowling so I went to the Voucher Codes website and tapped in the name of our local bowling alley Tenpin and found that there was a deal advertised .It was an Eat and Play deal, from £6.99. In total 1 game of bowling and a meal for 6 (2 adults and 4 children) with ice cream added as an extra cost just short of £60 which I think is great value. We also bought drinks and that more or less finished off the £80.

who knew bowling shoes could look so cute!?

The kids had a really great time, if I was to do bowling with them again I would probably leave the adults out of the equation for the bowling as anyone who knows what bowling is like with small children, it takes a really long time to finish 1 game of bowling so for kids under 5 I would definitely advise one game IS enough. It took over an hour and a quarter to finish including all the trips to the toilet - the random disappearances and need for drinks etc. Also keep in mind that they may not have shoes for really small feet - Noah is an 8 and they had from that size upwards. Definitely make sure that you have the ramps up in the gutters so that the kids don't feel too deflated every time the ball ends up in the gutter and most alleys will have ramp that the little ones can use to roll the ball down when they're too young to bowl it themselves.

There were so many offers on the site, so do check it out before you decide on a day out with your family, there is anything from days out to Drayton Manor (home of Thomasland!), money off meals in your favourite family friendly restaurants and cinema offers.,

 

We had a great afternoon of fun thanks to VoucherCodes.co.uk - all views expressed here are my own.