Portfolio Sampler

TRACY MORRIS

Remember how long summer seemed to last when you were a kid? Blue sky, thick with cicada calls. Whether you were running around taking the biggest bite of unleashed freedom that your parents allowed, or just hanging out in the deepest shade you could find, there was no reason to stay inside -- even the Texas sun couldn't keep us in the house!

Not so today. One mother, frustrated with her children's repetitive whining about the heat during a day at the park, exclaimed “They're just like air-conditioned wimps!”

Clamoring for cool comfort aside, so many things are different for today's Houston children. More prevalent crime and mesmerizing indoor activities combine to create a perplexing situation. We have our own idyllic childhood summers lolling around in our memories. We want our families to have fond remembrances of their own. Is it possible to re-create those summers of old?

Elaine Mut of West University offers a perspective common among parents who grew up in the 60's, “when you could go down the street and not show back up 'til dinner or bed time!” Besides feeling generally less secure – Elaine is with her five-year-old twins if they're beyond the backyard – gatherings seemed to be more spontaneous in her youth. She recalls neighborhood-based parties that included guests of all ages, not just same-aged kids from school, and simple games.

Parents recall unscheduled freedom and little fear. “Life was less tense. We seemed to have more time to be idle,” Cheryl Przygocki reminisces. The Bellaire resident's Louisiana childhood was similar in ways to Houston's past. Her semi-rural community of new homes was bordered by cattle pastures, not unlike how much of Houston developed.

Parents back then usually had a good idea of where their energetic, unfettered kids were, “even though we might leave the house after breakfast and not check in again until lunch,” Cheryl sighs. “We built treehouses, ran in the fields, rode our bikes to the corner store for candy, played baseball with whatever kids showed up at the nearby school...”

Today's parents are concerned that their children are missing out on Summer as we remember it.

In over 25 years of counseling practice, Teddie Melhart Wright, LCSW, LMFT, has witnessed the shifting struggle for families. Among other concerns, today's work schedules render the re-creation of some memories impossible. Wright says rather than searching for idyllic summers, parents might focus on meaningful.

inFertility Times Magazine
2005
Sample -- Oocyte Cryopreservation: The Next Fertile Frontier

Many aspects of infertility seem just plain unfair, particularly to those who endure it. In the first place, it's tough for a lot of people to get beyond old fashioned notions about infertility being primarily a woman's problem. That's a cultural issue. Then, for those who do venture forth and seek fertility assistance, most of the diagnostic and treatment steps taken by female patients are more invasive than those taken by their male partners. Further, men have the advantage of more opportunities to be fertile -- their bodies (even those with many forms of infertility) are continually creating new sperm cells, while women are born with a finite supply. Those are just the inescapable results of biology.

Those same biological facts are the reason that many existing treatments for male infertility have been relatively easy to come by for researchers and clinicians. Cryopreservation, a generic name for different cell freezing techniques, is one arena of treatment that was offering reproductive hope to men long before women were able to take advantage of what it has to offer. The use of frozen sperm for fertility treatment has become commonplace and standard practice. The successful use of frozen eggs, however, has been much more limited by its slow scientific advance since the initial report in 1986 (Chen, Lancet 1986:1:8486) of a resulting pregnancy. Men have been able to put their fatherhood plans on deep-freeze for any number of reasons for about 30 years now, while most women are still struggling to beat their increasingly deafening biological clocks.

Style & Living Magazine
2004
Sample -- Making Dreams Come True: Today's Options for Building Families

Dr. Sonja Kristiansen knows firsthand the tug-of-war between dedication to career and motherhood. Becoming an OB/Gyn was important to her, so she devoted her time and energy accordingly to college, medical school, and finally residency. While in her OB/Gyn residency, she fell in love —with both her future husband and future career.

“I became addicted after seeing the smile of an infertility patient with whom we'd had success,” Dr. Kristiansen remembers. Her choice to further her training in the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI) was rewarding, even while it caused another delay in her own family-building dreams.

Eventually she had her son Kyle at the age of 34 and, four long years later, Christopher was born to the infertility specialist.

From her now nearly decade-long practice in fertility treatment, Dr. Kristiansen knows that there millions of women who, just like her, are struggling with the hard decisions involved in timing their family-building choices...

ePregnancy Magazine
2002
Sample -- Why Can't I Have Another Baby?

Like so many of your friends and family, you've managed to get your firstborn off on the right foot and you're ready to bring another life into the happy mix. You daydream about watching your children walk through life, hand in hand, helping each other through rough spots and being each others' first friends.

Perhaps you've spent a few months journeying down the road commonly called TTC – trying to conceive. If you never had problems getting pregnant the first time, you're feeling confident that there won't be roadblocks now. You tell yourself to be patient, that good things come to those who wait. You may be tiring of hearing others' very personal inquiries and well-meaning advice.

Some time down that road, it dawns on you – there could be a genuine problem here. You search the Internet and books for tips and tricks, foods to eat, herbs to ingest, exercises to do or to avoid, in an effort to hopefully see that magic wand change colors. Finally, you realize, it's time to share your struggle with someone who can answer the question that's been lurking in the back of your mind: “Is there some reason that I'm not pregnant again?”

About.com
Guide to Infertility, 2000
Sample -- Future Fertility:Play Now, Pay Later?

"Dear Guide,
My friend and I are curious to know if there is a way of finding out whether a person is infertile or not without having sex. We know that you can tell you are infertile if you have been trying to conceive but can not. But we are just curious to know if there is another way of finding out, besides going through the risk of pregnancy. It's like, can a virgin girl know that she is not capable of bearing a child someday? And what are some situational cases that makes a girl infertile? Thanks and I'll be waiting for ur response."

Is there a simple test for future fertility?
No. However, there are some health indicators which might act as red flags, signaling possible problems. Most importantly, it is possible to make efforts to protect your plans to have children.

Okay. You're only 15 or 18 or 22 years old, and the thought of having kids hasn't really crossed your mind yet, save for maybe a few moments of panic when your period was late.

Or you're a guy, and you think that most cases of infertility are due to women's conditions. Fact is, male infertility accounts for approximately half of all diagnosed cases.

You figure, you or your partner are on The Pill or using Depo Provera or an IUD, so everything's cool. Better yet, you're not sexually active at all. You're being smarter than a lot of young women and men who are gambling it all by risking early parenthood.

But did you know that you still might be jeopardizing your own fertility's future?

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