Virginia, It sounds like you are living life in a way that should be a model for the rest of us. Enjoy the High Sierras. Most of the rest of us "old" 65-year-olds will probably be at home griping about our age while you're making the most of each breath you take. We should take the hint. Bill McKinney Erie, Pa. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Virginia Beck Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 5:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [S-I] DNA I wish these tests had been around a little earlier when there was still someone in my parent's generation to test, and someone in my generation other than myself. My daughter has Crohn's. It affected her lower intestine, which had to be removed over ten years ago. She is one of the lucky few to have been a good candidate for a Koch pouch, not usually possible for Crohn's patients. No one on either side of our family in any known generation has had this auto-immune disease. My husband died of multiple myeloma, which hasn't so far been identified as either autoimmune or hereditary. My dad's mother was SI (Warnock) with a dollop of English (Milner); his father was English (Wilmoth, Sargent) with a smidgen of Dutch (Walraven). My dad had a congenital heart defect, and his doctor, way back in 1902 when he was 20, gave him about 10 years to live and recommended a low-fat diet. Dad was a chef and prepared nearly all of our meals, so we were on his low-fat regimen for years before that idea was widely accepted. He died of a heart attack at 80. My mom, active and healthy all her life, died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage at 79. Her mother was Norwegian (Johnson) & English (York); her dad was German (Otto & Rowe). Both my parents were mentally sharp until their deaths. On my husband's side, his dad was German (Beck), English (Neil) & French-speaking Swiss (Kaufman); his mom was Scot (Stevenson) & English (Haskit). They each died after a series of strokes (due, perhaps, to their high-fat diet) at ages 73 and 75. "Pop" developed senile dementia about 8 years before his death. "Mom" remained mentally alert all her life. I did fairly well in the gene pool. At 90, my main problem is osteo-arthritis. I had knee replacements ten years ago, which helped a lot, but spinal involvement limits my ability to walk any distance and my sense of balance is a bit unreliable. On a trip to Greece & Crete a couple of years ago I used a three-wheel walker for sightseeing and, with a little help, managed the climb at the Parthenon and Delphi. A couple of years ago my kidney function started to sag off, requiring a low phosphorus diet, and last year I had a fleeting TIA episode, which prompted my doctor to put me on daily baby aspirin, cholesterol & blood pressure meds. I still garden, cook and have a busy social agenda with family & friends. I'm looking forward in June & July to a month in the high Sierras with my daughter & son-in-law. We'll be "camping" in an RV, so that's not exactly roughing it. And although I can no longer wade the creeks with a fly-rod or sit for long in a boat, I can still cast a line for trout from the banks of those beautiful lakes. Virginia -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 7:03 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [S-I] DNA Hi Mary, I will let the list know. I think the announcement came on the ISOGG list.... There's a number of Crohn's genes -- see the pages at www.23andme.com ....I just learned this myself today! Maybe even more involved...they seem to update dynamically, so I had new stuff posted even today. Linda Merle ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message