Sunday, January 28, 2007

I love eggs!!! I eat a fair amount of them. Poached, fried, hard boiled, deviled, egg salad, and so forth. I usually buy large eggs. When I was a kid we only had medium eggs, but even mom switched to large many years ago. We bought our eggs from the local egg farm. The farm was just at the end of our street, and the old guy that owned it (just him and his wife) would sometimes let us watch the egg sorter in action!! What he sold us as "medium" were comparable to "large" in the food stores. When the egg farm closed (they retired), we started buying eggs at the local food store and I think always got large.

Well, I bought some jumbo eggs a few weeks ago because the "large" were tiny. These jumbos looked like large to me. Well, when those ran out I asked my son to pick up another dozen and he again got the jumbo. Boy were those things big!!! I almost choked when I saw the size of the eggs!! Of course I was thrilled! I have 1 or 2 eggs with 1 slice bread when I eat them for breakfast. More egg, more yummy!

I have never, until this current dozen, seen a double yolk egg. I know they exist, but I have never seen one. Out of the 10 eggs I've cracked so far, 4 of them were double yolk!

The last 3 eggs I've opened out of this dozen

The ones I cracked today I also broke one of the yolks, so those will go to the dogs. I was making poached/dropped eggs, and broken yolks aren't good. The one that's a single was a bit smaller than the others, but not by much!

Dropped eggs cooking

Ready to eat. That's whole grain oatmeal bread by Pepperidge Farm with butter.
A little bit of salt and freshly ground pepper. Yummy!

My sister had her procedure done and is doing well. There was some question as to whether there was plaque or not. They knew she had scar tissue, but we weren't sure whether they suspected plaque or not. Well, after the procedure it was confirmed that it was scar tissue only. They only opened one artery, the one that was partially blocked. The other one was 100% blocked, but had good collateral circulation, and they were afraid they'd do more harm than good in attempting to open the artery.

I guess this supports my theory about good genes along with bad ones. My mom's side of the family has rampant diabetes. As far back as my great grandmother and her siblings, right through to my current generation, of which I am the youngest, almost all were diagnosed with diabetes. I even have a niece, the next generation, that has been diagnosed.

My sister definitely takes after mom's side of the family as far as body build is concerned. My brother takes after my dad's side, but is also diabetic, so has apparently inherited the "weak" pancreas. But, so far none, including my generation, have developed coronary artery disease. NONE.

One aunt had CHF (congestive heart failure) as a result of a viral infection when she was young. This aunt eventually died of CHF. But she'd never had a heart attack or stroke, and was well into her 80's by the time it got her.

What's the one thing they worry about most with diabetics? Yep, heart disease. So, there's no heart disease in my mom's family, despite most being diagnosed with diabetes, and most of those prior to age 50 (some under 40!).

Is it because they are well controlled???? I don't know, but I suspect not. My sister's latest A1c was 6.2 or 6.3. This means her average blood sugar was in excess of 135. That's average. She doesn't take her blood sugar readings very often, on the advice of her doc, but the ones she does record are usually 140-150. The last time we talked she had one that was over 180! (and of course had no idea what may have caused the spike!) She's also on 2 medications. One med she's at max dose, the second one she's very close to max.

Average daily blood sugars
relation to A1c levels

I don't call that well controlled.

My brother is currently 55. He was diagnosed less than 10 yrs ago when they discovered he had severe peripheral neuropathy (PN). He is disabled from the damage. He presented to the doc when he started having trouble walking due to the PN. I have no idea what his numbers are, but he went on insulin immediately and is still taking it. He's thin, but has always eaten a very high carb diet, including frequent large portions of spaghetti.

I don't call that well controlled.

The rest of the family I don't really know about, at least as far as how well controlled they are, but some are overweight and some aren't. One cousin, a few years older than me, has been slim all her life, loves to exercise, and has been diagnosed for a few years. She's in her early 60's.

So....apparently my family has a "bad" gene related to pancreas function. I've long believed that we are each born with a pancreas that has a certain limit. Eventually we will hit that limit and diabetes will develop. If we abuse our bodies with high carbohydrate intake, we will hit that limit sooner. The limit for one person following a reasonably healthy lower carb diet (few or no sweets, portion control, limited processed foods) may be 50 or 60 years. For another it may be 90 or 100 or even higher!!! And for some, it may be as young as 8 or 10.

Whatever your genetic background, limiting carbohydrate intake will help prolong the "life" of your pancreas. If you have "good" genes, you may never develop diabetes, if you have "bad" genes, you may already have diabetes or be on the road to developing it.

I think my family, or at least my mom's side, has "bad" genes as related to pancreas function.

But, apparently we have "good" genes in the heart disease area! Since none of my grandparents, and none of my aunts and uncles, and none of my cousins have developed heart disease, despite a common diagnosis of diabetes, I'd say we inherited some pretty good heart health genes!

My dad's side I don't know as much about, but they too lived mostly into their 80s and 90s, none that I know of having heart disease or diabetes. There is high BP and hemorrhagic stoke on that side, as well as complications of alcohol abuse. Several died of cancer, including at least half of my dad's siblings.

I am 52 and have no evidence of heart disease. I have had several chest scans that showed no calcifications, and have no symptoms of heart disease, artery disease or high blood pressure. I don't have diabetes, but I am insulin resistant and have had symptoms of hypoglycemia.

I know I inherited at least some of the body type from my dad's side. I think a lot as I'm built more like the aunts on that side of the family. I'm actually shorter tho, so I guess I got a smidge of height from mom too. I'm 5'8", most of my aunts were 5'10 and above. My mom was fairly tall at 5'7", but she was the odd one in her family, where most of the men were under 5'8" tall!

I have the build from my dad's side. Larger frame, good size hips and shoulders. I also, I believe, get my bad back from dad's side. My stomach issues, I believe are from mom.

Who knows. Maybe some day we'll be able to have our blood tested and know exactly which disease we are at higher risk for. Until then all we can do is do our best to take care of the bodies we were given. In my case I know that limiting carbs, without eliminating them, is the thing I must do to keep my body healthy.

I'll watch my carbohydrate intake because I don't want to develop diabetes.

I'll watch that my BP doesn't get elevated and also that my cholesterol levels don't get too low because I don't want weakened arteries or high BP that may lead to stroke.

I'll watch my alcohol intake as I seem to be at a higher risk of alcoholism due to family history.



Barbaro has another setback. This is sad. They haven't given up yet, but poor Barbaro isn't doing well. He's had another procedure done in an attempt to save his leg and his life.


A Massachusetts couple think AirTran Airways

A Massachusetts couple think AirTran Airways went overboard by treating their crying 3-year-old daughter in much the same way.

Julie and Gerry Kulesza and daughter Elly were removed from the flight in Fort Myers, Fla., when the girl refused to take her seat before takeoff, airline officials said yesterday. But her parents said they just needed a little more time to calm her down.

The Kuleszas, of Worcester, Mass., planned to fly to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, Fla., after a four-day visit with the girl's paternal grandparents. She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

Of course the parents are outraged! The airline has not only reimbursed the parents, but also given them free flights!!! What about the other people on the plane? Were they compensated too?


Mama dog. This is a great story posted on Gather.com about an amazing dog!

I first met Mama Dog two days before Christmas 2005. She showed up at my friend Brenda's house, cold, starving, badly beaten, and very very pregnant. Brenda immediately went and bought a bale of hay, and made a nice warm place for her in the garage. Brenda is very good with animals, and she was determined to nurse Mama Dog back to health.....

Update on my son. Went to the doc again last week, still no definite answers. It appears that the fracture is still unstable, so the doc has ordered another MRI. Depending on what that shows will be the deciding factor in whether the doc recommends surgery or not.

Weigh in day is tomorrow. I think I'll do well. If I haven't lost, I doubt I've gained. We shall see!!!

As of last week: