15q24

Genes are strange and amazing things.  Since I majored in Biology, about 15 years ago,  and took a genetics class I like to try and convince myself that I understand what the doctors are talking about when they start spurting their information to us about our daughter.  Truth is I'm pretty much clueless about the situation.  I made a "D" in that genetics class, a hard earned "D" I might add.  That was before the CSI series' and all the cool stuff we see done with genetics today.  All I really wanted out of the class was the 4 credit hours and an understanding of how you can get different colored Labrador retrievers in the same litter.  I got the credit hours and a slight understanding of the dog thing, but I've long since forgotten it. 

I think,...no I know, one of the hardest things a parent can hear is a doctor say, "Your child has a rare chromosome disorder and we really don't know much of anything about it.  It's simply called 15q24."

It at first sounded to me like something George Lucas would make up for a Star Wars movie.  Luke Skywalker, Hans Solo, r2d2, c3po, and 15q24.  What in the world was this doctor talking about?!  I had no clue whatsoever!  Thank goodness we live in the age of information, thank you Google.  Can you imagine 20 years ago getting information like that and having no way of finding research yourself! 

Sometimes I think we were better off without all our new technology, the search engines, the cloud.  But if it wasn't for new technology we wouldn't have our little 15q24.   We would simply have a child that we weren't able to understand why she is like she is.  But even at that it wouldn't matter I don't think.  Unique is always going to be unique.  And I for one love uniqueness.
Like the great David Allan Coe said "It Takes all Kinds of People to Make the World Go Round".

Mean Child?

Bella my two year old daughter has a mean streak, so says her mother and 6 year old sister.  She slaps, hits, and scratches.  I think it's just a survival mechanism myself, siblings are suppose to do that stuff, right?  And I can remember me and my siblings doing plenty of that.  I say the older sister and mother should just toughen up.

Camping Trip

Sarahbeth and Emma have been on Spring Break this week so Friday, since it was pretty much the end said break, we decided to all go camping out at my Mom and Dad's.  Tent camping with small children, espeacially one still in diapers, can be a trying experience.  So we, I should say I, opted for the easy way out.  We pitched the tent in Granny Jan and Pappa Denny's back yard;  swing set for the kids, bathroom within 30 yards, running water via the water hose, and the gorgeous pond which is the focal point of the backyard.  By pond I don't mean coy pond, I believe people in other parts of the Country call them tanks or stock ponds.  My whole life this pond or pool as we call them in Texas has doubled as a stock pond and a swimming and fishing hole.  I thought it would be a GREAT idea to take our two dogs with us.  You know let em run around in the country for a few days, be real dogs instead of the back yard by day, laying on the couch at night, type of dogs that they are.  Gracie, the beagle, is not use to automobile travel and evidently gets car sick.  Yep she through up in the car on the way.  Meanwhile, Jack the yorkie bounces from front seat to back seat the whole way.  As we started setting up our 12 person tent and the dogs kept running back and forth over the top of as I tried to connect all the poles and Bella our two year old was crying and Emma our six year old was complaining that she was hungry and Sarahbeth the wife was explaining what I was doing wrong in the tent set up phase,  I remembered why we don't do this very often.  Stay tuned for more excitement!