Liz has been to see a specialist and we have some early preliminary results of some blood tests. It seems she has a condition called hemochromatosis. It is an inherited disease that affects about 1 out of 65 people with Scottish or Irish heritage. You only have to go back a couple generations to find Liz is mostly of that lineage. It is also prevalent in people of northern European descent. It is the one of the most common inherited diseases in the world. The disease is caused by a gene mutation ( and my kids that I was a mutant ) which causes the body to absorb 30 - 50 percent of the iron it takes in. Normal amounts are about 10 percent. The body has no natural mechanism for ridding itself of excess iron so it absorbs so it mainly stores it in the liver, heart, joints, muscles, thyroid and pituitary gland. In these areas it builds up to toxic levels then starts to cause other problems. I have included a list of symptoms below of which Liz has several in various forms and stages.

• Fatigue (feeling very tired)
• Weakness
• Weight loss
• Abdominal pain
• Joint pain
• Loss of menstrual periods or early menopause
• Loss of body hair
• Shortness of breath
• Arthritis
• Liver problems, such as cirrhosis (or scarring of the liver) and liver cancer
• High blood sugar and diabetes
• Abdominal pain that does not go away
• Alzheimer's, Parkinson's etc.
  
• Severe fatigue (feeling extremely tired and having a lack of energy)
• Heart problems (such as a heart beat that is not regular)
• Heart failure (such as the heart not pumping blood as well as it did previously)
• Gray-colored or bronze-colored skin

Fortunately the treatment is fairly easy ( especially for vampires ). The traditional treatment is phlebotomy or bloodletting 1-2 times a week for several months. Then once every couple months. If that results in anemia or other problems, chelation therapy is the next step. That is where a medicine that binds itself to the excess iron is administered and then excreted from the body. If caught early enough many symptoms can be reversed. If it goes undectected long enough, however, it can cause permanent damage. How does all this affect her with perfumes and foods and such? It appears that the iron overload affects her organs which in turn affect the functions of those organs. Consequently, the liver as a filtering agent for the body in less capable of removing the toxins from the blood, and the thyroid as a hormone producer/regulator is affected in the operation of other functions in the body that depend on those hormones.

What does all this mean? We are still in the preliminary stages of testing and have no final diagnosis or regimen yet set up. Liz meets with the specialist again in several weeks and we will proceed from there. If the diagnosis is confirmed we will need to have our own children checked as well as Liz's brothers and sisters getting themselves checked. Because of the high rate of diabetes, alzheimers, hypothyroidism and other symptoms that run in her family it seems to be a connection. The lab test is fairly inexpensive.

It feels good to seemingly be getting a handle on this after so many years. I have included some links for more information if anyone is interested in learning more.

We will keep you posted.

http://www.americanhs.org/
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/hemochromatosis
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hemochromatosis/DS00455

Here is the happy couple. Video is still coming. Check back a little later.

Well Devin and Robli have made it official. June 4th, 2010 Devin's folks will be gaining a beautiful daughter and we will be gaining a storage room organizer. More on that later.
We were privy to the proposal and had the opportunity to help out. He had 100 reasons to love Robli and decided to put each individually on separate pieces of paper into separate balloons. It was then up to Liz and I to put it together while they were out to dinner. Here is Liz. Still has a good set of lungs. I on the other hand had to use a portable air tank.

We scattered rose petals down the hall to the room. Robli and Devin opened each balloon and then read all the notes. When that was done Robli had to find the balloon with the ring in it. It was hidden in her room but she had a little difficulty finding it. It was in her closet under her comforter. She opened it and tears welled as Devin got down on one knee and popped the question. I guess opening all the balloons gave him enough popping practice. Robli said yes but it was only because Devin beat me in an arm wrestle. Otherwise I wasn't letting Robli go.
Here are some other pictures.



Last week when everyone else had gone to work or play I was in the storage room cleaning and straightening. Devin came in and announced he was ready to work. Mostly I think he was looking for a time to ask me permission to marry Robli. I told him if he beat me in an arm wrestle it was okay. If not then the answer was no. That's not quite how it happened. He would have cleaned my clock, that's for sure. He did come and help me for several hours though while we talked. Liz and I are not ones to show our excitement on the outside but on the inside we are turning cartwheels. Devin is a great young man and we are blessed and fortunate to have him join our family. It always makes it easier to let go when the young man is so impressive. It really speaks well of his upbringing. Like the insurance saying, we know that she is in good hands with Devin. I have some video to upload when I get the cable from Tyrel.