CJD

There are days when I wonder and wonder....almost frozen in thought and time. I ponder, look, and research. The hurt never really goes away although it takes a different form with time. I will go to my grave living with the frustrations this rare disease inflicted on an otherwise healthy body. It was like this.....

What Causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?

Some researchers believe an unusual "slow virus" or another organism causes CJD. However, they have never been able to isolate a virus or other organism in people with the disease. Furthermore, the agent that causes CJD has several characteristics that are unusual for known organisms such as viruses and bacteria. It is difficult to kill, it does not appear to contain any genetic information in the form of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA), and it usually has a long incubation period before symptoms appear. In some cases, the incubation period may be as long as 50 years. The leading scientific theory at this time maintains that CJD and the other TSEs are caused by a type of protein called a prion.

Prion proteins occur in both a normal form, which is a harmless protein found in the body’s cells, and in an infectious form, which causes disease. The harmless and infectious forms of the prion protein have the same sequence of amino acids (the "building blocks" of proteins) but the infectious form of the protein takes a different folded shape than the normal protein. Sporadic CJD may develop because some of a person’s normal prions spontaneously change into the infectious form of the protein and then alter the prions in other cells in a chain reaction.

Once they appear, abnormal prion proteins aggregate, or clump together. Investigators think these protein aggregates may lead to the neuron loss and other brain damage seen in CJD. However, they do not know exactly how this damage occurs.

About 5 to 10 percent of all CJD cases are inherited. These cases arise from a mutation, or change, in the gene that controls formation of the normal prion protein. While prions themselves do not contain genetic information and do not require genes to reproduce themselves, infectious prions can arise if a mutation occurs in the gene for the body’s normal prion protein. If the prion protein gene is altered in a person’s sperm or egg cells, the mutation can be transmitted to the person’s offspring. All mutations in the prion protein gene are inherited as dominant traits. Therefore, family history is helpful in considering the diagnosis. Several different mutations in the prion gene have been identified. The particular mutation found in each family affects how frequently the disease appears and what symptoms are most noticeable. However, not all people with mutations in the prion protein gene develop CJD.
More later....

Legislating Health

Admittedly, I am earth's oldest blogging person and as such I will write today about my amazement at what is legislated these days. How did we ever live before we had congressmen and leaders to tell us how to run our lives?? Even what we should and should not eat and drink!! Of late, it seems that the officials in New York have decided that citizens drink too many sugary drinks up north and they (the officials) must legislate to keep folks from killing themselves on good ole sugar!! Inasmuch as John Q Public has not enough self control to manage his appetite and thirst, the governor and the mayor must take over and not allow folks to have great big sweet drinks when thirsty. I am so, so glad they have not tried yet to manage a southerners thirst for sweet tea! Talk about a southern uprising, whoo wee, the Civil War could hold no light to the uprising that would come out of this place!! A North Carolina Tea Party in full measure! (I know this writing does not follow rules of writing but who cares!)

Back to our health, everyday there is something new that we are not doing or doing that contributes to our poor state of health and the need of ObamaCare. We eat too much processed food; we eat too much meat; we eat too many hot dogs; we don't drink enough milk; we do not sleep enough hours; we eat too many of the wrong kind of carbohydrates; we consume the incorrect kind of fats; we are all too fat; we take too much Tylenol; we aren't good about eating a balanced breakfast; we eat fast food; and today I learned we are putting Splenda in the waste water when we tinkle!! Splenda is sucarose or sucralose or some such!! And it is bad for you!
Would somebody hand me a baloney sandwich, please!

My Dad, My Heritage

Everyone has a father, but my Dad is special..to me! I was not his first born but am the first of his children that lived. I am actually the third. But that is not what made my Dad special. My Dad was bred to be a southern gentleman and he was every bit the part. Born of parents who were born in Bedford County, Virginia he was the oldest of four boys. He was a southerner in manners and culture. My Daddy had been brought up with all of the best character traits in tact and he lived by them. Daddy was not much of a "talker" but more of a listener. However, when he did speak, we, as his children, did listen. It was important. He said it ONCE!!

I think my Mom and I drove him crazy sometimes because we talked so much when we got together....and had fun. Soon my father would find his way to his favorite room to watch his favorite ball games. Sports were big in our house and we were schooled in the major ones for sure. His greatest love was baseball! Oh, and he had his favorite snacks he enjoyed while watching...probably some chocolate candy or nuts of some type, and a soft drink. My Mom used to tease him about his sense of humor saying that his lineage came from England, hers having come from Ireland!!

Speaking of lineage, I have spent some time since retiring tracing my parents' genealogy. As I have worked on my Dad's line I have raised as many questions as I have answered about our family.
One amazing fact about which I would love to know more is what happened to my Grandfather Lemon's siblings. My grandfather was one of eight children born to George H. Lemon and Nancy Catherine Peters Lemon. Of these eight children my Granddad was one of only four who survived to be adults (21); this is how it looked: Nellie (1879-1912 --23 years), Granddaddy (1881-1934 -- 53 years); Della - (1883-1898 - 15 years); Sallie ( 1885-1899 -- 14 years); Stephen ( 1887-1920 - 33 years); Henry ( 1890 - 1908 -- 18 years); Blanch (1894- 1960 -- 74 years); Mary ( 1897- 1898 - 1 year). I am certain that to other people that doesn't seem so unusual but to me it raises lots of questions. I have been looking for a family history that might explain these happenings. At this point I have no living family links (obviously) who might be able to explain this to me.

Happy Birthday, Daddy...somewhere beyond the veil. I miss you so much!