My gene pool...

once upon a time in a small village in Italy, a young man named Santo DiBiase met a young lass named Lucia DiBiase.. they fell in love, and were married. The catholic church required them to get a note from someone in the village saying that they were not related.

Santo and Lucia gave birth to a zillion kids, one of them being my maternal grandfather, Dominic. While Dominic is healthy as a horse (for an 84 year old), his children and grandchildren have more health problems than the amish.

Neurological problems ranging from AVM (my mom), to Dystonia (me), to some weird disease where the base of the skull cuts off flow (my cousin), to an undiagnosed but crippling condition (my uncle and my cousin).. then there are the heart problems.. just about everyone has high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Some say that it's just coincidence... *I* say it's inbreeding..

Anyway.. my mom was up a few weekends ago to help paint the baby's room. Facinated by my blood sugar monitor, she was curious what her levels were.. so she had me test her a few times. Surprising to some (not to me..), her fasting levels were in the 130 range (supposed to be less than 100) and after a wonderful pancake breakfast that shiela fixed, her levels spiked to the 240s (it's supposed to be less than 130 an hour after eating).. so this instilled a panic that resulted in her talking constantly about it for a week while making appointments to have bloodwork done. She found out today that she is indeed a Type 2 Diabetic.. like her brother, and most likely like me (in the future)..

You'd have to know my mom to truly understand how this impacts the family. My nephew winces every time someone says the word "blood".. my little sister and niece are convinced that they too.. are doomed. My mother found Splenda.. and bought it in bulk, ignoring my yelps about it being chlorinated sugar.. She's thinking about nothing but food and sugar and talking like a true italian.. fifteen thousand words per minute at a very loud volume. My older sister called last night to thank me for getting my mother started with all "the yammering".

I'm glad she found this out.. and i'm glad she'll learn to deal with it through diet.. she's not one to mope about things like this.. she runs with it. What a crazy family... I love them though! Twitching and all!