Too important to do as a protected post:
I am doing the Susan G. Komen race for a cure on November 5th. For those of you who don't know, our daughter Sarah, was named after Sarah T. She was a dear friend of ours from high school, who lost her battle with breast cancer shortly after her 30th birthday. I am also raising money for the cure, click here to donate. Every bit helps!
This was in today's paper. Dr. Hughes is the doctor we have been talking to in Michigan.
Genetic testing of embryos can determine predisposition to cancer
A growing number of couples are crossing a new threshold for parental intervention in the genetic makeup of their offspring: They are using preimplantation genetic diagnosis to detect a predisposition to cancers that may or may not develop later in life and are often treatable if they do.
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The test requires couples to use in vitro fertilization so that cells for screening can be removed from multicelled embryos, and it is not completely effective: There is up to a 3 percent chance that preimplantation genetic diagnosis will fail to detect an unwanted mutation.
Geneticists and fertility experts say the greater use of preimplantation diagnosis may lead to using it to select characteristics that range from less serious diseases to purely matters of preference.
“From a technology perspective, we can test anything,” said Mark Hughes, director of the Genesis Genetics Institute in Detroit, who is performing preimplantation genetic diagnosis this month for two couples who want to avoid passing on a susceptibility to breast cancer. “The issue becomes what is considered serious enough to warrant such testing and who decides that.”
Some who carry the cancer mutations said they take offense at the selection procedure, which they say implies that they themselves, and many members of their family, should never have existed. It raises the specter of eugenics, they say, in the most personal terms.
“It's like children are admitted to a family only if they pass the test,” said Denise Toeckes, 32, a teacher who tested positive for a mutation that increases the risk of breast cancer. “It's like, 'If you have a gene, we don't want you; if you have the potential to develop cancer, you can't be in our family.' ”
Other critics oppose preimplantation diagnosis on the grounds that it could be used to select against homosexuals, women or people with disabilities. It reduces people to their genes, they say, and paves the way for the pursuit of children to suit parental ideals and for discrimination against those with perceived imperfections.
Chad and Colby Kingsbury of Chicago took two months to make the decision to undergo genetic testing. But every time Chad looks at his daughter, Chloe, he said he knows it was worth it. “I couldn't imagine them telling me my daughter has cancer,” he said, “when I could have stopped it.”
What the hell?!?!? Pluto is no longer a planet?
I have lots to write about tonight, so there is both a Protected Post, and a Public Post. So, if you are on my protected list, make sure you read that post. Oh, and please only comment about the protected post, on that post. Thanks.
By popular demand, here is my recipe for my Peanut Butter Balls.
1 Pound Margarine
1 Quart PB (equates to 32 oz) (I use Skippy)
2 Pounds Powder Sugar
1 1/2 large bags of Chocolate Chips
Supplies:
Tooth picks
Candy Cups
Double Boiler
Melt margarine in large pot. Add peanut butter. Stir until smooth consistency. Add powder sugar. Mix well.
Allow the mixture to cool (I usually turn off the heat when I add the powder sugar. Roll into teaspoon size balls Place on cookie sheet, stick with toothpick. Melt chocolate in double boiler. Dip balls into chocolate, may need to use a spoon to get off ecess chocolate. Remove toothpick when you place the chocolate covered peanut butter into cup. Cover top of peanut butter ball with chocolate, using the spoon (I will make a swirl pattern as I do this). Allow to cool.
Enjoy with milk and your friends. Oh yeah, this recipe makes about 100 peanut butter balls... depending on how big or small you make them. And, you have to add the ingredients in order. If not it will not work, and make sure you don't use too much peanut butter (It will not roll well).
This Weblog is protected, and to read it you need to be on my protected list. I do have a Xanga tracker, and I see who come by this site. If you aren't going to leave a comment, and you are not on my protected list, then go away!
For those of you who are on my protected list... check out my latest entry
Dear Mr. Hallmark,
I am writing to you from heaven, and though it must appear
A rather strange idea, I see everything from here.
I just popped in to visit, your stores to find a card
A card of love for my mother, as this day for her is hard.
There must be some mistake I thought, every card you could imagine
Except I could not find a card, from a child who lives in heaven.
She is still a mother too, no matter where I reside
I had to leave, she understands, but oh the tears she's cried.
I thought that if I wrote you, that you would come to know
That though I live in heaven now, I still love my mother so.
She talks with me, and dreams with me; we still share laughter too,
Memories, our way of speaking now, would you see what you could do?
My mother carries me in her heart, her tears she hides from sight.
She writes poems to honor me, sometimes far into the night
She plants flowers in my garden, there my living memory dwells
She writes to other grieving parents, trying to ease their pain as well.
So you see Mr. Hallmark, though I no longer live on earth
I must find a way, to remind her of her wondrous worth
She needs to be honored, and remembered too
Just as the children of earth will do.
Thank you Mr. Hallmark, I know you'll do your best
I have done all I can do; to you, I'll leave the rest.
Find a way to tell her, how much she means to me
Until I can do it for myself, when she joins me in eternity.
I love having the foot prints from xanga. But I just got a little creeped out that someone googled me to find my blog. So, I am going to do the xanga lockout. For my family who is beginning to understand xanga, all that means is you have to be logged onto xanga to read my blogs... which you have to do anyway, since my blogs are mostly protected.
I do update my protected blog about every other day... depending on what is going on in our lives. I will do a protected update tonight. Meanwhile, I have to get ready to go vote and then go to work.
Doctors are calling it nothing short of a miracle! On May 25th Nate was discharged from the hospital, and was removed from the Heart Transplant list. To read up more on their story, go to Nick&Nate.
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