I guess that it is time to put finger to keyboard and recount the 2018 family adventures. The best Christmas present of 2017 arrived four days after Christmas – Georgia Rose Reynard Mellish, a sister to Henry.
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| With Granny! |
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| Proud parents, Lawrie and Emma |
As some of you know from posts on Facebook and my Blog I was not suitable for an Alzheimer’s drug trial due to not having the propensity for developing excess Beta-Amyloid in the brain. The research company Re:cognition contacted me to ask if I would be willing to go for genetic testing. There is a link between the APOE4 gene and Alzheimer’s and they want to monitor people who have this gene to see if they develop Alzheimer’s. So I had a DNA and later got the results.
Basically we all have the APOE gene and there are three versions of this APOE2, APOE3 and APOE4 (I do not know what happened to APOE1!!). If you have a single copy of APOE4 the genetic risk of getting Alzheimer’s increases by 25%, if you have two copies it increases by 55%). Understand that with genetic risk factors it does not mean that you will get the disease and if your genetic risk is 0% you can still get it - it is just one of the factors that can cause it.
Anyway the result of my test shows that I have the APOE3 gene (not the APOE4) so that genetic risk is 0% in my case. It also means that my children cannot get the APOE4 gene from me - so they cannot have two copies of the gene as you can only get one copy (max) from each of your parents.
So that is good news, it doesn't mean that I cannot get Alzheimer’s but the chances are considerably reduced. I can of course get another form of dementia - but so far so good!
Basically we all have the APOE gene and there are three versions of this APOE2, APOE3 and APOE4 (I do not know what happened to APOE1!!). If you have a single copy of APOE4 the genetic risk of getting Alzheimer’s increases by 25%, if you have two copies it increases by 55%). Understand that with genetic risk factors it does not mean that you will get the disease and if your genetic risk is 0% you can still get it - it is just one of the factors that can cause it.
Anyway the result of my test shows that I have the APOE3 gene (not the APOE4) so that genetic risk is 0% in my case. It also means that my children cannot get the APOE4 gene from me - so they cannot have two copies of the gene as you can only get one copy (max) from each of your parents.
So that is good news, it doesn't mean that I cannot get Alzheimer’s but the chances are considerably reduced. I can of course get another form of dementia - but so far so good!
In March the family gathered together to celebrate the 40th birthdays of Andrew and Gaew. They treated us to a great family meal and we all gathered for Sunday lunch at our place the following day
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| Back row Andrew and David Lawrie Hélèna, Emma and Sam holding Georgia Julia, Henry, Gaew and GOM (Grumpy Old Man Barry) |
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| Back stage visit to Twickers, a 70th birthday present to me from Billie my God-Daughter |
In May my 70thbirthday celebrations continued with my “Supercar” driving day, the present from the children. It was great fun although getting out of the GT40 was not easy!
Early June saw us having Tea on the Thames – a 70thbirthday present from friends of ours.
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| Our own plunge pool |
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| Dining in our private cocoon |
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| Present from our first hotel |
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| Stunning scenery |
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| View from the breakfast table |
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| Fabulous places to visit |
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| Life could be tough |
The next few months were somewhat dominated by a very painful varicose ulcer on Julia’s leg. She was in considerable pain which necessitated a morphine patch – the pain went but she then felt nauseous all the time. Sometimes you just cannot win! Thanks to the Tissue Viability Nurse the ulcer healed, but Julia is waiting to hear from the hospital as she needs laser surgery on her left leg. This somewhat restricted our trips to the lodge in Devon as Julia was unable to sit in a car for four hours plus.
In October Julia celebrated her “coming of an age”! The family all came down for a birthday lunch. Andrew and Gaew took us both out on the day of her birthday and late in October we spent a few days in Norfolk with her twin sister and husband.
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| Henry helping to blow out the candle |
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| Friends joined us after the family meal |
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| Andrew and Gaew treated us to dinner on the great day itself |
Almost inevitably there was the passing of some friends and relatives. Particularly poignant was the death of Angela, wife of my college friend Pat. They were due to come to England this year, they live in Australia, but sadly never made it. Angela was at college with Julia so we had been friends for fifty years.
Alec, husband of my cousin Maureen sadly died in October. We could not attend his funeral as we were away on holiday. I am so glad that we were able to spend a couple of days with them both just before last Christmas. We shared a bottle of champagne and had a great time laughing and talking, a good way to remember a lovely man.
We hope that you had a good 2018 without too many aches and pains. Wishing you all the best for 2019 along with good health, prosperity, and happiness
Happy Christmas
Love, Hugs and Prayers
Barry and Julia
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