Genetic roots

Our son has a strong background. Not only in terms of physical stength - but also in emotional strength. He gets a "determination" tripple whammy from his dad - who is highly motivated and determined, his Maga (his dad's mom) and his great grandpa (dad's side).

His Maga is an Okinawan World War II orphan. She managed to survive and for a short time even nurse her fatally wounded mother at 4 years old. At the same time she cared for her little brother (2-3 years old). His dad tells me stories of the stories Maga would tell Daddy about sleeping in trees to avoid the dogs. This was during and after the Battle of Okinawa. Maga is from a highly respected Okinawan family. Maga's mother and dad were teachers, which in Okinawan society is one of the most respected positions a person can hold. They were also very smart if not geniuses. Unfortunately genius doesn't count when you get hit by shrapnel or shot by soldiers as her mother and father were.

His great grandpa (Dad's grandpa) survived the Bataan Death March of World War II. Great grandpa survived by using his brains -- in this case it saved great grandpa. Great grandpa managed to escape and live. There are few of these soldiers still left in our area. Only one of them has ever talked about what happened during the march on television. Unfortunately great grandpa never told Daddy about what happened during the war. It's something that haunted great grandpa until he died in June 2000.

I can see their determination and strength in our son. He can set his mind to a task and complete it - he's been doing this for a couple of years now - he is five years old. He also is seemingly impervious to pain. That can be good and bad. He recently willed himself not to cry when getting vaccination shots for school. He said to his doctor, "I'm not going to cry". Sure enough he didn't. When he was a baby, he usually wouldn't cry when getting shots. When he was a few days old he had to have blood drawn from his heel for billiribum testing. His dad says he didn't even cry and almost didn't notice anything. His sister on the other hand did notice when she had the same test and she did cry. So our son has had this high tolerance for pain from birth.

He's actually lucky to be alive. I am positive his genetic roots have alot to do with that. When I was in labor, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. The fetal monitor was showing extreme distress. It took a few minutes to get him out. Lucky for us our great OB/GYN noticed this right away and pulled him out. When he came out he didn't make a sound, and was in bad shape. The nurses had to resuscitate him - he was almost a purple grey. I was only able to hold him for a few minutes but quickly gave him back so he could be taken to the first level ICU. I am thankful he was only kept overnight. The next morning he was pink as could be. I know that the lack of oxygen has caused some diminshment of his genius, but he's still a pretty smart kid. Plus babies are pretty resilient and almost plastic like when it comes to brain development. They can bounce back if cared for and if the damage isn't too bad.

Anyway, from the other side - mine - he gets mathematic ability. My dad was called a human calculator. Our son is able to do some addition already. His dad taught him to count to a hundred by the time he was 4. I can sense in our son the same ability as my dad. I'm planning on teaching him the binary number system soon as well, like my father taught me.

The only bad thing about genetic roots, is that not only is the good inherited, but also the bad. Like our predisposition to heart attacks & coronary disease - both sides. High blood pressure - also both sides. Diabetes, bad eyesight, and the real issue right now allergies and asthma. The allergies and asthma are from me. He seems to have it worse than I did when I was little. He's had pneumonia a few times already, as much as I have had in my entire life. We have to pay attention to his allergies to ensure they don't cascade to a runny nose, that turns into bronchitis that turns into pneumonia. Benadryl is our friend.

The connection between exzcema as a baby, and allergies/asthma is one that became known in the pop media within the last few years. When he was a toddler and seemingly getting ear infections quite a bit, a doctor at patient first recommended that whenever he got a runny nose to give him Benadryl. Sure enough since that time he has only had one ear infection. He has had pneumonia a few times usually from a cold or sudden onset of allergies I couldn't catch in time. What's odd is that I am going through the same thing now that I am past 40. I have to ensure my allergies don't cause bronchitis, because bacterial pneumonia is not too far behind.

So that is our son's genetic inheritance. You get the good with the bad.

TAGS: okinawa | asthma | exzcema

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