Thursday, June 10, 2010

I have "the curse of the Celts"

I saw my internist yesterday and he confirmed what I thought, that I have rosacea. It's a chronic skin condition that causes flushing of the face, often mostly involving the nose and around the nose. If untreated it can lead to rhinophyma, which is scarring and nodules of the nose - think W.C. Fields if you've ever seen an old movie with him. My situation is nothing like that. I'm on a topical gel twice daily and was told to avoid the sun, which I do anyway. I read on Wikipedia that it's referred to as "the curse of the Celts", being more common in people of northwestern European ancestry, especially the Celts. Well, that's me, although I have some German and by family legend one Spanish ancestor. (He supposedly made it to Ireland after the British Navy sank much of the Spanish armada a few centuries ago. Not sure if that's true or just legend.)

Today is Leo's last day of first grade. That really is surprising to me. It really does seem like just a little while ago that we were at the hospital in San Jose when he was born, and now he's almost 7. Kids do grow up so quickly. David is going to the classroom today to share ice cream with the kids, and his mother may go as well. I'll be at work and miss it. I do sometimes want to be the stay at home parent and be able to do all these activities with Leo, but that doesn't work for our family.

Yesterday Leo rode his bike beside me while I ran. It's nice, and at times he holds my hand while I run and he bikes. He is a loving kid.

4 comments:

  1. hm... i'm mostly celtic. and i don't have this issue at all.

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  2. @buffguy:

    Me too. OTOH, my grandfather singlehandedly supported the Scotch whiskey industry for a couple of decades so I worry about genetic predispositions that way!

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  3. I live in what is called the Irish Riviera and I can totally understand that because half of the population here has it. Have fun with Leo this summer. I get to take a day off and volunteer at Justin's Field Day next week.

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  4. buffguy and Rob, not everyone who's Celtic gets it of course, it's just much more common among Celts.

    Sean, we plan to have fun with Ethan. We're going to San Diego next month mostly for things that he will enjoy - the beach, Legoland, the zoo, etc. We're arriving on Pride weekend so we'll check that out too.

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