in praise of b&w

Floating sausages

During dinner we were discussing perception experiments and got to do the floating sausage finger thing with the girls. Leon couldn't wait to join.

Children of Helen

About a year ago, just before Leon was born, I acquired a rather acute interest in genealogy. With some assistance from Imke, research material from Pake Atze and the Frisian historic treasure trove Tresoar I started to unravel my family�s path back in time. I started out with the Van Dijk family, who did acquire a family heir after all. Curiosity about my mother�s background made me explore the Oosterhoff family history.

Following the paper trail, most Dutch family histories evaporate around the 17th century. At that time, our ancestors were illiterate peasants without possessions and without a proper family name. Sporadically family events might be recorded in the odd church registry, but in general, this is where the trail runs cold.



Looking at the places of birth of the foremothers of Geertje: Martje, Maaike, Klaaske, Dieuke and Rinske, you can�t help to think that they were surely not the wandering type. Maybe they were around at the times when the surrounding Humsterland was one of the most densely populated areas in Europe (8th century CE). Who knows, they may even have been there during the times of the Funnelbeaker culture. Recent archeological finds have confirmed that the area around Ternaard was inhabited around that period, around 3.500 BCE. What we do know is that they must have crossed the Carpathian ridge from the Black Sea region around 20.000 years ago, after the last glacial maximum.



At least that is what the National Geographic Society told me. Just after I got so engrossed in genealogy, I read about the Genographic Project. A team of genetic specialists claimed to be able to tell more about early ancestry by means of DNA analysis. The world wide research programme records specific DNA strands and infers from the dispersal patterns how our ancestors must have wandered the earth.



Amongst all other DNA-material, men pass on their Y-chromosome to their sons. Just as mothers pass on their mitochondrial DNA to their sons and daughters. During the transcription process copy errors may occur from time to time, giving rise to the mutations that make people different all over the world. Tracking these (sometimes minute) differences in DNA make-up, scientists have been able to track back the roads our ancestors took and the places they stopped by along the way. They have even been able to assess the number of primordial mothers.



The Japanese have nine original matriarchs. The American Indian have four and the Europeans have seven. From the maternal line, the Oosterhoff family descends from one of those seven: Helena. A rather fertile strain because 41% of all Europeans belong to her �clan�. Sons and daughters of Helena can be found throughout Europe but the largest concentration can be found in Basque and the south of France.

Beppe Geertje�s matriarch descends from one of Helen�s daughters that founded the relatively rare haplogroup H6a. This group has been traced back to the Black Sea, just before the last glacial period and she may have taken the Funnelbeaker culture from the Ukraine to Frysl�n.



So now we know where Geertje�s mother came from. How about her offspring? Beppe passed on her mtDNA to her sons and daughters. Her daughters (Martha, Hilde and Hanny) passed it on to their sons and daughters. Her granddaughters Marga van Dijk and Corrine Venhuis passed it on to their sons and daughters. Currently, greatgranddaughters Hannah van der Laan and Tamar Venhuis are the heirs to Geertje�s mtDNA. This direct line doesn�t show by the name, but that is because we live in a patrilineal society, unlike the Trobriant or Nair people.



Where the male side of the Oosterhoff family comes from? I don�t know. We�d need a scrape sample from the cheek of one of Atze�s sons. His grandsons Arnold, Arend-Jan and Brian might do to. And his great grandsons Matthijs Oosterhoff and Marc and Cedric Oosterhoff too.

Of course, having this or another strand of DNA doesn�t make anyone more or less special. It is actually wonderful to see how rich and intertwined our family is and a reason to celebrate diversity. No matter from which patriarch or matriarch you descend.

The charro session

Leon dressed in charro outfit, photographed at the De Anda Studios in Mexicali.

Baptism

With pleasure and pride we announce that Leon will be baptised on Sunday November 5th at the Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mexicali (Mexico). If you happen to be around, feel free to drop by at the after party at Claudia's grandmother's place.

Leon home

Last Wednesday, we took Leon home, finally. He had been admitted to hospital for surgery on his talipes (clubfeet) but what was scheduled to take little more than a week, took little less than a month. On the way complications were abound and the whole story got rather complicated, technical and … unpleasant.

The procedure on the talipes (clubfeet) entailed the splitting and lengthening of Leon ’s Achilles tendons and the insertion of a 6 inch (!) pin in his heel. The operation went down smoothly, but complications arose shortly afterwards. To administer Leon ’s coagulant factor (he has severe Haemophilia A) a peripherally inserted central catheter was used, because his veins were too small to access frequently. Unfortunately a nasty streptococcal infection brought about the risk of sepsis and the thing had to be removed promptly. While on antibiotics, Leon ’s immune system started to make antibodies for the ReFacto (Recombinant Factor VIII, a genetically engineered protein that mimics coagulant factor), rendering the treatment useless. To counter this problem he was entered in a immune therapy regime, with triple to quadruple dosages for the next 9 months. With drugs administered every couple of hours, the doctors figured another catheter was needed and he was wheeled back to the OR for surgically implanted Broviac. Without coagulant factor, however, this would have been impossible, which is why the haematologist used the last resort for haemophiliacs: Novoseven, a very rare and forbiddingly expensive coagulant factor (at least 40 times the costs of ReFacto, you’ll never hear me complain about Dutch health insurance costs). It was at that moment that we called in the help of family and friends. Doing the splits between a seriously ill kid in hospital and three teenagers at home was a little bit too much for me. From that moment on we both stayed in the Ronald McDonald guest house and because Leon was recovering rather well, we managed to sneak of the ward with him and get some fresh air. Some two weeks after the first operation on Leon ’s talipes, the enormous pins were extracted (without anaesthetics) and a new cast was added. After that things started to look better by the day until we heard on Monday, that the antibiotics and the Novosecen would be discontinued and we might look forward to an early release on Wednesday.

We are now in training, to learn how to flush and clean the Broviac and to prepare and administer coagulant factor. As we’ve never had the opportunity to explore the other end of the syringe it was something very new to us but after two demonstrations we had our first complete run together today. Next week, we’ll have three more sessions, supervised by the haemophilia nurse, because absolute precision and sterility are required. We already received a huge box with medical supplies from the local pharmacy and next week Friday we’ll be heading home with a duffel bag filled with coagulant factor. It will be the start of a new routine with a most cheerful, ever-smiling and effervescent little boy that hopefully doesn’t realise yet how terrifying the past few weeks have been to his parents.

Claudia & Sicko

Emma

Emma, originally uploaded by [sic].

Emma kan het bijna niet geloven.

Emma is amazed.