I was a bit surprised when I took the quiz in the cancer book and it came up as low risk. It does admit to it's own incompleteness, by stating that there are so many factors involved that it can be difficult to predict. This weekend I learned that I do have other risk factors, besides my family history, h.pylori and celiac disease.

If you want to run some searches in pubmed on scientific fingerprinting, it can be quite surprising to see how much science there is to it. It's mostly based on associations, but they are strong associations. We learned some of this at the conference. You may laugh, but hey, until genetic tests are cheaper, we do what we can. According to my understanding, the fingerprints are more influenced by in utero development than by genes (though it's all interrelated, of course), and you can tell more from fingerprints than you'd know. For instance I have 7 whorls...more than 6 indicates breast cancer risk and celiac disease risk. However, more interesting than that for celiac disease is the association between intestinal wall damage and low ridge height. If you have low ridges your fingerprints will be faint and will develop small wrinkles across them which show up as white lines on paper (high ridges strenghten the skin, so the wrinkles don't develop). Low, stunted villi result in low, stunted ridges...so you can use the fingers as a way of monitoring your intestinal health and the presence and current state of celiac disease. I have quite a few wrinkles, my ring finger has almost 10 of them, though they seem to be fading on my index finger and middle finger. I recall noticing that the ridges were worn smooth in the middle of my patterns a while back, but didn't know to observe anything about it or the wrinkles. Always just thought it was from dry skin.

So, I now have a way to monitor my healing, and screen others, especially family members. I also have come to the realization that I am a high-estrogen person, even in utero, and I've had many symptoms of estrogen dominance throughout my life. So, bring on the natural aromatase inhibitors! The good thing about most natural 'medicines' is your body has a choice of whether or not to use them, and your liver doesn't have to detoxify them, unlike prescription meds. Cherry juice and sprouted foods, onions, garlic, I believe these are all highly beneficial for me.

I think I'm having a girl, because it feels like I have more estrogen. My boy gave me some testosterone (which helped my joints, but also made me grow funny hairs in various places, overall I like testosterone), this time, my hair is normal if not finer, and my joints are not receiving so much benefit. It's hard to tell, of course, and I couldn't guess this soon with my first, though once I did venture a guess, I was right. I predict a type O girl*, who likes to eat more than play... pretty much opposite of my first. *I had originally typed "girls", hope that's not a truthful slip because I really just want one baby at a time!

I'll post up some fingerprint links in a bit.