Goldfoot Genealogy

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

The liver is an organ about the size of a football. It sits just under your rib cage on the right side of your abdomen. it's the brown thing in the picture.  The pink is the stomach.   The liver is essential for digesting food and ridding your body of toxic substances. Liver disease can be inherited (genetic). Liver problems can also be caused by a variety of factors that damage the liver, such as viruses, alcohol use and obesity.  All 3 causes can happen easily today.  We're surrounded by mutating COVID viruses.  Over-eating and over-drinking has hit our whole USA population.  I'm surprised that drugs are not listed.  

My father, Maurice Goldfoot (1908-1967) , did get hepatitis. It affects the liver.  he died at age 59.  Dad learned he had it right away, though.  He got it through a blood transfusion that he had had.  That's how he learned about quicker than the usual ways.  He had been a heavy drinker when young but quit cold turkey by the time I was born or soon after.  He had been a boxer with a body in terrific shape, so that wasn't it.  He had an enlarged heart, and died three weeks after entering hospital.  He was flown to Portland from Ontario.  My dad had problems with his liver and kidney stones.  

Dad died after being in the St. Vincent's hospital in Portland for four days.   He was only 59 years old.  He died at 11:00pm.  He's buried in the Shaarie Torah Cemetery in Portland, Oregon  They spelled his mother's name as Hattie Germankoski on the death certificate.  He had hepatitis.  He had had a blood transfusion after surgery.  He had gone into shock.  They used hypnosis to bring him out.  The prostrate was operated on and was swelling.  It was hyperplasic,  He died in St. Vincent's Hospital in Portland and so did his father, but in the old one.   

His father, Nathan Abraham Goldfoot,  had died young at 41 but in a traffic accident;  his horse and wagon stumbled on the street and he was thrown out and hit his head.  His wife, my Bubba, Zlata or Hattie Jermulowske,  died at 64 of a cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension, arterosclerosis. No problems with the liver that we know of.  (I can picture her sitting alone in Ann's kitchen eating pickled herring from a jar and boiled potato), probably a staple in Lithuania/Poland.  

 About 20,000 protein coding genes are expressed in human cells and 60% of these genes are expressed in a normal, adult liver. Over 400 genes are more specifically expressed in the liver, with some 150 genes highly specific for liver tissue. When we inherit genes, they come to us in segments, groups of genes, usually, so we inherit so many cMs of them at a time on a particular chromosome-one of 23 of them. 

Some people are born with mutations, or changes, in their body's genes that cause genetic liver diseases. Parents might pass these gene changes to their children. Genetic liver diseases affect your liver's ability to process nutrients and remove toxins from your blood. 

Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. The liver is a vital organ that processes nutrients, filters the blood, and fights infections. When the liver is inflamed or damaged, its function can be affected. Heavy alcohol use, toxins, some medications, and certain medical conditions can cause hepatitis.

Many people with hepatitis do not have symptoms and do not know they are infected. If symptoms occur with an acute infection, they can appear anytime from 2 weeks to 6 months after exposure. Symptoms of acute hepatitis can include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, light-colored stools, joint pain, and jaundice. Symptoms of chronic viral hepatitis can take decades to develop.  

An abnormal gene inherited from one or both of your parents can cause various substances to build up in your liver, resulting in liver damage. Genetic liver diseases include: Hemochromatosis. Wilson's disease.

Hemochromatosis is a disorder in which extra iron builds up in the body to harmful levels. Without treatment, hemochromatosis can cause iron overload, a buildup of iron that can damage many parts of the body, including your liver, heart, pancreas, endocrine glands, and joints.

In biblical Hebrew, the word for liver, כבד (Kauved, stemmed KBD or KVD, similar to Arabic الكبد), also means heavy and is used to describe the rich ("heavy" with possessions) and honor (presumably for the same reason). In the Book of Lamentations (2:11) it is used to describe the physiological responses to sadness by "my liver spilled to earth" along with the flow of tears and the overturning in bitterness of the intestines. On several occasions in the book of Psalms (most notably 16:9), the word is used to describe happiness in the liver, along with the heart (which beats rapidly) and the flesh (which appears red under the skin). Further usage as the self (similar to "your honor") is widely available throughout the old testament, sometimes compared to the breathing soul (Genesis 49:6, Psalms 7:6, etc.). An honorable hat was also referred to with this word (Job 19:9, etc.) and under that definition appears many times along with פאר Pe'er - grandeur.

These four meanings were used in preceding ancient Afro-Asiatic languages such as Akkadian and Ancient Egyptian preserved in classical Ethiopic Ge'ez language.

Here I am, thinking of my liver at 89, but better late than never.  Here's a list of recommendations for a healthy liver:

Keeping a healthy weight and that dooms many many of us already.  Who knew?  

Avoid toxins of which are surrounding us:  cleaning products, fragrances-even of laundry detergents, makeup, canned foods, anti-bacterial soaps, avoid plastics, low heat with non-stick cookware, and take off shoes before entering one's house-full of chemicals, and I throw my hands up and give up! Help!  Our world is rigged!  

Resource:

https://womensvoices.org/avoid-toxic-chemicals/ten-ways-to-avoid-toxic-chemicals/

Labels: dna, family history, genetic, hepatitis, liver

# posted by Nadene Goldfoot @ 9:17 AM 0 comments