To DNA or Not To DNA...

That is the question.

It appears that there has been a Y DNA Project for the Bonham Family.  I think my Dad will get his cheek swabbed.  It is painless and the price keeps coming down.

Not to be left out my Mom is deciding if she wants to do a test.  I can't imagine why...Smith isn't a common name or anything.  It has been frustrating looking for Smith Ancestors.  We will persevere.

Ancestry.com has been invaluable in our research.  We have met some wonderful cousins and found living family.  Together we are piecing together the history that made us who and what we are.  It is our own private detective story.

Everyone we have met has been more than generous.  Generous with information, photos, and documents.

Mom and I have laughed and cried.  We have shared the magnifying glass so that we can read the ineligible hand writing from 1700 and upward.  We have marveled at the internet and how connected it allows us be to others and to documents.  It has meant that we don't always need to travel to find an answer.  Rind A  Grave has been invaluable in getting photos of headstones.

One thing that I have learned by researching my ancestors is that my ancestors were from the South.  I have lived most of my life up North and in my head I am a Yankee.  South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and yes...Texas all have claims on me.  That is my father's side.  On mom's side it is more the Mid-West and Canada!

Reality is that I am a good old American mutt.  I am a product of of my environment. 

I am happy to report to my many fine British and Welsh friends that this colonist has some pretty significant ties to the UK.  I know you will want proof.  All the more reason for DNA.

The branches of our tree keep growing and new information is just around the corner.  Who knows what the DNA step will bring us.  What I do know is that good or bad it is part of who we are.  It is the history that we hand to our descendants.

What Were We Thinking?

When Michael left the hospital they were happy to give me supplies to do his twice daily wet to dry dressing changes. 

Not sure what that means...it means that I will need one bottle of hydrogen peroxide, one bottle of 0.9% saline solution, one sterile cotton swab, one 2x2 gauze square for cleaning, 2 1/2 inches of kerlex for packing the wound, and one abdominal pad and two 12 inch pieces of paper tape.  Granted we don't use an entire bottle of hydrogen peroxide or an entire bottle of saline.  But let me tell you that they don't last long.

IT IS NOT ENOUGH!

Unfortunately, I have been on the nursing side and always thought that I was giving the patient's family more than enough supplies. What were we thinking?  Crap happens people.  The swab falls on the floor..it goes in the trash.  You need a prescription for that saline solution.  I haven't been able to find the long sterile swabs anywhere.  Abdominal pads...a 12 pad box cost $7.00.

So every time we went in for a wound check I robbed the room.  The doctors laughed eventually because they knew as soon as I came in the door I was scoping out the room for possible supplies.


I know that every doctor, nurse and aide thought that they were being generous and they were, however, it is never enough.  And even though I have done more dressing changes than I care to admit to, it is lonely when you are doing them at home and you don't have that change of shift nurse looking at the same wound and confirming what you think.  I will admit that every time we went in I was a ball of nerves wondering if they thought the wound looked as good as I thought it did.  For the record they agreed with me.

So to all the families that I sent out the door with a bag of supplies and written instructions...I am sorry if I short changed you.  I now know it is never enough.