Long time readers are familiar with the saga of my fiancee Tanya and her life being diagnosed with Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease, aka Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), which turned out to not be RA but rather a Biotinidase Deficiency. Since my server stats indicate that I have a lot of new readers I will summarize the ordeal for you.
In December of 2003 Tanya was diagnosed as having Rheumatoid Arthritis due to her joint pain and fatigue. As the years went by her symptoms got worse and she spent close to $500,000 in treatments that included low dose chemo. In 2013 one of her nieces had a baby. These days, thanks in part to the March of Dimes, gene testing is done on newborns to see if there are genetic defects that the new parents should be aware of. As it turned out, the baby was a carrier of the gene for Biotinidase Deficiency, but they did not know what side of the family the gene came from so Tanya had a vitamin and nutrition test done on herself. It took a couple tests and a couple months to get the results, but on July 19, 2013 she was informed that she was profoundly deficient in Vitamin B7. Her doctor did not know how to treat it and said they would get back to her with a treatment plan; as of July 25, 2014 they still have not called back.
Luckily, one of Tanya\’s skills is research and she immediately sought out ways to get enough B7 in her system since the gene mutation prevented her body from separating B7 from the protein it is attached to in foods, so her body just passed it out. Long story short, she discovered Biotin and started experimenting with it since there is essentially no information available on how to treat Biotinidase Deficiency. The results were immediate; literally overnight she started noticing improvements in her health. She immediately discontinued the use of the various prescriptions she had been taking for years and has not taken any of them in the past year. 13 months ago we were wondering how much time she had left on earth; this past Saturday we celebrated the one year anniversary of her rebirth. Continue reading
On Tuesday evening, the Torrance City Council went through a major changing of the guard, with Pat Furey being sworn in as our new mayor; and Kurt Weideman, Heidi Ashcraft, Tim Goodrich and Geoff Rizzo being sworn in as new council members. Weideman had been appointed to the council a year ago when Councilwoman Susan Rhilinger resigned due to health; and Ashcraft was appointed in December when Cliff Numark was elected to the El Camino College Board of Trustees. They have a combined year and a half of experience compared to the 30 years of experience between the departing Mayor Frank Scotto, and Councilmen Bill Sutherland and Tom Brewer. It is going to be an interesting time for Torrance; no doubt.
The evening began with a ceremony marking the departure of City Clerk Sue Herbers who retired after 20 years of service. In her farewell address she mentioned that she will still be around and be as active as ever; even if it is as an audience member. She did mention that if the council decided to accept applications for the vacant seat that we now have since Furey became Mayor, she would apply. More on that later, but personally, she would be outstanding.
Herbers last official duty was the swearing in of Council members Weideman, Ashcraft, Goodrich and Rizzo; Pat Furey as Mayor and Rebecca Poirier as the new City Clerk. And with that we lost 50 years of experience in one swoop. Continue reading