15 October 2008

A “Better” Diagnosis

Someone remarked that she was relieved that Vera has Trisomy 18, rather than something else like Golden Har Syndrome. Relieved because the infant would live much shorter and that would spare us her parents from a long-term burden. Incidentally, I did a check on survivors of Golden Har, and some are well into their 40s.

She also suggested then that if I needed to stop expressing milk, (in case Vera passed away) she could prescribe medication for me to reduce milk production. Now, my baby is still alive. It seemed then that people were helping me plan for when she was not.

At that point of time, I really couldn’t understand the logic behind those statements. Of course, now it’s becoming clear to me that some doctors are really on the other end of the spectrum in their viewpoint.

We’ve just got to find the ones that are on our side.

2 comments:

ancy said...

It's quite amazing (or perhaps appalling is a better word) to me that doctors in this field should be so insensitive and discouraging.

They are the people who should know best how challenging this is for the patients and their families.

Cathy said...

This is so true. It is sad that most are not on our sides. What if they had a child born with Trisomy 18? Bet their perspective would change, or at least I hope it would......
Praying especially for Vera!