I get asked, many many many times, if I’m worried that my adopted son has something (a condition, disease, challenge etc).
So for those who are wondering, no, I’m not worried that the orphanage, or the individuals involved with the adoption purposely withheld medical information from me. And if they did, I’ll never know. Is there a chunk of my son’s life that is unknown to all of us? Absolutely. Would I like to have more medical background information on him? For sure. But I don’t and so we move forward. And with a bit of logic, and my friend google, I sometimes pretend to play doctor whenever something ‘interesting’ occurs with either one of my kids.
Yes, I discovered son #2 has epilepsy. And no, this wasn’t one of the “conditions” I was told about. Maybe because at 3 years old in the orphanage, he hadn’t had a seizure yet, and by 5, when he was with me, I noticed them.
Interesting to note though, is that son #1, who has a medical background as is genetically comprised of my ex-husband and I, developed a heart issue at 12 hours old (thank you mom for that genetic contribution), needed stomach surgery to open a pyloric valve at 9 weeks old (no genetic link at all on either family), and at 6 years of age, developed a one time auto immune disorder that made my blood instantly pool to my feet when I was told about it’s severity. Again, no genetic history of this on either side.
So the lesson in all this? Life has a way of throwing things at us. Just because I don’t have some pieces of son #2’s puzzle, doesn’t mean he’s damaged in any way. I have all the pieces of son #1 yet he still keeps me on my toes. So as long as I know, and I mean truly know my boys, there’s nothing my doctor hat, and google, can’t detect. Oh, and it helps to have wonderful and caring health care professionals who order me to sit when my skin tone starts veering into the gray shades.
The Single Mom Chronicles 