As my adoption and reunion story continues, I’ve changed some names, places, and dates.
I’m glad to see more states doing what Ohio did in 2015 – opening their adoption records for all to see, to benefit not only adoptees, but birthparents as well. I feel this way for many reasons. The first, and in my mind the most important, is so adoptees can have their medical history.
My doctors have all been glad to finally be able to plug in my family history to make my records complete. In fact, I became more aggressive about breast cancer screening thanks to learning that my birth mother Linda’s sisters both battled breast cancer (and thankfully won). Linda was especially relieved in our first conversation to hear that I had been getting mammograms annually since age 35.
Like a lot of women, I have dense breasts. Mammograms often miss detecting suspicious cells in these types of breasts. Ultrasounds are an important next step for women like me but are not always covered by insurance. With my new information in 2015, I insisted on having an ultrasound. I am thankful I did. My local women’s center watched a spot on my right breast that the mammogram didn’t reveal. Happily, my follow up ultrasound revealed that all was well.
I’m grateful to have taken this extra step. I may not have without knowing my family’s medical history. I have a feeling I’m not alone.
The Surgeon General created a national public health campaign a few years ago to encourage everyone to learn more about their family health history. The Surgeon General’s Family History Initiative focuses on what health care professionals have known for decades – that common diseases often run in families. Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes can often be passed down from one generation to the next, as well as other diseases like hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and anemia.
As I mentioned earlier in this series of columns, I used to battle psoriasis. I learned in my very first conversation with Linda that both she and my half-sister have it as well. Years ago, I went months without knowing what was going on with my skin. At first, I thought it was a yeast infection and my OB/GYN treated it as such. Then I had bright red, painful, hot patches of skin develop under my arms. My primary care physician examined me at that point and suggested using petroleum jelly to soothe my skin.
Nothing helped me, and soon it was a struggle just to get comfortable enough to fall asleep at night. I did some online research and thought I had an internal yeast infection, so I went on a special diet of no sugar, dairy, fruit, grains, or meat. I lost weight, since there was barely anything I could eat, and still didn’t get relief three weeks later.
My dear friend Stacey practically begged me to go to a dermatologist. I finally took her advice and got in to see mine right away. He took one look at me and diagnosed me with inverse psoriasis. Thanks to a steroid cream, I finally had relief three days later – and fortunately began to eat normally again.
I would have been spared a lot of pain and problems if I just had complete knowledge of my family medical history. I would have known that my birth mother suffered from psoriasis and would have come to a quicker resolution. And this was just a (mostly) minor autoimmune disorder. Imagine what adoptees could do to prevent major diseases or illnesses if they just had this knowledge.
What about instances where an adoptee needs tissue or blood from a biological relative to save their life? I know most cases like these can force adoption records to be opened, but it is often a long process – one that can cause unnecessary suffering and, in the worst-case scenario, death.