When I had my physical a few weeks ago with a new doctor, she wanted to know who in my family has what types of medical problems. I mostly had no idea. Between that and wanting to find a donor who doesn't have the same medical issues in their family as mine does (why overload my child with a huge chance of something horrible like cancer or heart disease?), I decided I wanted to compile a family medical history.
So, as morbid a topic as it is, yesterday I sat my parents down and had them go person-by-person through our family, and typed up each person's info including DOB, any medical and/or psychiatric diagnoses, age at diagnosis, what the treatment was/is (i.e. diet, medication, surgery, etc), date of or age at death and cause of death, where applicable. They didn't know all the info on some relatives, so I sent out an email to a bunch of relatives, asking for their help with this project. It was a little difficult coming up with reasoning as to why I wanted this info, but I basically said I thought it was important to have as our generations age and new generations come into the world. I've already heard back from a couple of people, and I'll just keep adding info to my document as I receive it.
Has anyone else done anything like this? Am I being totally crazy and going totally overboard?! Maybe. But I DO think it could be helpful, even for me, my siblings, other family members, not just in planning for my future child!
I haven't done this but I would like to. I think it's a smart idea for all the reasons you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think you'll feel more confident when it comes to choosing your donor.