Search Results for: blog misdiagnosis or how much harm can a bad snapshot really do

My Last Blog

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This is going to be my last blog as the Adoption Blogger for Families.com. I’m looking forward to spending the summer with my kids, possibly working at their school, and taking on new writing projects. I may well guest blog occasionally for this or other Families blogs. It seems the Adoption Blog will continue, so I hope this blog, along with Families’ forums, can be a source of information and community for adoptive parents, adoptees, and birth parents. Yesterday I could think of a million things to say in my last few blogs and wondered how I would fit it … Continue reading →

Easter Again…a Reminder of our Miracles

It’s Easter again–six Easters after I broke one of my rules. The rule I broke? “No hassling doctors or social workers at home unless someone is dying.” But I needed to know! We were supposed to be having a medical consultation, via conference call, on whether the grim prognosis we’d initially gotten about our daughter’s sister was valid. Would she have needs that we would be unable to meet, given family health issues and our two other children? Somehow we had gotten the wires crossed. And I just couldn’t observe Easter without knowing: was I celebrating a new life that … Continue reading →

Are Asians Misdiagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?

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My last seven blogs have told a very personal story, but it may not be as unique as I thought. The very next summer after our Two Months of Hell, a coworker at our church was in tears—her son and daughter, adopting from Korea, had received the referral and photos of a little boy the whole family had fallen in love with—then the doctor made dire predictions about fetal alcohol exposure. “We’re all just crying our eyes out,” the grandmother-to-be said. Later these concerns were proven unfounded. The child was adopted by this family and doing just fine. At least … Continue reading →

A Near Thing

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A continuation of the story of misdiagnosis and changing expectations. We waited for the new photographs, clinging to the hope that the grim prognosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome for our daughter’s new biological sister was based on misinformation from a photography error. We were able to request that an MRI of the baby’s brain be done in Korea. It showed normal results, no visible brain damage. Our doctor, who had visited Korea and our adoption agency there, said she trusted the results. The new photos didn’t look much different to me when they finally came. The baby looked even grumpier … Continue reading →

Misdiagnosis!– or, How Much Harm Can a Bad Snapshot Really Do?

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This is the fifth blog continuing our family’s saga of considering whether to adopt our daughter’s biological sister, who was exposed to alcohol in utero. In looking for evidence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, doctors a few years ago commonly examined photographs looking at the eye size and shape, the “flatness” of the face, the nasal bridge. At one point I was told that “almond-shaped eyes and a flat nasal bridge are indicators for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome”. Hello?! !? The child is Korean, remember? She’s supposed to have almond-shaped eyes and a flat nasal bridge! Am I in the 21st century … Continue reading →