Last night, while sitting and talking with my husband, I expressed how frustrated I was with Ava's endocrinologist. Last time we visited him I asked if he could take accurate measurements of Ava's limbs for me, to ensure that they are the same length. Children who have Russell Silver Syndrome often have asymmetry of the limbs so I wanted to check and see if Ava has this as well. When watching her walk, she walks in a way that leads me to believe she may have some asymmetry. Also, just eyeballing it, I swear her right hand is larger than her left and she definitely has one foot that is longer than the other, although I realize this is not all that uncommon for those without RSS. Anyways, since I asked, her endocrinologist laid her on the table and instead of using a measuring tape as I thought he would, he stretched out her legs and visually compared where her knees and ankles line up. He then said that she does not have asymmetry and preceded to write it on her chart.
When I told my husband about this experience and my frustrations, he mentioned to me that his paternal grandmother has to have a lift on her shoe because her legs are not the same length. I was shocked! After two years of continuously filling out family medical histories and giving doctors what I thought was a full description, to realize that this important information was left out! After lecturing my husband on what it means when I ask his side of the family for a medical history, we called his dad to find out the scoop. It seems that her asymmetry was caused by something that happened while she was inutero and is not hereditary but still! Come on people!! I think that I NOW have a complete family medical history but for anyone who still has to take on this task and research their own family history, I would suggest sitting down with both sides of the family and discussing it. This way, you can discuss things as group, take notes, and the chances are higher that all things will be mentioned.
