Adoption, Medical History, & Feeling Helpless
There are various instances that I as an adopted individual bumped into growing up that brought just a sting of a reminder about how I do not know my family medical history and am often in the dark with illnesses. When you have an emergency that "sting" turns into more of a gut-wrenching pain in the pit of your stomach. Throughout my life, I've literally taken a "shot in the dark" with chronic mild to severe allergic reactions--including ones that interfered with my ability to breathe, asthma, mysterious "masses" showing up on x-rays and heart palpitations to name a few. But then there are the emergencies..... I was 21 years old and had what I thought was an enlarged gland in my neck. I ignored it and it grew and grew. A nurse friend of mine was prodding it with her finger one day and she said "you know, if it's a swollen gland due to fighting a cold, this really should hurt. Since it doesn't, you ought to get it looked out." S