Thursday, 22 March 2018

Recently found out my husband will develop huntington's disease and I'm struggling to cope.


My husband was adopted at birth and reconnected with his biological family about a year ago. He found out that his biological mom had huntington's and knew that he had a 50/50 shot at inheriting the gene himself. He decided recently that he wanted to know if he had the gene that causes huntington's and he found out that he does. It's pretty much guaranteed that he will eventually develop huntingtons even though he currently doesn't have symptoms.We have a 3 year old daughter who has the same odds at inheriting the gene. We had her before knowing the risk and my husband and I both feel so guilty. We may have ruined her chances at a normal life. For that reason my husband wants to do PGD testing on future kids and he wants to do it soon before his symptoms begin to develop.Am I selfish for not being sure if I want another baby? We always planned on more kids but knowing that I'll eventually be my husband's care taker as well make me question it. We have been told that death usually occurs 15 to 20 years after symptoms develop and we don't know when symptoms will start. My husband desperately wants another kid and I don't want to take that away from him but I don't want to do this on my own either. He says that if he starts developing symptoms then we won't go through with a third but he wants to have a second soon.My husband's mom has also been driving me crazy. She has been calling us pretty much daily since my husband found out that he has the gene and is always going through a checklist of symptoms. She lives in a different state and is considering moving near us by the end of the year. She is pressuring me to get my daughter tested and to have another baby. I know she is scared to but she's making this so much harder.I am in therapy and it helps but I feel like I am drowning every single day. I don't really have a point to this post but I was encouraged to not keep my feelings inside so I am sharing here. Thanks for reading.EDIT: If we do have another child we will do PGD testing to make sure the baby doesn't inherit the gene. We won't be passing it on. My concerns come from the possibility of having to be the caretaker for my husband and kids. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2GTSiTm

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