THE DIARY OF A DOCTOR WHO TELLS

Evening Star, Issue 25324, 4 November 1944, Page 10

THE DIARY OF A DOCTOR WHO TELLS

ADOPTING CHILDREN Monday, October 9. I'm often asked to arrange an adoption for a childless couple. The childlessness in the vast majority of cases is involuntary. Where not asked one often makes bold enough to put the thought into the mind of tho.se concerned, and l not infrequently with success. George and Iris Mandington have been married 10 years, and iris is getting a neurosis, fundamentally connected with her inability to produce a child. In vain I have reminded her that examination by a specialist has acquitted her of physical blame. Called to see her to-day again because of dyspepsia, 1 broached the subject of adopting a child. " We've often talked about it, George and I," she said at once, " but we] re always frightened we'll get one with some hereditary disease or something." " Very few diseases are hereditary." " I thought a lot were," said Iris. " Since we're talking straight from the shoulder, how about VD? " " It is checked in hospitals and appropriate treatment applied," I said l . " After all, if the child is concerned, the mother is concerned, and she. is under keen observation." "All right," said Iris, "but there must be dozens of other diseases. How about TB? " " It is said that no child has ever been born with tuberculosis," I replied. " Certain families show a susceptibility, but infection in

childhood has a lot to do with it."

" Cancer? " she queried further

" I don't know of evidence to prove that cancer is hereditary," I told her, " though there seems a certain susceptibility in some families." " Well, what diseases are hereditary? "

" A difficult question to answer in that form," I replied. "Certain diseases may be hereditary, but that doesn't say that every member of the family, gets them. " True hereditary diseases are things like haemophilia, or the bleeding disease. This is confinedi to males, but transmitted by females who themselves .do not suffer from it. Family records show a persistence of it for up to 200 years. Two former Royal families of Europe were said to be sufferers.

" Another true family disease is a very rare one called Huntington's Chorea," I continued. "It -mimics ordinary St. Vitus Dance. But few general practitioners have seen a case, so you needn't worry about it in any question of adoption." " But there must be some common diseases which occur in families," persisted Iris. " How about diabetes, for instance? " "Yes," I said, "there is a familiar tendency in diabetes, which may be due to a common family way of living." " Allergy, in the form of hives, hay fever, or even asthma, may occur in families. Gout has a family history. Even angina pectoris seems to be influenced by heredity." _ ! • " It all sounds an awful risk to me," commented Iris doubtfully.

" Nonsense," I retorted. "Talking of risk, who knows the medical history of their .wife's or husband's grandparents?**' Many of us come from families showing a familiar tendency to certain conditions. The obviously sensible thing to do is to face up to the fact, and so live that the risk of contracting the'condition concerned is reduced to a minimum. An annual medical check is also helpful. Tuesday, October 3. " I'm so worried, doctor,"' said a voice on the phone to-day. " I've just had a message that a young brother of mine has been taken off to a hospital which specialises in . . . er . . . nervous diseases, and they're giving him shock treatment'. "It sounds awful. What is it exactlv ? "

" 1 hope the term ' shock treatment ' won't be used inuch longer," I said. " It's unnecessarily frightening."

" But they must be given a shock if it's called ' shock treatment,' " said the voice. " What sort of a shock is it? " "Think of it as short-wave treatment," I said*'. " The doctor has an electrical machine, which, applied painlessly to the body, stimulates certain areas of brain tissue. This stimulation, of which the patient is unconscious, removes certain harmful influences and the psychological outlook returns to normal."

" You think it's all right for m.y brother to have the treatment, then," said the voice doubtfully. "Certainly," I said. "Handled by experts on certain cases under suitable conditions, much good often results." Wednesday, November 1. When one talk's of the need for exercise in the middle years the mind associates {he need with the male rather than the female. There seems no reason why the female body does not need Jts regular exercising as much as the male. "I get all the exercise anyone wants running round the house and bending and stooping to pick up things the family leaves on the floor," said middle-aged Mrs Allan "grimly when I spoke of exercise for her indigestion and slight constipation. " Admittedly, that's a help," I said, " but you want some gentle exercise in the open, air. Try and persuade your husband *to go walking in the evening now the summer's coming on." " It would be quite like old times." she said a little wistfully. 1 read the other day of the oldtime method of keeping the stomach fit—fill it with meat and vegetables and place it between a couple of plough handles. Thursday, November 2. The Turners were very upset and not at all convinced this morning when 1 told them that their eight-year-old daughter Marie was suffering from an inflamed appendix which should he removed immediately. " But surely at her age . . ." began Turner. " I thought it was a grown-up disease . . ." interrupted his wife. " Acute appendicitis is more common in children than adults," I said. " It is even seen in babies." There was the inevitable question whether " medicines couldn't be tried first." I replied that the safest early treatment I knew was surgical, and that the earlier it was undertaken the better the chance of success, in my opinion. " Her pain doesn't seem to be on the right side; it's more a general stomach' pain," said the mother. " I suppose there's no doubt?"

" The pain is not infrequently over the whole stomach in appendicitis," I said, " though there is often a definite limited area of tenderness on pressure."

Many parents wonder at what point the doctor should be sailed if the child has a stomach-ache. Appendicitis is to be feared and purgatives avoided if there is pain in the stomach, the temperature is raised, the abdomen hard and tender on gentle pressure, and especially if vomiting is occurring.