Surgery was 24 years ago now, a distant memory. The Lord has been good to me. And I"m content with the decision I made...
Suggestions to parents
Whatever parents decide in this situation, they can have a very difficult time of it. My personal opinion would be to win the child"s affections, teach them to love God, and attend to their health. I would delay any surgery unless something was life-threatening. Let the physical ambiguities remain until the child can help decide their fate. Raise the child as if they were unambiguously one sex or the other but watch for signs that the choice was wrong. Explain everything as soon as the child can listen. Explain repeatedly. Get your child"s trust. Don"t get upset when they experiment. Give them every opportunity to find out who they are. They will have to choose and you must help them see that you will love them male or female. I am grateful to God for the life that I"ve had. There are scores of people with worse problems than any I"ve had. Yes, I think I would like to have been raised a girl, but I might have messed up worse that way. :) I could spend my life considering "what if"s" or being bitter, but my past is what it is and I have a life to live in the present. Reliving the past is only useful if it helps someone else survive being intersexed.
jane_spalding
Height: 5"6", Weight: 127 lbs, Armspan: 5"8 1/2"
SAT Math: 800, Verbal: 752, Physics AP: 800, ACT: 32
GRE Verbal: 750, Quantitative: 780, Analytical: 700
(Just don"t ask me to navigate using a map.)
Medications
Karyotype 46,XY/45,X Turner Syndrome mosaic
Intrauterine Growth Retardation (mild)
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Head large for body size, late fontanelle closure
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Delayed growth, 5% on growth charts until pubertal growth spurt to 5"6"
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Triangular facies, prominent forehead, large eyes, small chin
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Overcrowded teeth, persistent baby teeth (baby teeth, 8 adult teeth extracted)
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Thin upper lip (corrected later using fascia tissue), High pitched voice
Note that most of the above symptoms diminished with age
Mild joint hyperextensibility
Mild dyslexia, lazy eye/strabismus
Post-rotated ears
Simian Crease
Childhood diseases
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Measles, Mumps, Chicken Pox, Rubeola, Rubella
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Repeated Ear infections/Swollen glands
Hypogonadism
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Peripubertial testes/ovotestes, phallus, pubic hair at age 22
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Scant axillary and facial hair, reduced musculature, small Adam"s apple
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Disproportionately long arms and legs (late epiphyseal closure)
Hypothyroid
Hyperlipidemia
Bicuspid aortic valve
Hospitalizations
1999 - Bilateral capsulectomy & latissimus dorsi breast reconstruction
1994 - Sigmoid section vaginoplasty for stricture repair
1984 - Septoplasty
1980 - Wisdom teeth extracted
1980 - Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
1975 - Gonadectomy, vaginoplasty, mammoplasty, rhinoplasty
1971 - Appendectomy
1966 - Adult & baby premolars extracted
196x - Persistent baby teeth extracted as necessary
1959 - Fractured clavicle
1953 - Stomach pumped (swallowed a bottle of aspirins)