Would you ...

While I wait for the library to give notice that my hold of Watership Down is available, I bought another book at Target over the weekend. I feel like my daughter; never can have enough books to read. I chose Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

The inside book jacket tells you that the book depicts the life of one with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. My friend, whom I usually chat with on Tuesday nights, is enjoying the warmth of Florida right now, lucky!, so I opted for reading time while my daughter was taking her jazz class last night. I sat in the car and read page after page after page of this new book. I got to a scene in the book that I felt was rather intriguing.

I am not far into the book and the main character already received her diagnosis of having early-onset Alzheimer's. She asks her doctor what it means for her three adult children. The doctor states this:

Each of your children has a fifty percent chance of inheriting this mutation, which has a one hundred percent change of causing the disease. Presymptomatic genetic testing is possible, but there's a lot to consider. Is this something they'll want to live with knowing? How would it change their lives? What if one of them is positive and one is negative, how will that affect their relationship with each other?

What would be my answer if this was posed to me? Would I want to know in advance if I would develop Alzheimers, or would I want to know in advance if a loved one was going to have the disease in the future? I think my answer would be No. I worry to much as it is, I do not think I could handle knowing my future to that level. Every time I would misplace something, I would worry. Every time I would forget an acquantance's name, I would worry. I do not think I could handle the truth.

What about you?