Polydactyly+Jon+Wu

Jon Wu Mrs. Conlen Grade 7 Science, Period 6 February 28, 2012 Background
 * Jeffrey and Rachel are married and they both have polydactyly. Jeffrey is homozygous for it.
 * They had 3 kids, Jon, Kaylin, and Will. Only Kaylin is homozygous for polydactyly.
 * Jon married Lauren, who doesn’t have the disease. Their child Shaniqua has polydactyly.
 * Kaylin marries Jackson, who doesn’t have it.
 * They adopt Brian, who doesn’t have it. He marries Ashley, who has it heterozygously.
 * Their child Laquisha doesn’t have polydactyly.
 * Will marries Megan, who also has polydactyly. She is heterozygous for it.
 * They have Brandon and Billy. Billy is heterozygous for polydactyly, but Brandon doesn’t have it.
 * Brandon marries Gabi, who has polydactyly heterozygously.
 * Billy marries Eleanor, who doesn’t have polydactyly.
 * They have two children. Bartholomew has polydactyly but Lamarr does not.
 * Bartholomew marries Elizabeth, who doesn’t have the disease.
 * Their child Louis doesn’t have it either, but he marries Leah, who has it homozygously

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From the Journal of Jon Wu

August 28 My name is Jon, and today is my first day of middle school. I am kind of nervous, and I hope I won't be made fun of. I have an extra "finger", a result of a gentic disease called polydactyly. I got the dominant gene for it from my late mother. I have an extra stub of a finger growing out of my left pinky. And in case you're wondering, it's not cool. Not at all. I've pretty much heard everything bad about it. I can't even use it, but it's still there, always in the way. It's very annoying, especially when I play baseball, because it feels very awkward in my glove, and I can't move it. Here I come off the bus...

September 2 School is actually not so bad. I've made a couple of friends, and all my teachers seem nice. Well, except for Mrs. Neimers of course. Anyway, I actually kind of like school. Still, everyone still calls me "the weird one" because of my finger. I am kind of still upset that my parents didn't just remove it at birth, like most people do. I've asked my dad countless times if I could get it removed now, and every time, he's said maybe. I can't stand it anymore. Ahh!!

September 14 My dad did something I never expected: he said he would allow me to do surgery on it if I felt that I needed it. I didn't know what to do, so I just left and left my dad standing there. I actually didn't know much about polydactyly treatment, so I had to do some research. It turns out there's 3 types of it, from removing skin to skin and bone and finally skin, bone, and a joint. I only have skin and bone on mine, so I might consider doing it.

October 5 That's it. I'm not going to live the rest of life as a monster. I'm doing it.

October 16 My dad said we're scheduled to get checked up in two days. I'm excited but a little scared.

October 18 The doctor said we could go through with the surgery, but he warned me that life would be difficult for about a year. I don't care. I just want it gone.

November 11 I'm really scared. I'm going in right now!

November 14 My hand looks normal again! However, I can't control my 4th and pinky right. It's really weird becasue I can't move it where I want to.

November 18 I dropped my plate that was filled with pasta today. Dad is kind of mad!

March 29 We went back for the final time today, and the doc said that everything was going to be fine. I actually did it! Now I can be a normal peerson again. I can finally follow my dream as a professional baseball player. Here I come Phillies!