As I, then Norma Bullock, 25 years old, walked up to the looming modern medical office building in Baltimore I was really hoping that Neurologist Stephanie Hager could help my sisters and I to come to a rational way to proceed in life. Dr. Hager was considered THE amnesia expert at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She was a part-time professor and had her own practice. It took me a while to get an appointment with her, and a recommendation from a friend of mine who is a doctor. I was hoping that she would help, rather than boot me out of her office, especially since health insurance didn't pay for what I was consulting her about, and her one hour office visit -- payment in advance -- was costing me and my sisters $650.
I saw a friendly receptionist in Dr. Hager's plush anteroom, which she apparently shared with two other neurologists. I only had to wait about two minutes before I was led by the receptionist into Dr. Hager's office. I turned on my hidden recording device before entering -- I wanted to play it for my sisters and not get anything wrong.
Dr. Hager's office was sophisticated and luxurious without being ostentatious. Hanging on her wall she had an undergraduate degree from Northwestern, a Masters from Harvard, and a M. D. from Tufts, and enough awards to cover most of the wall space more than four feet off the ground. Despite all of those accolades, however, she looked young and fit with rimless glasses that appeared to be more for enhancing her professional look rather than to enhance her sight. Every piece of clothing was crisp and expensive looking, and not a hair was out of place in her straight layered lob hair style.
I reproduce below only the relevant portions of our discussion.
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"Over the phone, Norma, you indicated that you wanted to get right to the point and ask me some questions about amnesia, especially as it relates to pregnancy. However, I think that I need some significant background if I am to give best advice; we can do a lot in an hour."
"Thanks, Dr. Hager; of course I'll give you background, but first I want to confirm: everything we talk about is covered by the doctor-patient privilege, right?"
"Unless you tell me that you are going to commit a crime that would adversely affect someone else, yes."
"Is it OK if we talk in hypotheticals since some things I'm going to relate are not necessarily things I or my sisters are thinking of doing, but rather are for general information?"
"Yes, Norma, we can talk in hypotheticals."
"Great. So that I don't have to continually repeat myself, can I just preface my statement with 'Everything is hypothetical,' unless I specifically say that it is not?"
"That's fine; everything is hypothetical," Dr. Hager replied with a smile.
"I am one of identical triplets which I understand happens in only about one out of every 200 million births. My sisters are Gail Minton and Julie Frost. We are 25 years old. What makes our situation unique is that when we were born to an 18 year old mother she put us up for adoption through a church, and we were placed with three different families in three different cities, although no more than 250 miles apart. We were never told that we were triplets by our adoptive parents probably because we suspect that they didn't know it," I started out.
"A strange hypothetical," Dr. Hager replied.
"It gets way stranger," I laughed and paused before continuing.
"For various reasons all three of us went on 23andMeยฎ and got genealogy tests when we were twenty one; maybe it had to do with some sort of triple telepathy, but we did it within three months of each other. Each of us had a feeling of incompleteness through our lives up to that time which is why we all probably submitted our DNA. I was the last to get my report back."
"Hypothetically you all did it, independently, within three months of each other?" Dr. Hager asked, apparently completely surprised.
"Yep; anyway by the time that I got my results back Gail and Julie had already talked on the phone and when their results were updated with mine they immediately got in contact with me. At first I was shocked, but then it made sense -- given my feelings of incompleteness for my entire life. We made arrangements to meet in person at a central location, only about a 90 minute drive for each of us."
I took a sip of the beverage I had been offered by the receptionist, saw that Dr. Hager was staring intently at me, and then continued.
"At our first meeting we were shocked that we not only looked identical but that we had the same hairstyle, wore dresses that looked like they came from the same collection, and had all sorts of mannerisms in common. We also were all getting our teaching certificates -- in three different states -- to teach elementary school. We all had boyfriends of about 18 months, and by exchanging photos of them they all had a similar look although different in size, profession, and age."
"I guess that, hypothetically, it's not unusual for identical triplets to have similar mannerisms and tastes," Dr. Hager offered, then sipped her own beverage.