Research Article
Quality of Life in Prodromal HD: Qualitative Analyses of Discourse from Participants and Companions
Table 5
Sample positive and negative QOL statements by time frame.
| Positive Statements | PrHD | Companion |
| Now | If you know (your gene status) you can start planning your life accordingly, living every moment. | Since you know that you have HD, you take that into consideration and you intentionally make decisions that are more impacting. | Future | I know it will be better for me than for my father because I know my husband will betaking care of me. | She knows that she is made secure because she is not going to be abandoned (in theFuture) because of this. | Past | My kids handled (results of gene testing) better than most adults. | We went on a trip to (foreign country) and it was totally awesome and I really feel like it was a great memory for my family. |
| Negative Statements | PrHD | Companion |
| Now | My kids and my husband; they are very distant. They don’t want to hear about it or learnabout it. | I don’t think I have helped much. | Future | The other thing that would make me sad would be for (my kids) not to have their mom. | It can be hard to know that eventually, and ultimately, you are going to get sick, so that would probably be one of the hardest things, just knowing. | Past | My grandchild was born and I showed no emotion. | Feeling guilty that maybe she passed on a gene to one of her kids and then one of her grandkids. |
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PrHD = Prodromal for HD. Sample statements within each row are paired, such that they are taken from a single dyad.
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