Preparing for your first visit
Before you come:
Please download the family history questionnaire and fill it in as best you can;don’t worry if you do not have all the answers, or if something does not make sense. If you can’t download the questionnaire – don’t panic. We can provide you with a copy when you come to the clinic.
Your family history is important for your assessment. We would like to know about the health of your children, brothers/sisters, parents, uncles/aunts, nieces/nephews and grandparents. In particular we would like to know if any of these family members have had blood vessel enlargements/aneurysms or tears. If someone in your family has died suddenly (even of a ‘heart attack’) we would be interested in knowing if there was an autopsy (please bring the report if you can), and we would be interested in seeing an old photograph of that family member (sometimes this helps to make a diagnosis). If you are able to draw out a family tree it would be very helpful. If someone in the family has been diagnosed with a genetic condition such as Marfan syndrome we would appreciate any information available, especially genetic testing results.
Don’t worry if you have little or no information about your family members. We understand that some families do not stay in close contact and do not share medical information. If you are adopted and have no contact with your birth family, don’t worry, we will simply work with what we know about you.
Please read your appointment information carefully, you may have more than one test and appointment.
Make sure you have a list of the medications you take and the doses.
If you have had medical care or surgery at another hospital please check on the name of the specialist you saw and note it for us.
If you are coming from outside the Maritime provinces and have had a CT scan or MRI at your local hospital please make sure that a CD of the pictures is sent to us, or better still, bring it with you to your appointment.
If you cannot attend your appointment it is important that you call and cancel as far in advance as possible, so that we can offer the appointment time to another patient.
