OK, so my grandmother was backwards. As in, her heart was on the right side of her chest–biologically, everything was a mirror image of a normal person.
–I’ve heard this only happens with twins–is that true? Did she have to have been a twin (her parents probably would never have mentioned a stillborn baby, or maybe it died and was absorbed early on in the pregnancy)? Does this ever happen with single births? I got this from a Lord Peter Wimsey story, so it’s not like the source is foolproof.
–Was her brain also wired backwards? Was her right brain on her left and vice-versa? Was she more likely to be left-handed?
–Is there a name for this condition besides the admittedly pretty lame ‘backwards?’ (YOU try describing it in one word.)
It’s called dextrocardia when the heart is on the right. And it can occur in single births. I think I’ve heard about one’s brain hemispheres being reversed, but I don’t know if it’s in conjunction with dextrocardia. And I don’t know the name of that condition.
The name for this condition is situs inversus. I looked at a couple of websites about it, like the one below, and they don’t say that it only happens in twins.