After many blood tests and other diagnostics, they have determined what is the likely culprit of Rae's low platelet count. First, her blood is fine-nothing wrong-Praise the Lord!! It is a nasty little bacteria in her stomach called helicobactor pylori. It is common in developing countries. According to her doctor she has probably had this before entering the orphanage and has gone untreated the last three years. It is likely that she may have developed some ulcers due to be untreated, but we are not certain at this time. He also informed us that she suffered from malnourishment before and during her stay in the orphanage.
We will be starting her on several meds to combat this and hopefully this get her on the road to recovery. She is one resilient little girl.
Thank you Lord for putting the right doctors in our path to help us to figure out what is going on.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Recovering
Today we are happy we are home and did not have to spend the night at the hospital. Yesterday Rae had 8 teeth removed and several others capped or filled. While she was asleep Dr. Ranalli removed some bone marrow while she was already asleep. She did great, and keeps going and looking at her teeth. She looks like a kid who has lost all their front teeth. She is not too happy that they are gone, but once everything is healed - she should be free from tooth pain. I am not sure she likes her silver teeth. One funny from yesterday was after she received some medication to calm her - she was so loopy and funny. She laughed at everything, and everyone was laughing when she was going down the hall to surgery.
We are thankful to everyone who has prayed for us. Now we just wait for test results to come in to know our next step.
We are looking forward to this weekend - we are finally celebrating Christmas! Girls are excited.
Here are some pictures from the past few weeks -
We are thankful to everyone who has prayed for us. Now we just wait for test results to come in to know our next step.
We are looking forward to this weekend - we are finally celebrating Christmas! Girls are excited.
Here are some pictures from the past few weeks -
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| Rae listening to Hannah practicing |
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| The girl's dolls enjoying the tea party |
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| Enjoying the doll tea party |
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| She is trying to decide if she wants to sled |
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Happy Chinese New Year!
I know this is not a normal holiday we celebrate, but I am sure Rae is use to doing though. It is the year of the Dragon, which is very important in China. We have not made much of it this year due to all that is going on, especially since we have not officially celebrated Christmas. We are finally celebrating it this coming weekend, and our girls are very excited. Maybe next year we can acknowledge it a little more.
Our first post adoption report is due this next week, and I have been working on filling in details needed by our social worker. I was reading back thru her abandonment certificate and just felt sadness for her again. I knew all this before, but now that we know and love her even more, I just breaks my heart anew. This little girl has cemented herself into our hearts, and we cannot imagine our lives without her. She is an amazing, resilient little lady, who can one moment be independent and the next wanting you to hold and cuddle her. She showers us with hugs and kisses, and another source of laughter to our family. She is learning more words and calls us by our names - Mommy, Daddy, Han-nah, and Eminee. Our new phrase today - "brush your teeth". She also had her first experience in roller skating and had the time of her life. We love seeing her open up to more people.
Please keep us in your prayers over the next couple of days for big blood work tomorrow and dental surgery on Tuesday.
Our first post adoption report is due this next week, and I have been working on filling in details needed by our social worker. I was reading back thru her abandonment certificate and just felt sadness for her again. I knew all this before, but now that we know and love her even more, I just breaks my heart anew. This little girl has cemented herself into our hearts, and we cannot imagine our lives without her. She is an amazing, resilient little lady, who can one moment be independent and the next wanting you to hold and cuddle her. She showers us with hugs and kisses, and another source of laughter to our family. She is learning more words and calls us by our names - Mommy, Daddy, Han-nah, and Eminee. Our new phrase today - "brush your teeth". She also had her first experience in roller skating and had the time of her life. We love seeing her open up to more people.
Please keep us in your prayers over the next couple of days for big blood work tomorrow and dental surgery on Tuesday.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Doctors and Needles
We have been in and out of doctor's offices too much lately. Our oldest daughter fought a could while we were in China and it turned into a real bad sinus infection after we returned home. Her visit to the doctor has been tame compared to Rae.
Many of you know Rae was in the special needs program in China due to her blood disorder and strambismus. Upon returning home she had been scheduled to go to the adoption clinic at Children's, but due to a death in the family it was postponed. While we were waiting to go, she started having some pain in her teeth. We talked to the clinic, and they put us in touch with the hematology clinic to clear her to go to the dental clinic. Rae was a trooper thru all of this. She was seen by hematology and then sent down to the dental clinic. Dental discovered multiple things wrong with her teeth - decay, staining, cavities, etc. They told us we could do 4 - 1 hour visits or one visit under anesthesia and she is done. We chose the later. During all this the anesthesia dept. would not clear her to do it in the clinic but would rather do it in the main OR because her platelets were too low. Other back and forth things went on, and so we have been waiting on them to call with our surgery date. Back at the hematology lab they were trying to discover what was causing her low platelets. The diagnosis given to her in China, was incorrect. While she may have had it when she was found, she no longer did or maybe it was misdiagnosed. Her doctor ordered a great deal of blood work in conjunction with adoption clinic - 21 vials!! The results came in, and we still do not know what is causing the low platelet count. We did find out she has had some of her vaccines and is anemic. The doctor did say that she is relatively healthy, but we are not sure of the cause of her low platelets. We go back to doctor on Monday for more tests. He is trying to discover if this is being caused by her bone marrow or her spleen. Provided things go well on Monday and her blood count is not too low, she will have her dental surgery on Tuesday.
We knew that medical records in China were not always correct, but we are thankful she is here in America receiving the proper care. We know she is in God's hand, and he has a plan for this little girl. Our older girls are being great during this as well as being excited about hanging out with their friends instead of having to be at the hospital. We are so thankful for our friends who are helping us with our girls and allowing them to hang with their family.
I do have some new pictures of her, but I have not had a chance to edit them. There has been alot of playing, having fun, games, and tea parties happening in between trying to work on her English and a little bit of school. It is slowly coming, and we are happy she is finally calling herself Rae Dear. I will try to post photos soon.
Many of you know Rae was in the special needs program in China due to her blood disorder and strambismus. Upon returning home she had been scheduled to go to the adoption clinic at Children's, but due to a death in the family it was postponed. While we were waiting to go, she started having some pain in her teeth. We talked to the clinic, and they put us in touch with the hematology clinic to clear her to go to the dental clinic. Rae was a trooper thru all of this. She was seen by hematology and then sent down to the dental clinic. Dental discovered multiple things wrong with her teeth - decay, staining, cavities, etc. They told us we could do 4 - 1 hour visits or one visit under anesthesia and she is done. We chose the later. During all this the anesthesia dept. would not clear her to do it in the clinic but would rather do it in the main OR because her platelets were too low. Other back and forth things went on, and so we have been waiting on them to call with our surgery date. Back at the hematology lab they were trying to discover what was causing her low platelets. The diagnosis given to her in China, was incorrect. While she may have had it when she was found, she no longer did or maybe it was misdiagnosed. Her doctor ordered a great deal of blood work in conjunction with adoption clinic - 21 vials!! The results came in, and we still do not know what is causing the low platelet count. We did find out she has had some of her vaccines and is anemic. The doctor did say that she is relatively healthy, but we are not sure of the cause of her low platelets. We go back to doctor on Monday for more tests. He is trying to discover if this is being caused by her bone marrow or her spleen. Provided things go well on Monday and her blood count is not too low, she will have her dental surgery on Tuesday.
We knew that medical records in China were not always correct, but we are thankful she is here in America receiving the proper care. We know she is in God's hand, and he has a plan for this little girl. Our older girls are being great during this as well as being excited about hanging out with their friends instead of having to be at the hospital. We are so thankful for our friends who are helping us with our girls and allowing them to hang with their family.
I do have some new pictures of her, but I have not had a chance to edit them. There has been alot of playing, having fun, games, and tea parties happening in between trying to work on her English and a little bit of school. It is slowly coming, and we are happy she is finally calling herself Rae Dear. I will try to post photos soon.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Three Weeks
It is hard to believe we have been a family of 5 for 3 weeks now. We are still trying to get settled into routine. Our family did have a hiccup last week with the passing of hubby's grandmother, and we had to travel to South Carolina. Rae did great meeting family, and was not too shy. She is normally shy when entering a new place, but I believe when she realizes we are still there she will warm up to people - mostly kids and females.
Her language is slowing coming. We have figured out what some words are, and she is learning to say a few things in English. She can almost count to 10 in English as part of the way thru the alphabet. She loves to get in the floor and play with the girls and "baba". She is definitely all personality. It is fun watching to see what food she likes and does not like.
She is not the same girl that was kicking and screaming out of the civil affairs office 3 weeks ago. She is a Dear girl now!!
Her language is slowing coming. We have figured out what some words are, and she is learning to say a few things in English. She can almost count to 10 in English as part of the way thru the alphabet. She loves to get in the floor and play with the girls and "baba". She is definitely all personality. It is fun watching to see what food she likes and does not like.
She is not the same girl that was kicking and screaming out of the civil affairs office 3 weeks ago. She is a Dear girl now!!
Monday, January 2, 2012
First Snow
We are adjusting to our new little family member. It does slightly feel weird having another person in our house, but it has been great. She is actually sleeping in her bed and in her room. We are working on our English as well. She did go to church for the first time yesterday. She did very well but was a little shy. It was funny that we decided to go to our favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch after church.
Today, Rae got to see her first snow. I got her all dressed in snow clothes and we headed out. She thought her snow pants were funny. I think she enjoyed, and I cannot wait to we get enough to sled down our hill.
Check her out.
Today, Rae got to see her first snow. I got her all dressed in snow clothes and we headed out. She thought her snow pants were funny. I think she enjoyed, and I cannot wait to we get enough to sled down our hill.
Check her out.
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| walking in the snow |
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| learning about snowballs |
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