First of all, we have very good news to report from the doctors office. We went to see him on Friday with a urine sample from Lily. The three of us were in the office when the nurse came in with the results. The doctor looked shocked and took off his glasses like he wanted to be sure he was reading it correctly. He very excitedly told me that her urine had negative traces of protein. YEAH!!! This means she will still need to be on the full dose of prednisone for 30 days and then we can start weaning her off of it. I will be so glad. While part of me knows this medicine is obviously helping her, there is another part of me that feels like I'm giving her poison, knowing all of the possible side effects. The only ones the doctor is really worried about is weight gain as her appetite will continue to increase, so we will need to continue to monitor her diet closely. There is also a possibility that she may get diabetes as a side effect. While this would go away once she is off of the prednisone, we would have to treat her as a diabetic until then. We pray all will go smoothly and she won't experience that.
And then there is today...a VERY big day. For many weeks, months even, Lily has been practicing sitting on the potty. I have been telling her that if she goes pee-pee in the potty, she will get M&M's. She repeats it to me all.the.time but has never gone. Today, she came up to me and said, "Mommy...go pee-pee in the potty RIGHT NOW!". I said ok, thinking she was just going to get in another "practice" session. I took her clothes off (yes, all of them. For whatever reason, she likes to be naked on the potty) and set her down. I started cleaning in the bathroom and as I looked over to check on her, she was standing over the potty looking down into it. I looked in and could not believe my eyes. My big girl went pee-pee in the potty! I got so excited. Robert heard and came down the hall to check it out. We both started cheering and clapping. Lily just kept looking at us saying, "Go pee-pee in the potty, get M&M's." So she got her special treat and enjoyed every last one. She was still running around "nekkie" as I was shaking the kithen rugs out back. She came out with me and proceeded to pee on the patio. I explained to her that we only go pee-pee on the potty, not outside! She looked at me and said, "Shayna (our dog) go pee-pee outside!" Aye. We still have some work to do, but what a big day/week for baby Lily!
Showing posts with label Dr. Visit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Visit. Show all posts
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
More Dr. Visits and My First Adoption "Run-In"
So I think poor Lily believes that every time we get in the car we are going to the doctors office. Poor thing. I don't blame her. Every time we have gotten in the car this week it has been to go to the doctor. I think we need to take her out to do something fun...very soon!
Anyway, we had to go back to the doctor this morning to have her TB test read and take another urine sample. The TB is negative and the urine is still chock full of protein. Her weight has gone down a little which is good. He sent us home and said he would call later with prescription info. When he called us, he said he wanted Lily to go to the lab for a couple more blood tests just to be on the safe side and rule out any other possibilities. I was not excited about that! But Lily was such a trooper today. She didn't cry at the office at all. In fact she was talking to the nurse and the doctor and running around like she lived there (which she practically has this week!). So after our morning visit, we went back to the office to pick up the prescription paper and the form for the additional blood work. We headed up to the lab, gave the nurse our paperwork and waited our turn. There was one other lady in the waiting room who was having fun watching Lily. She asked me if I was her mom or if I took care of her. I said, "She is my daughter.". She looked kind of shocked and said, "Oh. But she is Chinese." I said, "Yes. We adopted her." She said, "Oh. Ok." I thought that was the end of it until this brilliant statement came out of her mouth. "She acts like she thinks you are her real mom." ??????? After picking my jaw up off the floor I said, "I AM her real mom." She started to say something, but was saved by the nurse calling her in for her turn. I'm sure she didn't really understand what she was saying, at least I hope not! But after being home for a year and 3 months, this was the first dumb thing I've had said to me. Not too bad!:o)
Anyway, we had to go back to the doctor this morning to have her TB test read and take another urine sample. The TB is negative and the urine is still chock full of protein. Her weight has gone down a little which is good. He sent us home and said he would call later with prescription info. When he called us, he said he wanted Lily to go to the lab for a couple more blood tests just to be on the safe side and rule out any other possibilities. I was not excited about that! But Lily was such a trooper today. She didn't cry at the office at all. In fact she was talking to the nurse and the doctor and running around like she lived there (which she practically has this week!). So after our morning visit, we went back to the office to pick up the prescription paper and the form for the additional blood work. We headed up to the lab, gave the nurse our paperwork and waited our turn. There was one other lady in the waiting room who was having fun watching Lily. She asked me if I was her mom or if I took care of her. I said, "She is my daughter.". She looked kind of shocked and said, "Oh. But she is Chinese." I said, "Yes. We adopted her." She said, "Oh. Ok." I thought that was the end of it until this brilliant statement came out of her mouth. "She acts like she thinks you are her real mom." ??????? After picking my jaw up off the floor I said, "I AM her real mom." She started to say something, but was saved by the nurse calling her in for her turn. I'm sure she didn't really understand what she was saying, at least I hope not! But after being home for a year and 3 months, this was the first dumb thing I've had said to me. Not too bad!:o)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
My Poor Baby
We are in the process of confirming her diagnosis, but it looks like Lily has Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome. I'll start from the beginning...
About a week or two ago, I started noticing Lily was feeling heavier. I figured she must be experiencing a growth spurt, but deep down I had a feeling that something just wasn't right. It wasn't until this last Saturday that Robert and I both noticed something wrong. She woke up that morning with very puffy eyes and a runny nose. Maybe the puffy eyes were caused by the cold she apparently had? We went about our usual routine. Lily was of course her happy funloving self. We took her to the park in the afternoon. At one point she was going down the slide and I noticed her legs seemed to be larger than normal. My first thought was, we have GOT to cut back on the snacks! Sunday morning she woke up still very puffy. We opted not to go to church as she was still dealing with her cold and I didn't want her to be around the other kids. We did, however, decide to keep our lunch date with Robert's mom. When I got her dressed, I noticed the outfit I was putting on her that was a little too big just 1 week before was now fitting her very snug. As I was carrying Lily in the parking lot I couldn't help but think she was just feeling too heavy. I weighed her when we got home and according to the scale, she had put on 4-5 pounds within the last 2-3 weeks. Now Lily is a good eater, but she certainly hasn't eaten enough to warrant that much weight gain. First thing Monday morning I called her pediatrician and made an appointment. The doctor looked at her and confirmed she was definately puffy and bloated. He asked a few questions and mentioned the Nephrotic Syndrome, but needed a urine sample and blood work to confirm it. (Of course all I heard was, "Syndrome blah blah blah kidney blah blah protein blah blah steroids blah blah blah don't worry". Ha!) He attached a little bag to her and I put her diaper back on (the things they have in the medical field never cease to amaze me!). I took her to the park as she was pretty upset about having been to the doctor, and then went back to the office to return the sample. He came back within minutes and said her urine was "loaded with protein" and he was pretty sure of the diagnosis. Basically her kidneys are losing protein so water is moving into the body tissues which is what is causing the swelling. So we left the office and headed to the lab for her blood work. She'd never had her blood drawn like this before and needless to say, I was pretty nervous about it. While the phlebotomist was very nice, she had to poke and dig around in both of Lily's arms and came up with nothing. Lily was screaming her head off...louder than I'd ever heard her scream, and I was going back and forth between wanting to punch that lady in the face and feeling sorry for her because I knew she was doing her best. Lily was just so dehydrated that is was difficult to find her veins. She advised me to take Lily home and give her water, water and more water, and bring her back in the morning. Yes....that's what I want to do...put my daughter through more torture. The nurse felt so badly, she kept handing Lily more and more stickers to try to make her feel better, which actually did work! Anyway, I took her home and tried to keep myself calm about the whole thing. I looked up the syndrome on a website the doctor recommended and felt much better about the prognosis. This morning I got Lily up and when I got her dressed, her feet were so swollen I couldn't even get her shoes on, so she wore her kitty slippers, which she loved! We had a much better experience today. The phlebotomist got Lily's vein on the first try. Lily still screamed the whole time, but at least it's done now. She stopped screaming and was happy again as soon as the needle came out...and let's just say Lily has quite the sticker collection going! So now we go back to the doctor tomorrow to read Lily's TB test. I guess she had to have it again because the treatment for this syndrome is steroids and she has to have a negative TB. We also have to wait for the bloood tests to come back to confirm everything and then the doctor will talk more about her treatment. She will need to be on a low sodium diet, which is just as well anyway...for all of us. The good news is she will outgrow it. She may never even have another bout with this, or she could have them occasionally through her teens. At least it is minor and there will be no permanant damage. I keep wanting to feel sorry for her, but she has no clue there is even anything wrong with her! She is such an amazing little girl...a little trooper. She is so full of joy and laughter. We are so blessed. The doctor told me I should take pictures of her...not sure why. Maybe for the specialist he will refer us to after the blood work comes back? Anyway, here is my poor puffy baby.
About a week or two ago, I started noticing Lily was feeling heavier. I figured she must be experiencing a growth spurt, but deep down I had a feeling that something just wasn't right. It wasn't until this last Saturday that Robert and I both noticed something wrong. She woke up that morning with very puffy eyes and a runny nose. Maybe the puffy eyes were caused by the cold she apparently had? We went about our usual routine. Lily was of course her happy funloving self. We took her to the park in the afternoon. At one point she was going down the slide and I noticed her legs seemed to be larger than normal. My first thought was, we have GOT to cut back on the snacks! Sunday morning she woke up still very puffy. We opted not to go to church as she was still dealing with her cold and I didn't want her to be around the other kids. We did, however, decide to keep our lunch date with Robert's mom. When I got her dressed, I noticed the outfit I was putting on her that was a little too big just 1 week before was now fitting her very snug. As I was carrying Lily in the parking lot I couldn't help but think she was just feeling too heavy. I weighed her when we got home and according to the scale, she had put on 4-5 pounds within the last 2-3 weeks. Now Lily is a good eater, but she certainly hasn't eaten enough to warrant that much weight gain. First thing Monday morning I called her pediatrician and made an appointment. The doctor looked at her and confirmed she was definately puffy and bloated. He asked a few questions and mentioned the Nephrotic Syndrome, but needed a urine sample and blood work to confirm it. (Of course all I heard was, "Syndrome blah blah blah kidney blah blah protein blah blah steroids blah blah blah don't worry". Ha!) He attached a little bag to her and I put her diaper back on (the things they have in the medical field never cease to amaze me!). I took her to the park as she was pretty upset about having been to the doctor, and then went back to the office to return the sample. He came back within minutes and said her urine was "loaded with protein" and he was pretty sure of the diagnosis. Basically her kidneys are losing protein so water is moving into the body tissues which is what is causing the swelling. So we left the office and headed to the lab for her blood work. She'd never had her blood drawn like this before and needless to say, I was pretty nervous about it. While the phlebotomist was very nice, she had to poke and dig around in both of Lily's arms and came up with nothing. Lily was screaming her head off...louder than I'd ever heard her scream, and I was going back and forth between wanting to punch that lady in the face and feeling sorry for her because I knew she was doing her best. Lily was just so dehydrated that is was difficult to find her veins. She advised me to take Lily home and give her water, water and more water, and bring her back in the morning. Yes....that's what I want to do...put my daughter through more torture. The nurse felt so badly, she kept handing Lily more and more stickers to try to make her feel better, which actually did work! Anyway, I took her home and tried to keep myself calm about the whole thing. I looked up the syndrome on a website the doctor recommended and felt much better about the prognosis. This morning I got Lily up and when I got her dressed, her feet were so swollen I couldn't even get her shoes on, so she wore her kitty slippers, which she loved! We had a much better experience today. The phlebotomist got Lily's vein on the first try. Lily still screamed the whole time, but at least it's done now. She stopped screaming and was happy again as soon as the needle came out...and let's just say Lily has quite the sticker collection going! So now we go back to the doctor tomorrow to read Lily's TB test. I guess she had to have it again because the treatment for this syndrome is steroids and she has to have a negative TB. We also have to wait for the bloood tests to come back to confirm everything and then the doctor will talk more about her treatment. She will need to be on a low sodium diet, which is just as well anyway...for all of us. The good news is she will outgrow it. She may never even have another bout with this, or she could have them occasionally through her teens. At least it is minor and there will be no permanant damage. I keep wanting to feel sorry for her, but she has no clue there is even anything wrong with her! She is such an amazing little girl...a little trooper. She is so full of joy and laughter. We are so blessed. The doctor told me I should take pictures of her...not sure why. Maybe for the specialist he will refer us to after the blood work comes back? Anyway, here is my poor puffy baby.
Lily having lunch after her horrible no good day at the doctor's office. She would look at the bandages on her arms, then look at me with a very serious face and say, "All done doctor's office." She is so stinkin' cute!
Her legs look really puffy in this picture.
And here she is, cracking herself up, with no clue as to what's going on. Just a happy, sweet little girl.
And here she is, cracking herself up, with no clue as to what's going on. Just a happy, sweet little girl.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Dr. Visit
Lily had her first doctor appointment with her new pediatrition yesterday. It went really well. We took him the x-rays they had taken in China. He said he wasn't convinced it was pneumonia but he was going to send them to the radiologist to be sure. He took her off of the medication she had been given in China and prescribed albuterol to clear up her congestion. He also gave us a new formula with iron as her levels are low. He said she seems to be perfectly healthy...a little underweight but she will catch up in no time! They also gave her a TB test just to be safe. (I'm no expert, but I know there will be a reaction where the test was given if she is positive, and so far, nothing.) She'll go back to the doctor tomorrow to have it read and to go over what the radiologist said about the x-rays. I pray that nothing out of the ordinary shows up and that she will be given a clean bill of health!
She seems to be adjusting well to her new home. She is more and more interested in Shayna and Max. She watches them continuously when they are in the room and tries to pet them...if they let her! She has been reaching out for her daddy more and more. He did everything for her this morning...fed her, changed her diaper and got her dressed. I think she's starting to get used to him! After he got out of the shower this morning, she cried when she saw him and reached for him. We were both so excited! Robert said, "She likes me! She really likes me!". So funny.
I will have more pictures soon. I don't know how to compress them, so once Robert gets that done for me (thank you honey!) I'll put them up.
She seems to be adjusting well to her new home. She is more and more interested in Shayna and Max. She watches them continuously when they are in the room and tries to pet them...if they let her! She has been reaching out for her daddy more and more. He did everything for her this morning...fed her, changed her diaper and got her dressed. I think she's starting to get used to him! After he got out of the shower this morning, she cried when she saw him and reached for him. We were both so excited! Robert said, "She likes me! She really likes me!". So funny.
I will have more pictures soon. I don't know how to compress them, so once Robert gets that done for me (thank you honey!) I'll put them up.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Feeling Better
Last night was a much better night for Lily...and for us! When we first put her down (very late as we had a treatment at 10:00pm) she coughed quite a bit. Finally she fell asleep. I watched her for a while, making sure I could see her little chest moving up and down. Next thing I knew it was morning! I got up to get ready for the day before waking her. When I came out of the bathroom, daddy had her on his lap feeding her her morning bottle. What an amazing feeling. It was so precious to see him there with her...his daughter. As soon as she saw me she started fussing, but not nearly as badly as she usually does. They are doing so much better. I finished feeding her as Robert got ready. The 2 of them went down to breakfast together while I finished preparing for the day. It's so quiet in this room when she isn't here. When I went down daddy was feeding her breakfast and she didn't cry to come to me! That was quite a milestone for her. After breakfast we went back to the clinic for her nebulization treatment. We were prepared for a 15 minute screaming session. We got about 30 seconds of mild protest and then she fell asleep! At this very moment, she is lying in her crib and daddy is lying on the bed next to her. We thought she'd be exhausted and want to take a nap, but it's not to be. She is giggling and making her little baby sounds, trying with all her might to sit up by herself. Our baby is going to be ok...praise God. The next thing we have to do is go to the Consulate for our oath at 3:00, and then the last nebulization and final doctor visit at 5:30. Then we come back to the room to pack our things and get ready to head home. I've never looked forward to going home so much. Please continue to pray for her health, and for our travels tomorrow. I'll post again once more before we leave, and hopefully I'll have a few more pictures. We didn't get any yesterday with all that was going on, but we will be sure to get a picture of Dr. Nong...our hero!
Praises and Prayer Requests
Today has been a very long day. We spent another pretty much sleepless night with Lily last night. She was up coughing all night long and it started sounding worse. This morning she was wheezing so after breakfast we decided we'd better have a doctor check her out. Our guide gave us the address of a clinic nearby at the Garden Hotel. We got there and waited not too long before seeing the doctor on duty. He ordered some blood tests and a chest X-Ray. Before he sent us for the tests he was telling us how "these babies" (referring to babies in orphanages) always have problems and that Lily didn't look too good. He then told us to wait about an hour and a half for the test results. We hung around the waiting room. Today was my true breaking-in as a mother...I've never been so worried in all of my life. Lily was playing as usual and Robert and I were just kind of staring off into nowhere...wondering, praying. When the doctor finally came back he showed us her X-Ray. He showed us there was something on her lung. He ruled out bronchitis, but said it could be pneumonia or mono. If it was mono she would have to be hospitalized and we would not be able to leave on Friday. My heart sank. The blood test results showed some things were off (I can't remember specifically right now) but it could be malnutrition (not surprising) or something worse. He recommended a nebulizer treatment and that we wait to see the Pediatric Specialist who was coming in at 5:00 (by now it was now 3:30). Everything in me wanted to get the heck out of there and just get my baby home. Being sick in a foreign country is not exactly ideal! Robert and I decided we would meet with him...better safe than sorry. She took her treatment, screaming the whole time. Afterwards we went down to get something to eat. I couldn't even think about eating, but Lily hadn't eaten since her bottle at lunch. After we ate we got back up to the office and ended up waiting another hour for the Pediatrition. He was stuck in traffic and the nurse kept coming in telling us "15 more minutes". That was a long 15 minutes! We were glad we waited. Dr. Nong diagnosed her with pnuemonia. She got another nebulizer treatment and he prescribed 3 different medications for her. He was so kind and understanding. After going to get her prescription, he came back and said that 2 of them were not available at the clinic and asked us to follow him to his hospital so we could get it there. We all shared a cab and he generously paid the cab driver...refusing to take our money. Once we got inside the hospital he took us up to get the prescriptions. Robert thanked him again for the cab, and he in turn thanked us for adopting one of their orphans. My heart melted. We got the precriptions and he walked us out to hail us a cab back to our hotel. We came back long enough to feed Lily again, give her her antibiotics, check in with our moms and grab a quick bite before we had to head out for her next treatment at 10:00. The same nurse helped us again. She was very sweet. Lily screamed again for a while, but finally gave up and fell asleep. The nurse also told us how grateful she was that people like us come to adopt the babies. She told us that we were very lucky, and so was Lily. We agreed! Now we are back at the hotel and completely exhausted. We have to go back tomorrow for 2 more treatments. One at 9:30 and again at 5:30. We also have an appointment at the consulate at 3:00 to take an oath. Antoher busy day. Now that this story has turned into a novel...here are our praises and prayer requests:
Praises:
1)That we took Lily to the doctor today rather than waiting until tomorow or until we got home. She will now be able to finish her treatments in time for us to fly home. Who knows what would have happened if we had waited.
2)That we got to meet Dr. Nong and for his kindness to Lily and to us and doing all that he can to help us.
3)For the families here and for all of you at home who are continually praying for us...we are more grateful than we can say.
Prayer Requests:
1)Please pray for healing for Lily...that she would return to complete health quickly, and that she is able to get some good rest tonight.
2)For Robert and I...that we would trust God in this situation and we will find comfort in His soverignty.
I feel much better about this than I did when we first got to the clinic. At least we now know what the problem is and are able to do something for her. Thank you again for your continued prayers...please keep them coming. We can use all of the prayers we can get.
Praises:
1)That we took Lily to the doctor today rather than waiting until tomorow or until we got home. She will now be able to finish her treatments in time for us to fly home. Who knows what would have happened if we had waited.
2)That we got to meet Dr. Nong and for his kindness to Lily and to us and doing all that he can to help us.
3)For the families here and for all of you at home who are continually praying for us...we are more grateful than we can say.
Prayer Requests:
1)Please pray for healing for Lily...that she would return to complete health quickly, and that she is able to get some good rest tonight.
2)For Robert and I...that we would trust God in this situation and we will find comfort in His soverignty.
I feel much better about this than I did when we first got to the clinic. At least we now know what the problem is and are able to do something for her. Thank you again for your continued prayers...please keep them coming. We can use all of the prayers we can get.
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