6 months home

Today marks 6 months home. Thinking back to that day 6 months ago brings so many emotions. After roughly 22 hours of travel with a 7 month old baby that we barely knew, we were home!!! Sometimes it seems as if it was just yesterday we brought our little man home. Other times it seems he has been here forever. What a true blessing he is to so many.

 

Throwing in the towel

We feel we have been chasing the wind in regards to the past medical stuff with Kobe. He went in for liver enyzmes. I asked about constipation. The next thing I know is that he has an inflammed esphogus. Wow did we jump around a lot. Jason and I didn't really want to go through the Upper GI anyway, but when the doctor got on the phone and told Jason how important it is....we went with it. I have an adoptive dad that is a radiologist. He said that inflammation can NOT be seen in an Upper GI. What?!?!?!? Seriously!!!! We already felt we were getting the run around. We trust these doctors as we don't know medicine. Frustrated! We are very, very frustrated!!!!! We are throwing in the towel on all of this medical testing. Jason and I both feel nothing is wrong. I said yesterday we need to realize that parental instinct is right most of the time. Yes there could be something there, but I would think that we would notice some symptoms. He is happy. He is eating and drinking well. He is sleeping fine. He is developmentally on task. I just feel we would be seeing something if he didn't feel good. I know the doctors need to tell us to continue to search for the problem. I understand that is their job. They also don't want to be sued if something isn't checked for. We have done some invasive testing with this little boy who seems fine!!! I wonder how much of their findings are some what normal. These doctors don't deal with kids from a third world country on a daily basis. They don't constantly deal with kids that were very malnourished when they were first born. I'm sure both of those things have to play into his medical "workup." Time will tell. We hope we aren't missing anything and would feel awful if we stopped looking for something. We just feel we are looking for problems that aren't really there. We hope and pray we are making the right decision.

Upper GI results

Monday Kobe had an Upper GI. The hardest part was having him not eat for 8 hours. Our appointment wasn't until 10:30 (which is a lot of awake hours for a hungry little one year old) He drank the barium decent as he was starving. He wasn't impressed that they were holding him down.  We found that his esophagus is inflammed. So the doctor diagnosed him with acid reflux and gave us a prescription of Prilosec. He would like to recheck him in a few months to see if the inflammation was down. If not, he thought he might need a scope. My goodness we are doing some invasive testing on a little boy that has NO SYMPTOMS!!!! It is so frustrating!! Of course we want the best for Kobe. We want to make sure we aren't missing something. Yet I'm not sure how much these doctors know (or have experience) with little people from a third world country. It is hard to keep testing, testing, testing when he seems okay.

A wise friend (and also adoptive mom) suggested being tested for H pylori. Her kids tested positive for this and didn't have symptoms.

Today I contacted our International Pediatrician. We had to have a certain doctor review Kobe's medical information before we said "Yes! We will take this child." She has lots of knowledge when it comes to all of the special things that these little ones may have. I'm at a loss as to what to do next. She did agree H pylori would be the starting point. She has had to work super hard to convince other doctors that kids can get this. Kids don't usually get this, but it is seen in International adopted children. She did say a scope might be the best way to find some specific answers instead of flying blind.

I have an appointment in town to get him tested for H pylori. It would be nice if we could get to the bottom of this.  I'm sure this update is clear as mud. As long as you feel the same as we do. :)
 

One year pictures

We tried numerous times to get some pictures to remember this little boy's first birthday. He was a stinker! He would smile and laugh until the camera was brought out. ;) Due to the talent of the photographer, she was still able to get some great pictures. Thank you, Sarah! Here is one of my favorites.

 

Upper GI scheduled

We went to Sioux Falls a few weeks ago to see a GI doctor in regards to Kobe's liver enzymes. The doctor wasn't concerned with the numbers. When we talked to him about Kobe's hard stools, he decided to do an x-ray. They saw his diaphragm was high and wanted to schedule an Upper GI. We weren't really sure if this was necessary. We kind of felt we were testing him to find nothing was wrong. We weren't really concerned about things b/c he didn't have any symptoms. So the nurse called to see about scheduling the Upper GI. I told her we had decided not to do it. After talking to the doctor, she called back. The doctor said it really needed to be done. The doctor even got on the phone and talked to Jason. Okay...apparently we should do this. ???  They are concerned about some sort of hernia. Who knows?!! On Monday, he is scheduled for an Upper GI at 10:30 with an appointment with the doctor to follow. I'm dreading this so much. He can't have anything to eat for 8 hours before. He can have clear liquids for 4 hours ahead of time. I can't imagine. I do wonder how they will get him to drink the chalky barium. Maybe he will suck it down because he will be starving!  It could be interesting. Needless to say, I'm hoping we don't find anything. It is hard not knowing if he just is going to have some abnormalities or if there really is a problem. I don't need to have an answer. We don't have to test him to death. Yet, we don't want to overlook something. We will see what comes from this. Your prayers Sunday night/Monday night would be appreciated as we prepare for this test. Thanks!