Dr. Visits

We have had a busy week with doctor visits so far. Cara had to go to the Department of Health in Yakima on Monday for her TB test. It was pretty uneventful; the nurse just took down our contact information and said she wanted another chest x-ray. I asked her why, since the one I brought her was taken on October 16th. Then she decided she would wait for our appointment at the University of Washington International Adoption clinic on Tuesday and see what they say.

Cara's appointment was at 10:30 in Seattle. She saw Dr. Davies, who I thought was wonderful. I wonder how old he is, he seems young but also like he knows his stuff. He had a student doctor with him, too, who was also very nice. Dr. Davies thought Cara looked good. She is in the 10th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. He listened to her heart and said she had a "standard VSD heart murmur." He took the chest x-rays down to the UW radiology department and they accepted them and scanned them into their system, so the x-rays must have been ok from China. Dr. Davies gave us a referral to see a pediatric cardiologist, ordered a lab work up for Cara, and said he'd like to see her back in 1-2 months.

For Cara's lab work he wanted to do something called titers, which is just a blood work check to see if her immunizations are all in effect. He also wanted to do some sort of blood test to check and see if she has TB in her system. If that test is positive, she will have to start a course of 9 months of antibiotics. If it's negative, we can just watch her TB class B result rather than start on the antibiotics. We went down to the lab for the blood draw. Cara started to tear up and cry the minute she sat on her daddy's lap in the chair. She knew something was coming and it wasn't going to be good. They couldn't get a vein in her left arm, so they had to poke her again in her right arm. They took a lot of blood! I didn't count all of the vials, but I know there was a MINIMUM of 6. She was a trooper, though, and got to pick two prizes for the two pokes. She picked star sunglasses and a bright yellow bracelet. The picture above is Cara leaving the doctor's office. She doesn't look too happy. Now I just need to wait for the lab results and make an appointment with the cardiologist.

Side note: The Carnival ship that had an engine room fire and has been floating adrift off the coast of Mexico has my parents on it! We can't get in touch with them, but we're sure they're OK. I can't picture my mother eating Spam, Pop Tarts, and other Navy rations, but I guess if you're hungry, you'll eat anything! I hope to hear from them soon.