23 Little Tests

The wife long ago started looking and asking around at her work who they would recommend for a doctor to look at our daughter once we came home. At the orphanage we got scant information about her medical record. We got the normal height and weight and 2 cards filled with the normal childhood immunizations. One thing we were concerned with was exotic diseases that may not be seen, nor well understood here in the US. This is a valid concern as some time ago my dad was working in Guam (a US protectorate/territory) and he came back with some jungle disease that several docs could not diagnose until he hit upon the right specialist. We were referred to a specialist that deals in foreign adoptions only. He also does assessments on the child both physical and some sociological. The visit will kill a full ½ day. Yep he is local (Long Beach). We got a prescription for a few blood tests. Our next stop was the phlebotomist. They looked at the order and said – does he know how much blood this is. I had no idea. They looked at her and shook their heads. I asked if they could draw some today and some the next week. They said it would take another order. Hey no problem. They said they would draw what they could.

Since we want Camille to get a better bond with mom I got the envious position of holding her as they drew blood. It was ugly. She squirmed – she has good veins but man is she a lightweight. They needed 6 vials. After 1 and ½ they blew the vein on the right arm. After a ½ vial on the 2^nd arm that vein got blown too. Almost half of what was needed and 2 vials that did not have the required quantity. I aksed if I needed to get another order. They said they would send what they had to the la and wait for the results. I said I would be back when her arms were healed.

So what did this cost us? Camille is essentially potty trained. However mom got 4 pants filled with poop. I told her that since she can't speak English and we can't speak Oryian this was her way of saying what we did to her was shitty!

Here is the list 21 blood plus 2

CBC + Diff

TSH + T4 (Reflex to FT3 & FT4)

RPR

Venous Lead

Hepatitis A IgG

Hepatitis B S Ag

Hepatitis B S AB - qualitative. Reflex to Hepatitis B AB - quantitative

Hepatitis B core AB IgM

Hepatitis C AB (Reflex RIBA if positive)

HIV AB (Reflex Western blot if positive)

Diphtheria IgG (Post immunization titres)

Tetanus AB (Post immunization titres)

Polio neutralizing AB Types 1,2,3 (Post immunization titres)

Measles IgG (Post immunization titres)

Varicella IgG immunization titres)

Mumps IgG (Post immunization titres)

Rubella IgG (Post immunization titres)

Comp. Metabolic Panel

Phosphorus

Stool O & P (X 2 or 3 depending on lab pick-up sensitivity)

Giardia antigen

Iron studies - Ferritin, Total iron binding capacity (TIBC), serum iron

Urine- U A

So far TB is positive but I have been told that most foreign adoptions test positive because the TB serum that is administered in other countries is more strong than in the US and most of the kids react to the test. One family has a child that has been in the US for over 10 years and is still testing positive for TB although 4 years worth of X-rays shows clear lungs. I will keep a set of the x-rays for our use whether they are clear or not. The other test that came back positive is one of the stomach parasites. Drugs should take care of that.