DISCLAIMER: I really need to stop blogging after 11:00. Consider this my apology for any incoherent mumbling or typos in the following post. Must. Go. To. Sleep.
Since being matched with our older son in December, we've been able to learn quite a bit about him and his orphanage. We got to send a vicarious hug when an adoptive mama stopped by his room while picking up her little boy in March. That same amazing mama has given us six pictures of our son, tripling our photo collection. I'm even part of a Facebook group of parents who are all adopting from Li'l Man's orphanage.
Since being matched with our older son in December, we've been able to learn quite a bit about him and his orphanage. We got to send a vicarious hug when an adoptive mama stopped by his room while picking up her little boy in March. That same amazing mama has given us six pictures of our son, tripling our photo collection. I'm even part of a Facebook group of parents who are all adopting from Li'l Man's orphanage.
Unfortunately, we haven't had the same luck with Li'l Dude.
We still have just three pictures.
And, cute as they are, three is just not enough.
We know he turned one in March, and that he has a blood disorder called thalassemia. We've tracked down an awesome pediatric hematologist
(Dr. O) who looked at Li'l Dude's file for free and assured us that he is 100%
prepared to treat Li'l Dude's thalassemia once we get him home.
After reviewing Li'l Dude's file, Dr. O was pretty convinced that Li'l Dude has a less severe form of thalassemia (called thalassemia minor or thalassemia trait). More serious thalassemia is treated with blood transfusions. Depending on the severity, those transfusions can be infrequent (as needed or every few months) or scheduled regularly (as often as every two weeks). When we said yes to Li'l Dude, we knew we needed to be prepared for his thalassemia to fall anywhere on that continuum (no transfusions or medication needed to transfusions every two weeks and daily chelation therapy).
After reviewing Li'l Dude's file, Dr. O was pretty convinced that Li'l Dude has a less severe form of thalassemia (called thalassemia minor or thalassemia trait). More serious thalassemia is treated with blood transfusions. Depending on the severity, those transfusions can be infrequent (as needed or every few months) or scheduled regularly (as often as every two weeks). When we said yes to Li'l Dude, we knew we needed to be prepared for his thalassemia to fall anywhere on that continuum (no transfusions or medication needed to transfusions every two weeks and daily chelation therapy).
There is currently a blood shortage in China. Because of the shortage, some children with thalassemia are not receiving the transfusions they so desperately need. Within the last month, an adoptive family lost their little girl just weeks before they would have been given permission to travel and bring her home. Two other families arrived to pick up their children and discovered that their hemoglobin levels had fallen into the 4's - low enough to send them to the ICU here in the States.
Even though Li'l Dude's file looks good, we have been working to get an update to make sure that he is getting transfusions if necessary. When we were first matched at the beginning of March, we requested an update but never heard anything. Two weeks ago, we requested another update through a different contact.
Last Monday we got an email saying that Li'l Dude's orphanage is unable to give us new information because of a law change in China. But...they agreed to answer a few of the questions we had included in our update request.
We learned that Li'l Dude likes toys that make sounds. (Uh-oh.)
We learned that he can stand on his own and walk with help. (Yay!)
We learned that he is outgoing and likes to play with other children. (Hopefully he likes to play with crazy dogs, too.)
Best of all, we learned that Li'l Dude has never had a transfusion. This is awesome news! The fact that Li'l Dude is growing and healthy without transfusions means that he probably does indeed have a less severe form of thalassemia. We have every reason to hope that he will never need a transfusion and that the wonderful Dr. O won't become our BFF after all.
So, while we still don't know much about our Li'l Dude. we are oh-so-happy for these little bits of information. And I guess that
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