Medical Magnet!!

Yesterday was the first full day of Stasik's and our lives together. I guess he could not wait for the day to start; he decided that sleeping until 4:oo am was long enough and he got up just long enough to make sure we were still there I guess. After we laid him down next to us in bed for awhile, he was ready to go back down. He slept until we woke him at 6:30. It was very difficult for the entire family to get up and going. It has been so emotional the last few days; the final sprint and finish...we wish we could have stayed in bed all day. The day started out like any other day, oh except for the new little guy we had to get up in the morning. It takes us about 25 minutes to get Carter up, fed, dressed, and in the car to school, (Carter =x). The time it took to get both of them ready was about 1 and a half hours. Now I was never really good with word problems in math, but if x=25 then 2x should equal 50; not in our house!! Anyway, our inadequacy in math almost made us late for our doctor's appointment; the one we were very anxious to get to. We dropped Carter off at school and then we were off to get some answers.
We received very little information from the Ukraine. We received some records, but most of them are incomplete and all of them are in Russian. We plan to get them translated, but for now we needed to figure out if there are any immediate issues we should be addressing. Over the past 2 months we have learned that doctors in the Ukraine do not do a real thorough job of checking out kids with special needs. They tend to give up easily, especially when dealing with congenital issues. We wanted to see real doctors; specialists that actually type information into computers and do not use ochre to write cyrillic on cave walls or quillpens on papyrus leaves.
The first thing we did was weigh and measure Stasik. He was 29 inches long and 14.1 pounds. Now he has gained some weight since we first met him and I can assume a lot of that came in the time he was with Debbie overseas. Since the original weights were done with antiquated devices and procedures, I want to begin here; this weight, this length...this is his start point, his new life.
I really wish we would have had time for Stasik to get acclimated to his new life before starting this medical process, but we really feel like there could be a lot at stake. We would never forgive ourselves if we did not thoroughly check him out and do everything possible to help him have a happy, healthy life. Our pediatrician did all of the normal screens in the office and then created a list of specialized tests that needed to be run; blood tests, urine analysis, x-rays, EKG, upper GI, etc. Luckily these will happen over the next week and not in one day. I am not sure how much stress Stasik can handle. As it is, he must feel like he has been abducted by aliens. We put him in a starship, brought him to a foreign land, and then had all these tests run that required a lot of poking and prodding. It isn't a wonder that after a full day of medical, he was asleep in the car seat before we even left the parking lot. We know that it is a means to a very positive end, but we still feel horrible for putting him through all of that.
At the end of the day we received a much anticipated call. The results were in; no abnormalities with blood or urine. X rays were inconclusive as to why his hip and shoulder joints are so loose. The doctor thinks it could be due to the poor muscle tone and malnutrition, but time will tell us more. He has a compressed C1 and C2 vertebrae that was visible on his film. The doctor also explained that this is not totally uncommon and may correct itself at about 5-6 years of age. I have heard of this before, but we will be getting a second opinion.
Overall, a great first day for results. We can now proceed to the ones that concern us the most....for those we will go to Texas Children's Hospital. Our doctor says it could be a couple of weeks before they can get us in, but a quick call to my doctor friend from the plane and now we are in first thing next week. Please continue to pray for our family; understanding and peace!