Kathy: The Best Patient Ever

Today we took Leah May to the Riley Hospital International Adoption Clinic. For those of you out of towners, Riley Hospital is a terrific children's hospital in downtown Indianapolis. Their international adoption clinic consists of a small team of doctors and other medical professionals who specialize in examining adoptees who have just arrived from other countries.

The checkup begins with a thorough examination, as well as questions about the child's background, living situation in their home country, behavior with Mom and Dad, etc. The exam ends with the hospital taking A LOT of blood so that they can test for everything from HIV to hepatitis to nutritional deficiencies, as well as verify that the child has actually received the vaccinations that their home country says they've been given. In Leah May's case, they took ten (ten!) vials of blood.

Everyone at the hospital seemed impressed with how easygoing Leah May was during the exam. As for Mom and Dad, we couldn't been more proud when poor Leah May said nothing more than a loud "Ouch!" when the needle went in her arm. When we took Rene to the clinic three years ago, we both had to hold him down and he screamed the entire time--though in his defense he was totally unprepared because we didn't know beforehand that they'd be taking his blood. Now older and wiser, we had asked our friend Nyllaine to tell Leah May about the exam and the blood test so that she would know what to expect.

One possible issue is that the doctors suspect that Leah May has one leg longer than the other. We expressed concern about her rather strange walk (her butt swivels back and forth while her legs stay somewhat stiff), so the doctor sent us over to get an x-ray on her legs and hips.

If it turns out that she does have one longer leg, treatments depend on the discrepancy in length. If she has only a slight difference, she'll probably just have to wear a shoe insert for the rest of her life. If the discrepancy is significant, treatments range from surgery to highly unpleasant orthopedic devices to lengthen the shorter leg. The doctor hemmed and hawed trying to explain the latter until David cut to the chase: "A rack?" he asked? "Yes, pretty much!" she replied.

We should have the results of the x-ray by Friday, but if I remember from Rene's exam, the blood test results will probably take a lot longer. Regardless of what the doctors find, we're confident that we have an overall healthy little girl, and a spunky one at that. After all, if she can smile and joke while losing 10 vials of blood, how bad could a rack be?