Thursday, December 4, 2008

Doctors, doctors and more doctors

This morning Nika saw the pediatrician for the first time. They were in love with her ... she did great. We discussed our plan of action, which includes:

Lots of bloodwork ... including, but not limited to ...
*CBC
*Thyroid
*Celiac screen
*Immunization titers
*Lead testing
*Karyotype, with testing past second cell line
*Parasite testing
CAT scan of her head
Ultrasound of her abdomen
ENT visit (already scheduled)
Eye doctor (already scheduled)
Early Intervention (eval scheduled)

The pediatrician indicated a desire to re-immunize Nika ... and I said, "No." LOL. I don't see why we should overwhelm her system with two years of immunizations when we can do titers to see what she is immune to. We also have a list of her immunizations from Russia ... so combining that with her titers is enough for me. The titers will show us what immunities she has and then we will go from there and see what she needs. The pediatrician's reasoning for wanting to re-immunize is that we aren't sure of the immunizations she got (although we do have a list) and probably more importantly, we are not sure of the quality of drug that she got (i.e. it could have been expired, not properly cared for, etc). Either way, I think my plan makes sense and I am the momma so there ya go. LOL.

For the three weeks that we have had Nika, she has had a cold ... green snotty nose and it has turned worse, adding eye gunk. Yum. Anyway, the pediatrician gave us an antibiotic to hopefully clear her out.

About the CAT scan and abdominal ultrasound ... I can't remember how much I shared about Nika's medical history, but her medical record had some loosely translated information about a possible brain hemorrhage at birth (she was born at 36 weeks) and possible calcification on her kidneys. Now ... we had her examined via ultrasound by an American medical clinic in St. Pete and nothing was found, but we want the tests repeated here in the U.S. just to be sure.

Nika's stats today ...
Weight: 25 lbs 11 oz
Height: 32.5 inches
Head circumference: 45 3/4 cm

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Payton and Nika both saw the eye doctor this afternoon. Last time we were there, Payton was mildly far sighted. She continues to be far sighted, but it has actually gotten better. Thank God! Nika, on the other hand, is mildly near sighted, meaning she will most likely need glasses at some point. For now, we will keep on keeping on and return to the eye doctor in one year for reassessment.

3 comments:

  1. Good for you for insisting on titres for Nika! I agree, it does not make sense to re-immunize her just because they were not American vaccines. Hope it shows that she is immune to what she has been vaccinated for and cuts down the amount she needs. I will also pray that her CAT and tummy scans are clear.

    So many appts! Way to knock them out! You will be able to start the new year with all the details resolved.

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  2. Good for you! I talked our pediatrician into titres too when we brought our son home and they showed that the vaccines he had received in Russia (which the dr. had all the same concerns about) had been effective.

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  3. Hope you're checking this list off! That's a lot of work!

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