Yikes! This was rough.
My family practice doctor speaks Russian so rather than take Alex to our pediatrician I took him to her. She was wonderful with him and explained everything in Russian and then in English to me. He came through the physical exam with flying colors.
Because Alex's medical record shows he was in a TB "spa" in 2008 and even though his chest x-rays were clear, he was classified as entering the US with a Class B1 or B2 tuberculosis. I've had to contact the board of health and send them all his paper work and apparently now a nurse from the board of health will contact us and we have to have a 2nd set of chest X-rays done here in the States? So we did that today to appease the Salt Lake Board of Health. I left his x-ray from Ukraine with them so the radiologist can compare. They told me if the SL board of health wants to see the X-ray's I can come pick them up later. Good. They can store them until then.
Then it was time for updating his immunizations and blood draw. Since he's almost eleven she ordered all the immunizations that children have to have to attend junior high. THREE shots in the arm and then the additional TB test on his forearm. They had two nurses administer the first two shots at the same time in each arm and he was so very brave but when he got that 3rd burning tetanus shot he turned to me and his eyes filled with tears and then when finished he climbed on my lap and sobbed. He still had to have the TB test and I held him while they administered that-which I just recently had and it's not pleasant either. Then he hid his head in my neck and cried some more. I rocked him and told him it would be okay and he told me "No okay!" He's right. It doesn't feel okay. So then I said "Okay, no more shots. All done." But that didn't make him feel any better either.
James called right then and could hear Alex sobbing and rather than the sobbing decreasing, it increased! I told James I needed to go and right about then they took us to the lab for his blood draw. He didn't even care who was looking-he sat me down (as I was trying to get him sat down) and then climbed on my lap in the lobby and although not sobbing, he was still visibly upset and making sad little sounds and just clinging to me.
I sat next to him through the blood draw and held his other hand. Four vials of blood later and one very upset little boy we were show back to the room so the doctor could explain about the stool sample we need to collect. He's still crying from the blood draw and he's really worked himself up into a frenzy-keep in mind he was poked and prodded in Ukraine too and despite his tough exterior, he's just a little boy. So in trying to distract him from his plight I pull out the funky toilet thing and start reading the instructions to him and it dawns on him that he's going to need to poop in this contraption and then we're going to need to put it in this jar and he begins to giggle and soon is laughing. I'm sure the look on my face as I'm reading the instructions helped him laugh even harder. The doctor came in and explained it to him in Russian, I also had her explain that we'd be back on Friday to check his TB test but there would be no more shots or needles and that he wouldn't need shots like these for a very long time.
We stopped at McDonald's on the way home for a well earned reward!
Whew! Thank goodness poop is so funny to little boys....
My family practice doctor speaks Russian so rather than take Alex to our pediatrician I took him to her. She was wonderful with him and explained everything in Russian and then in English to me. He came through the physical exam with flying colors.
Because Alex's medical record shows he was in a TB "spa" in 2008 and even though his chest x-rays were clear, he was classified as entering the US with a Class B1 or B2 tuberculosis. I've had to contact the board of health and send them all his paper work and apparently now a nurse from the board of health will contact us and we have to have a 2nd set of chest X-rays done here in the States? So we did that today to appease the Salt Lake Board of Health. I left his x-ray from Ukraine with them so the radiologist can compare. They told me if the SL board of health wants to see the X-ray's I can come pick them up later. Good. They can store them until then.
Then it was time for updating his immunizations and blood draw. Since he's almost eleven she ordered all the immunizations that children have to have to attend junior high. THREE shots in the arm and then the additional TB test on his forearm. They had two nurses administer the first two shots at the same time in each arm and he was so very brave but when he got that 3rd burning tetanus shot he turned to me and his eyes filled with tears and then when finished he climbed on my lap and sobbed. He still had to have the TB test and I held him while they administered that-which I just recently had and it's not pleasant either. Then he hid his head in my neck and cried some more. I rocked him and told him it would be okay and he told me "No okay!" He's right. It doesn't feel okay. So then I said "Okay, no more shots. All done." But that didn't make him feel any better either.
James called right then and could hear Alex sobbing and rather than the sobbing decreasing, it increased! I told James I needed to go and right about then they took us to the lab for his blood draw. He didn't even care who was looking-he sat me down (as I was trying to get him sat down) and then climbed on my lap in the lobby and although not sobbing, he was still visibly upset and making sad little sounds and just clinging to me.
I sat next to him through the blood draw and held his other hand. Four vials of blood later and one very upset little boy we were show back to the room so the doctor could explain about the stool sample we need to collect. He's still crying from the blood draw and he's really worked himself up into a frenzy-keep in mind he was poked and prodded in Ukraine too and despite his tough exterior, he's just a little boy. So in trying to distract him from his plight I pull out the funky toilet thing and start reading the instructions to him and it dawns on him that he's going to need to poop in this contraption and then we're going to need to put it in this jar and he begins to giggle and soon is laughing. I'm sure the look on my face as I'm reading the instructions helped him laugh even harder. The doctor came in and explained it to him in Russian, I also had her explain that we'd be back on Friday to check his TB test but there would be no more shots or needles and that he wouldn't need shots like these for a very long time.
We stopped at McDonald's on the way home for a well earned reward!
Whew! Thank goodness poop is so funny to little boys....
5 of my blog friends said something...:
hey i am sorry that Alex had a rough time with the shots and everything. Those totally are not fun. We love you all!
It is so tough on them. Nadiya had to had a genetic blood test done. boy you should have seen her, trying to draw her blood.I guess she had had a pretty bad experience with hospitals in Ukraine. Ukraine puts all these bad things on the childrens records and none of it is true.Nadiya didn't have turners syndrome, nor did Stephen have a failing kidney.
Good posts. Love reading about everything.
I'm not excited after reading that. Our appointments are monday and tuesday. I just read a book about a Russian adoption and they would purposefully exaggerate health issues because the government didn't want healthy children leaving the country. Our Ana has a list of health issues so were waiting to see what is what.
I don't know what you have decided about the half day school idea, but I thought I'd put in my two cents. From my professional standpoint that seems like a really good idea and is usually what I recommend. Being there all day has to be overwhelming given all the changes and the language barriers. Also, having him home part of the day without any of the other kids will likely be helful with bonding and attachment.
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