What the Doc Said

Our first order of biz today was to get to our doctor and share all of our son's medical records with her and get her to tell us what it all means. Our referral information came with pictures, all of the basics about where he was found, on what date, his (estimated) birthday, his habits so far, and three pages of medical tests. Our "job" between now and when we decide to "accept" the match is to do all of our homework on him based on everything they know and that we now have.

He's negative for HIV, Hepatatis, and all the other big chronic diseases we'd be super concerned about (which is why he was even referred to us in the first place - we only requested a healthy boy) and all of his bloodwork looked good. His white blood cell count was high, so that's one key thing we had questions about.

Well, our doctor said that everything looks great, and that white blood cell counts that are high are very common, are basically a sign that he either had or has or is getting an infection. She said there's no direct correlations between elevated WBC counts and any chronic diseases. She also said that drinking cow's milk (which is his diet right now) can elevate a baby's WBC. Our agency already told us they are going to re-check him anyway, but this definitely made us feel better.

I asked a million questions to our dr, in my classic information-hungry fashion, and Radames just kind of sat there and stared at both of us. We got perscriptions for a bunch of immunizations we should get before going to Africa (Malaria, Typhoid, Hep A, Hep B, Yellow Fever and i can't even remember what else). We then left and went out side to process it all. I asked Radames how he was feeling about what she said and if he was feeling like we should approve the referral and make it a done deal. He just sort of looked at me innocently and semi-confused and said, "I don't even know what you people were talking about in there...he was already my son before we came here." That's why I love him! And he's right...sometimes facts aren't the best way to a make a decision. :)