8/23/2007 Olivia's 2nd Tooth

Olivia's other front tooth was so loose that she was able to twist it sideways, so we decided to pull it out. We tied the dental floss on the tooth, and barely pulled it and it came out.
She was very happy that her two teeth came out, she likes to stick her tongue through the hole. We can already see both her permanent teeth. I can't wait to finally have some WHITE teeth in her mouth. Though I worry about the condition of her permanent teeth since her nutrition over the years has not been great. But I guess only time will tell.


Bennett also now keeps asking us to pull his teeth... LOL

8/16/2007 Olivia lost her first tooth

Olivia's front two teeth have been very loose for some time, and one (the right front tooth) was literally hanging on by a thread, I was beginning to worry that she might choke on it. She couldn't even bite with her front teeth as it was so loose. So I decided to pull it. So we wrapped a little dental floss on it and tied a small knot and just pulled it down, it came out really easy. So easy that Olivia laughed when the string came off, as she thought I missed her tooth. Little did she know that it was handing on the string... LAUGH
When I showed her the tooth was out she just said "HEY". She was thrilled to get a sucker and liked that it fit in the new hole.
For several hours she commented that her "Tooth...all gone".
Unfortunately our 3 year old twin son saw this event and immediately started sobbing. I think he thought we were just torturing Olivia. We had to explain that her tooth was loose an we just helped it come out for her new tooth. But I am not sure that he really understood.
Techincally this is Olivia's 3rd tooth. Her front bottom teeth came out at the orphanage between our 1st and 2nd visit. But her permanent teeth had come in behind her baby teeth, and were all the way in, so I am guessing that they pulled those two teeth.

8/11/2007 Potty Difficulties - Tips :)

The potty situation was difficult before her surgery, but now almost impossible. She pees weird, basically into one leg which sprays EVERYWHERE, even up her bum all the way up the back when she is sitting on the toilet.
So now I have to try and get it in a small bed pan with her in a almost laying position. After many different attempts and methods I think the best way is to put her "diaper" (I found I like the mens pads for men with bladder issues, the fit her cast opening the best) wrapped around the back of the bed pan, and I put wipes on her "Va Jay Jay", to help it go down and not all over.
Unfortunately trying to figure all this out she has got pee on her cast and it already smells like pee. I have tried to "clean" it as much as I can, but it is driving me nuts... 5 more weeks until her cast change...uggghhh
I also learned that most moms put duct tape around the cast edge to sort of seal it, then do the petals. I wish I had known that before we left the hospital and before she peed on her cast. I did go to Michaels Crafts to get the cute colored duct tape and have now duct taped the edge of her cast and re-petalled it. But a little late.

8/12/2007 "Oh Yucky"

Olivia seems much happier today and is making her typical funny faces and gestures. Daddy come in the kitchen where Olivia and I were and gave me a kiss and Olivia says "oh yucky".
I thought it was so funny that she already thinks it is yucky that her mommy and daddy are kissing.

8/10/2007 Finally Headed Home - Released from Shriners

We are happy to start to head home. As we get our discharge paper in order and start to pack up and prepare to leave, we realize that Olivia’s TB test is now showing positive. So the doctors come in look at her and order a chest x-ray to determine if Olivia has TB or is just showing positive due to exposure to TB.

So we have to wait for the order for the chest x-ray. Soon we head down and the x-ray is taken. The scan doesn’t seem to show anything. So a little relieved (still need the official reading) we head back to the room to wait and see what we do now. Shriners has to notify the Health Department since TB is contagious. But Olivia’s x-ray is cleared. We will now need to way a few more weeks and test our entire family. This also means that Olivia can no longer have TB tests, she will have to have chest x-rays in the future. Apparently each time you test someone with a positive TB test, their reaction gets worse and worse.

Daddy and the twins and Jordan come to the hospital to help bring Olivia home. We let them play a little while and then try to figure out how we can get Olivia in the car. We have one of the recommend car seats for the Spica Cast (Britax Marathon) but her cast is almost in a laying or standing position so we really can’t strap her in the car seat. We can get her in it and then or son had to sit on the floor and hold the bar in between her legs to make sure she didn’t slide out. We will have to drive slowly and carefully since two of our children can’t wear their seat belts. This also means that Olivia will basically be homebound until her cast change.

We get home and Olivia is just an emotional basket case. When we finally get her in bed she complains about everything and we have to keep switching her position. She finally falls asleep…

8/09/2007 4th day at Shriners - Epidural Removed

Last night was great, she didn’t ask once for pain meds. So this morning they stopped the epidural and we are trying to get her only on oral medication so that we can go home. She agreed to take the “blue” oral med. Since they gave her a sample, and the “blue” is basically the flavoring. So they mix that will valium, which looked bright blue, she took that no problem. The narcotic looked a little more purple, but she took it without much negotiating… finally.

They removed her epidural, which was quite the event. Olivia has little blonde hairs everywhere, and they had to rip the tape off all along her back, which she really sobbed about. She also sobbed as they removed the IV in her hand, for the same reasons.

She was thrilled to get out and about and go to the play room. They offered a bath and she was very happy about that. Then I realized that she thought that a “bath” meant getting naked. Which means the cast would come off. She was disappointed to learn that the bath was on a special bed and the cast stayed on. She loves her hair being washed, but it has to be done really gentle as her head is SUPER sensitive.

Though once there she was frustrated with the fact she really couldn’t do much. She wanted to ride the bikes and play with the games, but with her cast most things were impossible.

The oral medicines are somewhat of a challenge. She just doesn’t understand they control the pain, she will cry from the pain, yet refuse any medicine. I am not sure that she completely understands that it takes the pain away. Since you take the meds and it takes 15-45 minutes for it to really kick in.

It looks like we are all on track to go home tomorrow. I am excited to go home and spend time with our other children and catch up on all the projects that we have in the making. But I LOVE the Shriners staff, they are so sweet and helpful. I have never experienced medical care like I have at Shriners. Everything is about your child and what is the best plan and care for them. Since insurance is never an issue and doctors don’t have to worry about HMO’s or administration breathing down their neck.

Shiners is 100% supported by donations. So please consider helping this VERY WORTHY cause. You can mail small gifts or send cash. I can assure you that it is money that is well spent. They are great about giving the children things to do, and special treats so that there time there is as positive as possible.

Here is a link to learn more… http://www.shrinershq.org

8/08/2007 3rd day at Shriners Hospital

Last night was great compared to the night before. She only got up twice and seemed relatively happy. Overall we had a pretty good night. The nurses aid come in a “petal’d” her cast. Which means that they placed soft mole skin pieces around the edge to make it soft and comfortable for Olivia. I believe they call it petaling because it looks like flower petals. They then laid her on her stomach to be able to do the back of her cast. She didn’t like it, but they said it was important to keep rotating her so that she doesn’t get sores.

She still has slight fever, so we try and give her Tylenol. She freaks out on it… which is so odd since she drank the nasty valium without any issues, she also chewed the nasty perciced, yet she puts her foot down on the flavored Tylenol. It takes 3 doses before she will finally swallow it. By the third dose, I told her if she doesn’t swallow it we will have “more”. So she finally gives in and swallows it.

She asked for eggs for dinner so I rushed to the cafeteria before it closed and they made her two eggs, and gave me some raw onions, which she loves. Plus they gave her some toast. She ate really well.

They removed the IV they had in her hand since she still has one in her foot and the one in her hand was not flushing anyway.

8/07/2007 Day after Hip Surgery

After a long night we need to go to Children’s Primary Hospital to have her CT scan. An ambulance arrives at around 10:00am to transport us. They gave Olivia a valium to help with her anxiety. She is still panicked at the thought of going back on that transport bed… I think that she believes she will go back in surgery. I try to explain that mommy won’t leave her I will be with her the whole time. But with the language barrier it is hard for her to understand. She has to hold my hand all the way, and she panics each time I have to let the bed go through the door first, since we can’t fit together. The two ambulance drivers are both females and are really great. When we get to the hospital they want us to go to out-patient check in. Olivia would have freaked out if I left her for a few minutes. So they brought her bed all the way to the patient check-out so she could stay by me. Then we head to the CT scan. She cries when we put her on the cat scan table, I don’t think it is pain, as much as it is fear. We try to described that it is just pictures, no “owies”. She is happy to leave. We head back to the hospital, she is glad to be back in her room. Though she does constantly ask to go home. I think she believes that everything will be back to normal if we go home. She begins to get a fever of 101-102. This can be from not moving and the lungs need to get expanded as much as possible. They have a little machine that Olivia likes to blow in, and they also use bubbles which she LOVES. I thought this was such a clever way to get them to exercise their lungs, yet they believe they are just playing.

Olivia seems suspicious of everything… if I try to feed her something, she doesn’t want it. She hasn’t really eaten since before the operation.

She still seems to be in pain so the nurse decides to try an oral pain medicine. Olivia chews the perciced with the promise of a cola (which she loves, but never gets at home). She takes it like a champ. 15 or so minutes later she happily says “owie all gone”. She is so happy about being pain free she keeps saying, with excitement”, “owie all gone”, over and over.. almost to the point it is annoying… laugh Which makes me really believe that she has been in pain this whole time despite the epidural. Which I feel really bad about. But non of us could really tell if she was in pain. She was constantly getting what they call BOLST (or surge of pain medicine) in her epidural for pain, but it never seemed to take it all away. (not to mention it was on a steady drip as well). Olivia is finally back to her happy self laughing and playing. She eats a ton, which is great as she hasn’t eaten since before her surgery.

My mom and Eleana (the translator) come to allow me to go home and shower and see our other children, get them ready for bed and tuck them in, then head back to the hospital.

8/06/2007 Surgery Day - Shriners for Hip Repair

5:00am We get up and start getting reading for the hospital. We leave Olivia in her PJ’s and take her to the car. We bring her favorite blanket and her hospital doll and a little Strawberry Shortcake doll the Hoss’s sent her. In the car on the way to the hospital I tell Olivia we are going to see the doctor. She sighed and said “ot oh!”, then she paused and said “Olivia, owie”. I was surprised that she even put all that together. Maybe she understood more then we thought she did.

We arrive at the hospital and get her all checked in for her surgery and met with several members of the staff, including her nurse, Dr Roach (surgeon) another doctor there to observe the procedure, Dr. Sanders, the anesthesiologist, Wendee, her nurse and Stefanie her aide for after she was out of recovery.

We were able to speak in depth about the procedure, and confirm that they will be removing about 2 inches of her left femur bone to be able to place the leg back in the socket, they will then reshape her socket on her left hip bone. Then they will do the leg release procedure so that she can bend her leg to around 45%, they said they can’t get to 90% with out loosing her ability to straighten her leg. The they will put on her SPICA cast and she will go to recovery. The procedure will take about 5 hours.

We go to Olivia’s room, where she will be the next few days after her procedure. They dress Olivia in her gown, and prick her finger to check her iron. She is happy and laughing through the entire procedure, even the finger prick. They gave her some valium, which I wasn’t even sure that she needed, but we wanted to make everything as pleasant as possible for her. They said it was nasty, but she swallowed it with no problem. We then move to the pre-op room. Olivia is so drugged she can barely hold her head up. They tell us it is time for her to go into the operating room, and we say goodbye, not even thinking she is coherent enough to hear us. She begins to sob. Saying “no bye bye”. I then quickly realize that she thinks we are leaving her there. I try to reassure her that we aren’t leaving, that we will wait right there for her. She calms a little but ultimately goes into her surgery scared and crying. I think a part of it is the valium. It is much like drinking it lowers your inhibitions. I think that she was scared all along, but always tries to act tough and carefree. But that the drug took away that tough exterior and showed her for the scared child that she is.

We haven’t eaten and decide to head to the cafeteria. Shriners gives you a pager so that you can roam the hospital and have a little freedom, which helps take your mind off things.

We sit in the cafeteria with some friends and Mike Babcock for a little while. We receive a page and Mike Babcock calls so that we can see the update. They called to tell us that they just started her procedure. It takes around 45 minutes to get everything set up before they start. They are great about staying in contact with each step in the procedure and call us during the procedure to let us know how far they are in the procedure and how much they have left to do and how Olivia is doing. The also called during the procedure and said that they were running some blood work, and decided to call to find out what other tests they should run based on her country of birth. We thought that this was very kind and truly considerate of our daughter and her needs.

I can’t even put into words how amazing Shriners is. Because all care is 100% covered by Shriners hospital, through generous donations. Money and insurance NEVER come up. Every conversation is about your child and their care. Because no one has to account to the HMO or insurance company, they run any test they want without any concern about coverage or money. It is really a unique experience to have the health of your child be the number one concern.

When the procedure is done they call, Olivia had wanted the orange cast, but they are out, and so her 2^nd choice was the blue, so we tell them to go ahead with the blue. (honestly I am relieved I wasn’t too excited about living with the neon orange for 6 weeks. They will cast her now and then she will head to recovery and she will be in there 30-60 minutes, and when she wakes up they will bring her to her room.

Dr. Roach comes in and tells us that the procedure when well and that they are pleased with the results. They will send her to get a CT scan tomorrow to make sure that her cast is putting her hip in the optimal position.

Olivia comes into the room, she is extremely pale, and doesn’t look well. They order another blood test to make sure that she is ok. She keeps looking at her arm, which is under the cover but has the blood pressure cup on it, so I lift the cover so she can see what was on her arm. She also kept breathing really deep, like she was feeling how constraining the cast was. So I pulled back the sheet to show her the cast. I thought it was pretty amazing that as soon as she saw the “Blue” cast, even though she was still pretty out of it her first word was an annoyed “Orange”.

We work with her for hours trying to get her pain under control. Since her English is so limited it is hard to tell if she is in pain, or just annoyed with the cast.

Daddy brings the twins and Jordan to visit Olivia. Olivia wants to play!! But that is not really an option.

We have a long night, she is up about every hour saying “owie”. Not to mention that every two hours we have to prop her in a new position, so that she gets good circulation and won’t get any bed sores. She cries whenever we move her. I am not 100% sure the epidural is working as she keeps saying “owie”, but at times she says that when she doesn’t like something, she pretends it hurts. Like the oxygen monitor on her finger. She likes to be in a position so she can see me. She also wants me to hold her hand constantly. Which is a great bonding sign, and sweet, but difficult to do.

8/05/2007 Shriners Hospital Tour

Today we went to Shriner’s so that Olivia could have a tour and we could explain her procedure to her with someone that specializes with young children having surgeries.

We wanted to be honest with Olivia, as I feel that is critical in building trust with your child. But we also wanted to be sure that we were age appropriate with what we shared with her.

Jillian at Shriners was so great. Eleana was a life saver translating everything so we were sure that Olivia understood as much as possible. She went through a picture book of all the different things at the hospital and what Olivia would see while here. Then she helped her make a special doll, and they made a soft cast for the doll similar to the cast that Olivia would be getting tomorrow. They let her pick the color of her cast, and of course she wants a almost neon orange… LOVELY.

They let her feel the soft IV catheter, and taped it to the doll and gave her an empty syringe so that she could give her doll medicine. Then Jillian showed her that the baby was hurting and then she gave her the medicine and gave a sigh, like she felt better. Then they gave Olivia a Barbie with wings (she loves barbie’s and princesses).

They also gave our twins a gift so they didn’t feel left out. Then we went home. Shriners called and had a change in schedule and Olivia’s surgery was bumped up from 1:00pm to 9:00am. This was great news since Olivia typically doesn’t want breakfast too early, I knew getting her to 9:00am with no food would not be a problem. But getting her to 1:00pm, would have been a huge struggle. The hospital wants us there at 6:00am…

yikes. Olivia played with her doll for quite some time, and loved giving her the injection and making the same sigh of relief. It was very cute. We still are not sure that she really understands what will be happening tomorrow. I am also a little worried that she might have heard people in Kazakhstan talk about their belief that American’s adopt children and sell their organs. (yes sadly this is a belief their) I don’t want her to wake up and see that she has been operated on and believe that this is what we have done to her. Then again we don’t want to mention it if she hasn’t heard it. I know that most the kids in the older orphanage have heard this rumor, but hope by the fact she is in a baby house still that the gossip is kept to a minimum.

8/03/2007 Olivia's "Last Supper" (before her surgery)

Since Olivia is having surgery Monday, we decided to try and squeeze in a few activities since she will be home bound for 12 weeks.
So she went with Taty and the twins and Jordan to see "Air Bud".
Then we tried to take her to the Myan for dinner since she loves swimming (they have divers that you can watch during your dinner. But the wait was way to long, and they wouldn't take reservations. So we headed over to "Joe's Crab Shack", they have a play center for the kids. Olivia pointed to the spaghetti on the kids menu (a cartoon drawing). Then when her meal came they used different noodles, so she refused to eat it and kept pointing back to the menu.
The kids had fun running and playing.

8/02/2007 First Shriners Appointment

Today was our first appointment with Shriners.

They were so great. Eleana arrived from Ukraine, so we were lucky that she was able to go with us to our appointment as she could translate for us to make sure that our communications were solid with Olivia. She will be helping Olivia with her English and also helping her keep her Russian. She is so sweet and we are grateful that she is willing to help us.

When we got to Shriners we checked in and went straight to X-ray, the doctor wanted the X-rays before we met with him.

Olivia did great, they told her that she was getting her picture taken, so she kept smiling for her “photos”. She didn’t realize it was just her chest and pelvis. I asked the tech if she rated Olivia’s severity of Arthrogryposis on a scale of 1-10 how severe was Olivia’s case. She said she was about 7-8. She said she has seen worst, but also much better. It is nice to finally speak with people so familiar with her condition and has seen so many other children with the same condition.

We then met Olivia’s doctor, who is Dr Roach. He was great. He went over Olivia’s condition with me. Then he checked Olivia out and luckily it seems that she has all her muscles in her legs. Which is great news. He wanted us to go back to X-ray to get X-rays of her arms/hands and feet/knees.

Then we met with Dr Roach again. He said that her hip is out of socket and most likely has been since birth. Basically your hip socket hardens and the socket will no longer “mold” to the ball when placed back in once a child is between 7 and 8 years old. Olivia will be 7 in October. So the hip will have to be the first priority. We are lucky that we were able to get her home when we did, in another 6 months they would not even attempt to repair her hip. (though of course sooner would have been better, the two year process that it took to adopt her will make her outcome not as good as it would have been)

Dr Roach then wanted us to go to the physical therapist to evaluate Olivia and see how well she moved and functioned, so that they could make a treatment plan that wouldn’t take anything away from her.

We went to lunch and Olivia didn’t seem to want anything she ordered, except her banana. (which is typical). We have now been at Shriners since 8:00am and our physical therapy appointment is at 1:00pm.

We spent about one hour in physical therapy, as they watched her play and how she navigated her environment. They commented on how confident she was, and how many children just sit and won’t interact at all there first time. Olivia was all over the place, she was definitely not shy. They were pretty amazed at how well Olivia is doing considering she has had no therapy or medical attention at this point.

We then all met with the doctor so that everyone could give their input based on their expertise.

Based on the limited window to repair her hip that will have to be her first surgery. We asked for when the next available surgery date is, and we were told MONDAY, yes in 4 days. Or we would have to wait until December. Since timing is critical we accepted Monday, three more months could be too late.

They went over the procedure that would be performed… I must say I was a little shocked at how much she will go through. They can not just place her hip back in the socket… since it has been out for her entire life. So they have to remove part of her leg bone so that the hip can slip into place. (about 2 inches) Then they have to remove part of the “socket” and reposition it to keep the ball will stay in the socket and not slip out. They will then screw a plate in place to hold it all together. We will be at Shriners for 3 days after the surgery, so I probably won’t be home until Thursday morning. She will then receive a body cast that she will have on for 6 weeks. At which time they will have to put her under to remove the cast and replace it with a smaller body cast that she will have on for 3-6 more weeks. At which point we will need to begin her foot surgeries.

So our little girl is in for one heck of a roller coaster next week. So please keep her in your prayers.

We will call the hospital psychiatrist to see what we should tell her about the procedure. I believe in 100% honesty, but I also think she is too young for all the details and it might terrify her. So we need to speak with someone that can guide us in the best way to help our daughter through this and how best to explain this to her so that she feels loved and whole as a person. We don’t want to come across that we think something is wrong with her, or don’t love her the way that she is… because we do. But we want her to live the best life possible, and she is so ambitious and wants to do everything, and at this point she just can’t.

Another concern that I have is that in Kazakhstan there is a belief that American’s adopt their children and “sell” their organs. I worry that if our daughter has heard this rumor, and sees that she has a huge incision, that she will worry this is true.

Before we left they marked her legs and had her walk and run several times in front of a camera to see how her legs and bones worked when she walked. She could see herself on the monitor so she would hardly look straight like they wanted her too. She loves seeing herself in the mirror. I think that they seldom get to see themselves at the orphanage. She loves photos of herself too.

We ended up leaving Shriners around 3:00pm. So we were there about 7 hours total. So it made for a LONG day. Plus the reality of what our daughter will be going through Monday is really starting to sink in. She is so independent I don’t know how we will get her through 9-12 weeks of a body cast. Plus her dental surgery is still scheduled for the end of September, I had to call them and inform them that she will be in a body cast to make sure that it won’t be a problem.

I guess the reality of what our daughter is about to go through is hitting hard, she is in for a tough few years. I have stayed so focused on her adoption, and tried not to think about all that she would have to go through. I know it is best for her and I know that being a good parent means making really hard choices… so I pray that I can be the best mom to her through this that I possibly can.

If anyone wants to send her emails or cards I am sure that she would love that, and we can put a little book together for her. Especially if you have adopted a child from Umit, please include a photo.