Belane’s appointment went well. I LOVE her doctor, even though he won’t be her doctor long term. He is in the Pediatric Infectious Disease clinic and is very experienced with pediatric HIV, but he is also the international adoption specialist…we saw him for this appointment and will see him at the next, and then we will transfer over to his partner, who is the Pediatric HIV specialist and we have heard wonderful things about him from quite a few people.

This appointment was definitely a “gathering information” appointment. They took a very detailed history (as much as we could give) and surprised me with how in depth the questions were that they asked…what kind of water she had been getting, what sort of diet, if she was around a lot of animals, etc.

They took the history, looked at the medical paperwork I do have, and then did a very thorough exam. At this point I am going to keep some things private, but they did have some concerns after the physical exam and ordered some “extra labs.” I don’t think that there were many boxes that weren’t checked off on her lab order sheet!

When we went down the lab at the children’s hospital, the guy told me that he had to take 10 vials of blood for all of the labs, but that she “should” be ok. Gee, thanks!!!!

He got her in just one poke, and was able to get all of the blood they needed without re-sticking her. She “assumed the position” for the blood draw, but had the saddest little cry. Break my heart.

The doctor is having us come back on Nov. 30 (it would have been next week but it is Thanksgiving). At that appointment we will get all of the lab results (they will call next week with some of them too). We already know that her PPD (skin test for TB) was negative, which was a big relief (the TB meds can interfere with the HIV meds and you have to treat the TB first if that is an issue).

Oh, and we also get to “catch” some urine and stool sample. Oh the joys of parenthood. :)

I did ask him if he thought she was ready to start the HIV medications, and he said that he would not say for sure until he got the labs (especially her viral load) but that if he had to guess from her physical, he would say yes.

So next time we will get results, know what we are dealing with and make decisions regarding medication. I am feeling really good knowing that she is in good hands, and I am feeling incredibly grateful that she is home and not still in Ethiopia.