International Adoption Clinic at CHOP...Yesterday

I'm sorry I truly did want to chronicle everything that happened yesterday but I fell asleep at the computer and Ron woke me up this morning at 6AM and I typed all t's, that's never good. Apparently, I was more tired than I thought I was yesterday :/ So, here is what happened yesterday...
We (Ryan, Luke and myself) went to the International Adoption Clinic at CHOP for Luke's Dr.'s appt. with the International Adoption Specialist, Dr. Farber. No, Ron did not come due to having to work and having used all his vacation/sick/personal days up while in Russia for 23 days :( We were there for about 3 hours. They poked and prodded Luke, as to be expected. In all honesty he did quite well with everything, even the ear and throat exam :) He even showed Dr. Farber what a great set of lungs he had :) We had the percentile for height, weight and head circumference from last week's appt. with Luke's general peds Dr. The only measurement that was off was the percentile for the weight, according to Luke's general peds. Dr. he was in the 3rd percentile and according to Dr. Farber he falls into the 5th to 10th percentile. Perhaps it was the scales or it could have been different offices? But we like that Luke is in the 5th to 10th percentile for weight!!!
Michele, the OT, who is a part of Dr. Farber's team, was also there yesterday. She gave Luke a Peabody Developmental Motor Scales Assessment (PDMS-2). This is utilized to determine if Luke would require any developmental therapies. I will state that he passed with flying colors :) His gross motor skills are on target, in the 17 to 18 month range. His fine motor skills are in the 16 month range, still adequate. He needed to show a 25% delay in order to qualify for services, such as PT and OT. His feeding, eating, self-care, and cognitive skills were on target. His language is of course delayed, but just like Ron and I thought, "it's a transition". We do say "simple" Russian phrases to him (by the way, Thanks to Jesse and Jason for this) and then immediately follow-up with the English phrase. Their were certain aspects of this exam that I expected, such as his low tone. The reason is due to where Luke came from...institutionalized care. Michele, who was wonderful, gave very insightful ideas to over come this and other aspects.
The team was impressed with how well he has bonded to all of us (Ryan, Dada, and Mama). However, there are things we can and will work on. Overall, the team was extremely impressed!!! Dr. Farber marveled at what a GREAT little boy he is, she just reinforced what Ron, Ryan and I already knew...that Luke is "perfect".
I adore Dr. Farber and her team, they are spectacular!!! As a matter of fact, Dr. Farber saw Ryan (our first adopted son) nearly 5 years ago to date. Yes, she was his International Adoption Specialist too :)
Dr. Farber sent us to the lab, once the team was done marveling at Luke :) This was interesting in and of itself. I will say that Ryan has been the biggest helper with everything, especially when we went to the lab to have Luke's blood drawn. We (Ron, Dr. Farber and myself) agreed that we wouldn't double vaccinate Luke. That it would be better to get titers to see what he is vaccinated against and what he wasn't vaccinated against. We did get his shot records in Russia but we just want to be sure. Also, Dr. Farber is running labs on Luke to see if we need to be concerned about anything. We were also given specimen cups...to collect poop :/ I can't tell you how much fun this was when we did it for Ryan :/ LOL!!! The poop needs to be collected over the next three days and then returned to the lab to check for parasites, such as Giardia, etc.
The phlebotomist was sweet, she told me "now Mom we have to draw a lot of blood from him". The phlebotomist wasn't kidding, she had 11 tubes that needed to be filled :( Luke actually watched as the butterfly needle went in to his arm, then once he realized it hurt he screamed his little head off :( Ryan was cute b/c he was trying his best to distract his baby brother Luke by singing the wheels on the bus and the itsy bitsy spider...two of Luke's favorites right now :) The louder Luke was screaming, the louder Ryan was with his singing. It was comical! Around the 5th to 6th tube Luke actually calmed down and joined Ryan in the melody. Then Ryan got bored and decided to touch the needle in Luke arm, of course while the phlebotomist's head was turned :/ Yep, he moved the needle and the blood stopped! Thank-Goodness the phlebotomist was nearly done, all she needed was a syringe with 2mls of blood. However, she didn't get the 2mls :( I didn't tell her why either. I understand that Ryan was curious b/c Ryan too has had his fair share of blood drawn over the years. With the amount of blood she did get in the syringe it was enough to do the specific test...whew! The best part was when they put a pretty purple bandage, almost like ace wrap, around the arm where the phlebotomist had drawn the blood. Talk about adding insult to injury. Luke wanted to rip that pretty purple bandage off very badly! Daddy would have been so proud of him :) Once we left the lab I took off the pretty purple bandage and you know what Luke stopped freaking out. I noticed last night that Luke now has a bruise where the phlebotomist drew the blood :(
After our fun experience at the lab, we then left CHOP, headed home to eat lunch and get back on the road b/c Ryan had a GI appt. at DuPont in Delaware yesterday too. I'm just now realizing that yesterday I traveled through three states...wow! Ryan did wonderful at his GI appt. as well :)
It definitely is a challenge getting places, whether it may be a Dr.'s appt. or even the library, on time, especially with two in tow now. We do seem to be adjusting, slowly but surely :)


PS-Yesterday, was also Luke's 2 week Anniversary home with Dada, Mama, and of course big brother Ryan :) I can't believe he has been home 2 weeks already...wow!

PS2-The only other hurdle we have to get through now is the Early Intervention Evaluation, that will be occurring at the house on Monday, June 23, 2008. Wish us luck :)