Chinadopt:
Adopting Children From China
A Medical Story:
(New as of 7/1/97)
Before traveling to China, my husband and I purchased a new Thermoscan thermometer.
Having raised our two daughters (ages 7 and 10) using the "old-fashioned" kind, we welcomed this great new innovation. We practiced several times at home, marveling at how quickly the readings took and glad that we would no longer have to pin down a squirming baby for long periods of time to get a reading.
When we received our 14 mo old baby girl in China, we understood her distress. She was tense and crying and we attributed it to the 5-hour van ride to the hotel as well as all the noise and confusion in the hotel room where other babies and parents were meeting for the first time.
We did not know that she had been ill and that the orphanage director had given her a shot of some kind before leaving the orphanage. We later saw the red dot on her arm. But at the time, no info was passed along indicating she might be ill. She
did feel a little warm & sticky - but then it was very hot and humid. The Thermoscan - used on her ears, registered 96 or 97 degrees...... Toward the end of day 1, we noticed that she was frantic for fluids and had not yet had a wet diaper, signs of
dehydration. The guide told us that happens with all the babies and that we would take her to the hospital in the morning if she still had no wet diaper. She drank more water and had some wetness in her diaper overnight - we thought she and her little body were beginning to adjust.
Well, in the morning, she had a seizure just as we were going to breakfast. We rushed her to the Nanchang Children's Hospital, where she was given an EEG to test brain waves. All was OK, so they sent us back to the hotel.....no effort was made to diagnose the cause. We called our doctor in the US and were told it was most likely a febrile seizure related to high temp, but they suggested we also have an MRI done to rule out the most serious possible causes - indicating that these were very
unlikely. Surprisingly, we were able to have an MRI test done on her head the next day. The results showed no problems.... further confirmation that the seizure was fever-related. We were confused - no high temp registered and we even tried a Thermoscan brought by another couple.
We were unable to get some tests run that our pediatrician requested - the Chinese doctors disagreed with their importance - they would not test for low sugar or low sodium. They would not check her ears (even though she pulled on them) and they did not take her temperature. They decided to test for low calcium, drawing blood directly from her neck. The guide working with the adoption ministry and the ministry itself was extremely effective and proactive in scheduling the MRI and ensuring that we were satisfied with the health of our child before the adoption became official.
We've back in the US with Kayla now for over a month and Kayla continues to be well and is thriving. She gained 2-1/4 lbs since her check-up in Guangzhou. No further seizures have occurred. But we have worried - not having confirmation of the true cause has weighed heavily on our minds, especially since she did not appear to have a fever.
In the last week, I discovered a couple things that likely contributed to poor temperature readings. Kayla has very narrow ear canals - and they are full of flaky wax which blocks temperature readings. We're now taking rectal readings (I should have recognized the need for this!) and can now see the degree of error.
Some cautions and recommendations for those about to travel:
1) Be aware that you may not be given complete information about the health of your baby when your receive it. (In addition to not being told about her illness, she also weighed much less than anticipated and she has a heart murmur we were not told about.)
2) Go with your instincts and insist on immediate treatment if you feel your baby needs it.
3) You may need help requesting tests or medication - our guide/translator needed to be able to say in Chinese what our pediatrician in the US requested. Our agency was no help in this. Fortunately, we traveled with a couple fluent in Chinese and they went to great lengths to ensure that the requests were clear and being understood.
4) Make sure you know how to appropriately use thermometers and medications you bring.
We thought we were experienced here, but....
5) Bring sterile syringes - we had to bring them out three times. I'm not even sure they were the right size, but each time, the doctors got the message and went to get wrapped sterile syringes of their own.
And for those of you about to select an agency - select one who will travel with you and advocate on you and your baby's behalf if a situation like this arises. Our agency did not send a representative with us and was too many miles and too many time zones away to be effective. Our fellow travelers who spoke Chinese were immense help. This was a role I had expected our agency to play.
Dave & Terry Pivec