This is Hannah's medical diagnosis:Okay, Hannah did have a heart murmur but last time at the doctor they could not hear it any longer. She had dacryocystitis at the orphanage its a problem with the eye duct. This cleared up a few weeks after we were there.
- Perinatal hypoxia-tramatic affection Central Nervous System
- Congenital heart disease
- Dacryocystitis
- Microcephalia
Microcephalis-small head: She does not have a small head. Two doctors have told me so.
Perinatal hypoxia: If I remember this is truma at birth?! Help me out here nurses!! I was told at the orphanage that they were not present at the birth so they put this down because the don't know!
The orphanage director told us that Hannah was healthy. That she only had a heart murmur. The medical diagnosis was scary but we looked at Hannah and what she was doing at 4.5 months. She had good eye contact, would smile really big when you talked with her and had begun to roll over. Not to mention we had fallen in love with her.
Here is Parker's medical diagnosis:
Chronic Intrauterine Hypoxia - I think this means she didn't get enough oxygen either before she was born or during birth, but since the line above this on the medical records states that they know nothing about the prenatal history or the birth, we were not to concerned about it.
- Chronic Intrauterine Hypoxia
- Hemodynamic Disturbance Syndrome as manifestation of cardiovascular pathology with Congenital Cardiac Anomaly
- Epileptic Syndrome with neurological deficiency and simple partial seizures
Hemodynamic distrurbance... - they told us this meant a "weak heart muscle". We had her checked out by a pediatric cardiologist when we got home and she does have a real heart murmur, but it is mild and the kind that doesn't get any worse. She doesn't have any restrictions other than she has to take antibiotics before going to the dentist (in case she gets a blood infection it could be dangerous) and be checked annually by the cadiologist. At the orphanage she ran around without getting tired and her color was good, so we didn't think this was too serious either.
Epileptic Syndrome - this they actually classified as Epilepsy for her medical diagnosis allowing her to be adopted. In America we call it "Breath Holding Spells", but at the time we didn't know that. But we felt she was our little girl and even if it was actually Epilepsy that was something that we could handle. What it means is that she has a reflex that when she gets hurt and/or really upset she sometimes will involuntarily hold her breath and she turns blue really quickly - within a couple of seconds. It is not really a seizure like we think of. The worst thing that could happen is that she would pass out and then start to breath again. It has nothing to do with Epilepsy and doesn't cause brain damage, etc. and the only thing we have to worry about is if she passes out and hits her head. She'll grow out of it by the time she is 3-4. Not really a big deal, but pretty scary the first time we saw her do it! She only does it now if she gets hurt unexpectedly and we just tell her calmly to breath and she pops out of it. The whole attack lasts like 10 seconds. The orphanage said we could splash her with cold water to pop her out of it too and that works, but we don't even need to do that.
Here is Marie's diagnosis:
Marie was not able to sit up, weighed 12 lbs. at 20 months, and her eyes rolled around head in non-focus. 8 weeks and 40,000 diapers later...Actual current diagnosis: slight lazy eye in 1 eye due to all dark environment she was kept in to have her rest. No surgery, patching for 3 months, looks like a pirate. Almost 20 lbs. now, Severe anemia being cured by iron supplements due to malnutrition. She now walks when held up and directs you where to go. She crawls faster than I run. Why the diagnosis? My theory is she was premature which in some cases can lead to an increased chance of cerebral palsey. They err on the safe side.
- Cerebral palsey
- Mental retardation
- Developmental delays
Michelle was diagnosed with:
- Syphyllis
Michelle never ever had it. Why? Unwed mother and social stigma.
It is very important to learn when diagnosis were made. Cerebral palsey is impossible to diagnose at birth and I did know that.
Korey and Kayli's diagnosis:
Neither have it or it is so mild we are not able to see it. Both have checked out fine at Drs. appointments. They are both very fair complected. You could see the blood veins in Kayli's head real well. We were told that she had high blood pressure in her head! Korey had double hernia surgery (undiagnosed in Ukraine) about a month and a half after we got home.
- Cerebral palsy
They are both healthy children. They are typical 2 year olds......into EVERYTHING! They keep me ran ragged but I wouldn't trade them for anything!
Ana's diagnosis:
- Developmental delays
Ana has a clean bill of health - other than her hemoglobin is low. So we are giving her an iron supplement. Cary and I feel that she is delayed about 6 months. She was 18 months old when we met her. She was not talking or walking on her own. Once we got her home, it took her about 2 weeks to start walking/running on her own. She babbles constantly and is the happiest/smilingest child I have ever seen. She says 3 words now: nana (mama), da (yes), and tickle tickle.
Artem's diagnosis:
Artem also had a clean bill of health other than having giardia, which is a parasite. He took him meds like a trooper and we are all getting tested now to make sure no one else has it. We feel he is delayed very little, if at all. If we spoke more Russian/Ukrainian, we would know everything he says. He understands us, but is still only saying a few words in English.
- Develomental delays
- Allergic dermatitis (rash)
Dima's diagnosis:
Diagnoses by American pediatrician:
- Inborn heart disease
- Blood circulation system defect
- Delay in psycho-vocal development
- Residual-organic cerebral deficiency
- Displatic cardiopathy of left ventrical (heart murmur)
- Hernia
- Sensitivity to certain foods (don't feed him unusual fruits or overfeed him).
Innocent heart murmur (needs no special care), giardia (10 day course of meds cured it), umbilical hernia (will correct itself as stomach muscles strengthen), the pediatrician thought he had protein-deficit malnutrition but the tests did not prove it. He had a full panel of tests that tested everything.His English has come along very nicely. He can really say a lot for only having been here for seven months! He only has problems with speech articulation, but he keeps improving. He is very clever. There are no cerebral deficiencies in this boy!
