[happyhome]

Hi all,
Well, I posted that I may have good news soon, and it came today! We received a referral of a very cute 10 month old boy.
As with any referral, there are some medical concerns, and I'd like to ask the group for your advice.
First, he may have a hearing disorder. Did anyone have this on their referral document? If so, did it turn out to be true? We are asking for more information from the orphanage.
Second, he tested postive for Hep C. We're looking into a retest now because it is not uncommon for the later tests to turn out negative.
He was premature, but born at 35 weeks.
Last, the birthmom abused drugs, but not alcohol.

So, honestly. Please tell me if you think this is a "normal" referral. Did most of us have referrals without any risk factors? I want to be realistic, but my husband and I are not willing to accept major and/or untreatable medical issues.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thank you.

[amyfk]

Hi Emily

I hope you are well. I am not a medical professional, but I want to wish you the best of luck. Referral is such a happy/but nervous mixed up type of feeling.

Some regions cooperate more than others, but I think youre right to ask to retest for the Hep C. The worst they can do is say no.

Keep us posted. I hope your agency provides more information. I understand your desire to have a child with "minor correctable conditions." That's what we are hoping for.

Sincerely,
Amy K, NJ

[kretzklan]

What type of hearing problems? I'm wondering if they are simply referring to ear infections (maybe numerous)...I did have a lot as a child and it has led to hearing loss. But, nothing that has hindered my life.

I know there are many false positives on Hep C tests (as well as others) - are you having this referal looked at by an IA doc? If so, they may be able to differentiate between the numerous issues with these tests. (I hope you can get more info from the orphanage)

Good luck!

[GCS]

Congrats on your referral! How exactly is the hearing disorder worded? Can it be multiple infections? Have you given the information to an IA doctor as of yet?

Christina

[happyhome]

Hi there,
Thanks so much for your guidance.
We haven't sent the info to an IA doc yet. We literally just got the referral a few hours ago and I thought we'd give it the weekend before we decide to send it to an IA doc.
Our SW contacted the orphanage today about getting more info. We should hear from the orphanage on Monday about getting more information. So, we'll see.

Regarding the hearing issue, there is very little info. Under chronic conditions it simply says, "hearing disorder," and on the development sheet the question is "Turns to locate voice" and the answer is "not every time." So, it could be mild.
No hospitilizations at all, so I don't think it's due to infections. Good question though!

I wish I knew more! Thanks for your help.

[Amysue1112]

See what your IA doc thinks..but here is my opinion.

I did not have these on my daughter's medical, but Hep C is common. But with one of our referrals (the one we lost in-counntry) the IA doc suggested not to accept UNLESS we had a new test that was Neg. They test positive because ** had it, but usually turn neg. by one year.
The hearing issues...well, it seems if they write that there is probably at least some problem. But a hearing impaired child is not the end of the world...especially if it is mild.
Hannah had inborn heart disease on her med. and her heart is perfect.
As far as the drug abuse, now that is pretty scary. But with Hannah we had no history, so who knows what her ** did. There are soo many problems that can come with a kid that had a ** that was a drug abuser, that is for sure. How is his measurements?
I am not saying to refuse him, but I would be cautious until you get more info and IA doc eval. I am not trying to be negative, I am just a cautious person, after going through 4 referrals!
We accepted Hannah with a list of med. diagnoses, but since we accepted her in-country, that helped to have "what we saw" along with the med. history.

I know this is nerve-wracking...I hope you get more info and eval soon, and that they give you the thumbs up on this fella!!!

[schulie]

Other questions to ask your agency: has your referral tested positive for hep C in previous tests? Was the birthmom hep C positive when she delivered? When was the last hep C test performed and where (orphanage, hospital, etc). Maternal hep C antibodies in the baby are possible if birthmom was positive at birth; usually the level decreases over time if this is the case. A retest would be the best, if allowed.

As for hearing loss, I agree with the above posters about further investigating the possibility of recurrent ear infections or an episode of high fever (scarlet fever, etc).

Good luck to you!

[papedge]

what drugs where used my son (adopted from russia) was born with herin(sp) in his system had hepC anibodies (ie) mom was an IV drug user he is still a little small for his age will be 4 in august 38% in height 40% LBS head and chest are fine other then that his learning is on the level of a five year old. he was also a premature 34weeks and born with sphyllis..........


Have a IA Doctor check out your little guy

[Ebadge90]

My referral also listed Hep C. The big question to ask, since I have already spoken to the IA doctor, is to find out if the child tested positive for Hep C, or for the anti-bodies for Hep C.The anti-bodies for Hep C can pass through the placenta from mother to child. The anti-bodies stay with the child, and show up on tests, until around 18 months. So just because the child tests positive for the anti-bodies does not mean they have the disease.
However, and this is the tough part of the referral, there is no way to tell if the anti-bodies are from the mother, or are actually being produced by the child because they are Hep C positive.
Ask for a Hep C test, NOT a PCR test for Hep C. One will show if the virus is present in the child, the other will show the anti-bodies. You are most interested in the virus.
Fortunately, also included in my referral was information stating that the Hep C test came back negative. The baby boy referred to me does not have Hep C, just the anti-bodies from his mother.
I do not profess to be any sort of expert on this issue. I spoke to my IA doctor on Wednesday, so this stuff is pretty fresh in my mind still. I hope this helps, and if any of this information is incorrect, I'm sure another pster will be able to correct it.

[Kasey]

Our initial info said nothing about hearing, but when we met with the doc over there, they said hearing problems, as we came to figure it out, definite infections, his poor ears were so filled with fluid once home, it was sad, he flunked two hearing exams, we had tubes put in and he passed within 2 weeks.
You have gotten some good info on the Hep C stuff and do a search because there have been lots of discussions about it recently.
As far as the drug abuse, personally that wouldn't scare me off, I am actually more impressed that is was stated. We always went on the assumption that at the least ETOH was ingested during pregnancy, we were told no, but who really knows?
So in regards to the drug abuse, again to me that is just one part of the whole picture, the key is looking at the entire picture of this child from measurements to test results to development.
I am also one that thinks that if you feel a pull to this child, feel that this may be your son and there are some unknowns, take the trip--meet the child and see for yourself.
Our little guy had a very small/scary/less than 3% head circum--so there was alot of concern, but we wanted to see him developmentally wise and we just felt he was our son. The moment I held him and looked into his eyes, I knew he was ok, I knew he was our little guy
So follow your gut, alot of this is a leap of faith, so listen to your gut.
Best wishes!

[KimOH]

My DD was listed as premature (32 weeks). It sounds like your potential-DS isn't that much premature. I think anything 36 weeks or later is considered "full term."

Anyway, although our DD looked really good otherwise, I was worried about the prematurity. However, our IA doc said:
1) the diagnosis of prematurity gave her some other things she wanted to check, but that DD's growth and development were more important to her than exactly when DD was born.
2) Russian babies, even those parented by their birthparents, are often born earlier than American babies, so prematurity is not as much of a surprise.
3) Many birthmothers do not receive good (any?) prenatal care, so the estimated due date is sometimes more of an educated guess. Our IA specialist thinks that our DD was probably born early, but probably not as early as her records indicate.

My take-away from the conversation is that although prematurity will cause you to take a second-look at some other information regarding the referral, it is not necessarily something to be terribly frightened of.

Best of luck!

[GCS]

just a note on hearing issues - if he responds occassionally and looks to see where the sound is coming from, he is not deaf.

Just because it doesn't state that he had been treated for ear infections doesn't mean that he hasn't had them. He very well could have and just has never been treated for it. A large number of our children come home and have to have tubes in their ears because of excessive build up, fluid that does not clear, or chronic infections.

My daughter never had an ear infection that we knew of but had a terrible problem with fluid staying in her ears. Probably a result of her spending so much time on her back in the crib at the orphanage and being prop fed her bottle.

We also had great success increasing her hearing after tubes. Our ENT said that her hearing was severly muffled, like wearing ear plugs because of the constant fluid. And this is without infections and wax build up.

As listed above, Hep-C is common on our medicals. They will have to follow for you on this.

There are a number of good IA doctors recommended on this site.

Good luck!
Christina

[Ktates]

Hi-
OUr daughter was positive for Hep C antibodies as well. When we got to the orphanage we found out that they had actually retested her several times and found her to be negative - otherwise she could would have been in a special orphanage.

Most of what I had read is that if positive for antibodies at birth usually only 5-9% actually develop the disease and that it can take up to 18months for the antibodies to clear the bloodstream.

Here is a good link about Hep C - I have a ton of others - pm me if you want them.
http://www.hepcnet.net/hepatitiscfaq.html

[angelkisses0102]

Alex came home with significant hearing loss...it was not listed on his medicals (what a surprise-not!) He had fluid...lots of fluid...not infections...and needed tubes. Literally once the tubes were in, the fluid drained and they tested him (ABR test???) while he was still under...just a minimul hearing loss.

Honestly, you will probably not get any definate answers regarding his hearing while in country...so the decision is whether or not you could accept a hearing impaired child...along with the Hep C question. Only you know if you could...

All the best in your decision.

[kretzklan]

I think this is OK - there is a discussion about hearing tests with babies going on over on the guat board - you may find something out there

Hearing tests for newborns-did anyone have a baby that didn't pass