Last week I took Oliver to the international adoption clinic at children's mercy hospital to get a check up or maybe it should be called a check in, since he just got here. Oliver is a whopping 23 pounds and stands 30 inches tall, just sneaking his way into the 3rd percentile on the growth charts. When he was done getting measured we moved onto exam room #1.
I hate waiting in the exam room, even when I'm alone. Don't bring me back unless you are ready to see me. Oliver remains fairly easy to entertain so we passed the 20 minutes by turning the lights on and off, spinning the stool, hiding in the corner, playing the in sink water, and listening to the paper on the exam table crunch when it's crawled upon. Yes, I bring toys in my bag but toys are not nearly as fun as exam room #1. The doctor comes in and Oliver sits on my lap acting cute. He stays cute until the appropriate time to start crying, when the doctor wants him undressed so he can look him over. That's done, dressed and cute again. Nurse comes in to do a TB test. I make them hold him, he screams, they finish and he stops. We go down to the lab so he can have some blood removed. Again I make them hold him, they comment on how strong he is, and some how they manage to steal 5 viles of blood, so they can test for everything under the sun.
Same afternoon when Jim gets home from work he says how is Oliver's TB test. I tell him how everything went and then we look at Oliver's arm. Oh gosh, that thing is huge (quarter sized) with a darker red spot in the middle and it's puffy and hard. Oh my. The weekend passes and it remains about the same. We go back to the doctor to have it read this morning. I say "if that's not positive I don't know what is" I'm right. Off we go to radiology for a chest X-ray to hopefully deny actually having TB. If Oliver doesn't have TB he has to take some pill for the next 9 months. If he does have signs of TB, well that's some other story with a number of medications. Hopefully the blood tests won't reveal any surprises.
Hoping it is just an exposure to TB and not the real thing! Randy always tests positive to TB shots so he just goes in for the chest X-Ray every time instead.
ReplyDeleteHave you considered getting a 2nd test? One of my friends once had a false positive because the doctor incorrectly administered the test (she is a nurse, so she knows exactly what angle and depth they were supposed use for the test).
ReplyDeleteWe went through TB problems twice with a nurse that obviously had no idea how to read a test! Ending in a chest xray that came back fine. The xray alone was a NIGHTMARE! She was strapped into a contraption that looked like something Dr. Frankenstein built in his backyard lab! Grace freaked and it was long 2 minutes!!!! Hopefully yours will be fine too. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWe had a false positive and then went for a blood test which was negative. It was all due to the fact that Aidan had the BCG vaccine in Russia--typical in European countries--which is a TB vaccine. Have the blood test done!! I'm sure yours will be negative too.
ReplyDeleteKids in Russian and former Soviet orphanages are often given TB immunizations due to the close living quarters. Check his upper arms for the tale-tell scar. If you get the TB immunization, you always have a positive skin test. This is one immunization that isn't done in the US so most doctors don't know about this fact. My daughter from Kazakhstan has this problem.
ReplyDeleteHe has the BCG scar (actually two) on his upper arm. Our IA doctor looked for them on our first visit so he is aware. Hmmm. Sounds like I'll have to ask him some questions tomorrow when he calls with the xray results.
ReplyDeleteJeanette, the chest xray was easy. One lady help him up by his arms and the other held his feet and pushed the button. He only cried when I took his sweater off. I thought he was going to have to be strapped down, glad he wasn't since he currently hates getting strapped into the car seat.
I could write a book about this whole TB/Russian orphan world. :) Our daughter had the immunization in Russia, but our pediatrician still insisted we give her the medication. We thought it was totally unnecessary, so we took her to an Infectious Disease specialist at a huge downtown hospital who specialized in international adoption. Well, come to find out when it is all said and done, which was after we had the chest x-ray, bloodwork, duplicated TB tests, that there is NO TEST that actually verifies if you have it or not on a small child. They said no tubers could be seen on a chest x-ray for our 2 year old at the time, so I don't even know why they do it. Finally, we gave up and just gave her the medicine every day. We just crush half a pill and mix in Hershey's chocolate. We haven't noticed any side effects or problems. However, my husband and I both think it is a waste of time, but they went on and on about how treatment is much easier now then if we waited, and she needed it all later. So, what I am saying is - you are probably going to end up having to give him the medicine, no matter what all the tests say. We are still giving it to our daughter - but we are almost done. :)
ReplyDeleteVictoria
One more thing - the specialist told us the blood test is only conclusive in older children, not for anyone under 5. All of it seems very grey -
ReplyDeleteVictoria
We had to give our son, adopted in Russia at age 13 months, the TB medicine, too. It really was kind of a nuisance but thats about all. Beware, once public health gets wind of it, they will be out to test the whole family...ridiculous, yes I told them he was a recent adoptee, but it did not matter to them. Also, if he does have to take the medicine, get it in pill form crush the pill and mix it in something yummy. The syrup form is horrible tasting. We learned the hard way. Congrats on your son he is adorable. I linked your blog from Adoption Ark.
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O is not quite as tall as our Irina but he's heavier already. Our son started out at the 3rd percentile for height and took only about 6 months to leapfrog to the 50th so I'm sure that Oliver will grow like a leaf now that he's home. Sorry that you got a false positive. Do you have his shot records? All of the IA Drs that we've seen advise not testing for 1 year after getting the TB vaccine as it can show a false positive within that year. I don't know whether they can "wait and see" (given that the x-rays are negative) now that they have a positive test since the health dept does get involved but you may want to wait and re-test at the one year mark if that's an option.
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