We Got a Medical!

What an absolutely fantastic this day turned out to be! So much to share today--not the least of which is that WE GOT A MEDICAL FOR BRIGHT!!!! Now, if you adopted from Korea, or China, or Ethiopia, or lots of other places this would be no big deal--but this is a big deal for us at this point as we adopt from Ghana! =-) We've not had any sort of written medical up to this point. So...the details...

• Name and Birthdate are the same as we had been told previously.
• He is up to 16.5 pounds! Whow! Grow baby grow!
• They didn't measure him. =-(
• Skin: Normal
• Eyes: Good, tracks moving objects
• Ears: Good, turns head to sound
• Speech: Not Applicable (don't think he has any words yet)
• Heart: Good, no murmurs
• Lungs: Normal, good bronchial sounds
• Abdomen: Good, nothing abnormal
• Genital/Urine: All good, nothing bad was found in his urine
• Bones and Muscles: All good. No hip dislocation
• Nervous system: Normal reflexes. Normal responses to stimulation.
• Said he is physically normal for his age.
• Said there is nothing in his history or examination that suggests that he may be "mentally abnormal" with regard to his age (Praise God)!
• Bloodwork: Mild Leucocytosis (high white blood count); Anemic (low red blood count); no sickle cell anemia (awesome!); O Positive bloodtype; negative VDRL (syphillis); and last but not least HIV NEGATIVE!!!
• Previous diagnosis include Marasmus (calorie deficient malnutrition); Kwashiorkor (protein deficient malnutrition); and Acute Malaria (didn't know about this!)

In addition to all of this, we were also sent his vacciation history. I was pretty shocked to see that Bright has been vaccinated against most (all?) of the normal stuff (BCG, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, measles, and yellow fever). The kicker is that he was vaccinated as a young infant (according to the dates of vacciation). I love little peices of information like this because it indicates that his birth father really loved him and tried to do the best he could for Bright. He had him vaccinated.

I started thinking about the fact that we have the vaccination dates. How would they have that information unless Bright's father recently gave it to them? And if Bright's father recently gave the dates to them, wouldn't that indicate that he continues to feel confident in his adoption plan for Bright? I would think so!

Can you believe that the medical report might not even be the biggest news of the day? It's true! Included in the message that had our medical report was also a statement to Lois that said the Director of Social Welfare said he has everything he needs now and "Everything will be okay next week." WHAT?!?!?! What does that mean?! Nobody knows (including Lois)!

It's almost inconceivable to me that we could have a court date next week, or even have our paperwork submitted to the courts waiting for assignment of a court date. But how can I not have that little inkling of hope for that sort of miracle?! No matter what, the message seems to indicate that some sort of movement will occur next week and for that I am truly thankful!

Come home baby boy!

Love, Anita