A Lot of Catching Up....Part 1

I hoped that my next blog would be a beautiful video of our Gotcha Day pictures. My wonderful friend, Amy, allowed me to borrow her camera and take it to Ukraine so that the pictures would come out great. They sat on her camera for about a week after we returned until she needed her camera back. My husband transferred them to my laptop. They have been sitting there ever since. Another wonderful friend of mine, Lindsey, brought me my laptop this morning.Today has been my first chance to do anything, and that is only because I am in the surgery waiting area while Silas is in surgery. I opened up the pictures to attempt to start a video. I just can not look at them right now. I KNOW that I should look at them with great joy, the day I finally broke out my 2 boys. Instead I feel anger and sadness. It is a day that I was lied to (not the first) but the day that started a series of events that lead me here, Children's Hospital, where I have been since December 1st. Only a day and a half after returning home with my boys. I will try to recall the details, but the purpose of this blog post is to update everyone on what has happened since we had Gotcha Day.

Tuesday, November 27 was Gotcha Day. We arrived at the orphanage at around 8 a.m. We were actually unsure if this would be Gotcha Day. When we pulled up, Niko said “yes, bring the clothes. We will not come back.” Before getting the boys, we had to go into the director's office to sign a bunch of papers. As we finished up paperwork, he handed us three bags of medication. The medication was powder and folded into pieces of paper. They were for André. He has a heart condition and the director was so nice to fill us about 3 weeks worth. How nice of him.
We first went to André's groupa. We were not allowed to go in and dress him. The nanny took his clothes and went in the bathroom area and dressed him herself. We waited in the locker room area. She came out and handed him to us. (I did get to sneak a pic of a little cutie in his groupa who seems to be the helper.) He was not in the best mood. Next we went to Silas' groupa. The nannies in his groupa allowed us to assist in dressing him. The nannies also allowed us to take one last pic of Silas with his groupa. Well, not everyone. Only the kids that could walk out into the hallway. There is a little boy listed on RR, Asher, that I have been trying to determine if he is in Silas' groupa. He has CP and does not walk, so he was not in the picture :(
After the orphanage, we were off for our medical appointment. On the way, we picked up another family. We first met them the day of our 2^nd DAP for Silas' referral. They had just arrived and were having their DAP appointment. It was so nice to see Vera with her little girl. The medical office was crowded. The examination was a joke! I watched the “doctor” examine Silas & say that he has only 1 testicle (I apologize, sweetie, if you come across this years from now.) But I need to make a point. The child clearly has TWO. You can see them when you change a diaper. All doctors agree here as well. After the medicals, we went to the Ukraine passport office to wait. And wait. And wait. For hours. We waited. In the parking lot. Apparently, the person who was to sign and stamp the boys' passports went home sick. And like everything else in Ukraine, no one else can perform the job. So someone was supposed to be taking the passports to the person's house or something. We finally got them. Unfortunately we did not get them in time for the U.S. Embassy to give clearance for the boys to travel the following day. Thank God I learned from when we had court not to book tickets until you know for sure you can travel. It would take until the next morning to get their immigration packets. Niko said in all of his years, he has never seen this happen. We went back to our apartment.
On this night, Silas began having some odd behaviors. He started spasming, badly. His entire body arched in pain. These pains kept him awake all night. I was chatting on FB all night with our wonderful stateside coordinator, Nancy, who tried to give suggestions. She suspected he was having withdrawals. This was not the first person to suspect Silas was being “medicated.” One of the first pics I posted, a very experienced adoptive mother, Renee, suggested he looked very medicated. Of course I was naïve and did not think the well respected Dr. Sasha would do such things. I saw what I wanted to see, my little boy perfect. HA! He did not fall asleep until after 5:30 a.m. And woke up a little after 8:00 a.m. Again in pain. Steve called our facilitator the next morning and asked her to call the orphanage director for some possible answers. It was apparent he was given some kind of medication while in the orphanage that we were not told about. No return call.
On Wednesday, November 28, we prepared to leave Ukraine. Steve was able to go to the U.S. Embassy and pick up the boys' immigration packets. I stayed at the apartment with the boys. Our flight was at 5:55 am on Thursday. Our driver, Niko arrived a little after 3:00 a.m. We were flying with another adopting family until we reached Chicago, which I was very happy about. Sherrie's daughter is older and so sweet and beautiful! Sherrie helped out with Silas if I had to use the rest room or we had to give Andre his medication (2 people required at first but now we have it mastered to 1.)We had a flight from Kiev to Frankfurt then from Frankfurt to Chicago and Chicago to New Orleans. Thursday was Silas' birthday and he would be home on his birthday! (or so I thought)
Silas continued to have these episodes on the plane. I tried changing his position and everything I could think of. In Chicago, it got bad. For the first time he turned blue from holding his breath due to pain. Chicago was a nightmare period. We almost missed our flight due to the ridiculous amount of times it is required to go through screenings. On the flight, we were booked in 4 separate seats. Really? A three and five year old with special needs in separate seats from their parents. We had to wait until we boarded the plane to rearrange. Also, we paid for 4 tickets but only used 3 because of the rearranging. One older couple put up a little fuss because they wanted to sit next to each other and moving would separate them. UGH!
When we arrived to New Orleans, we went straight to Children's Hospital. Silas' episodes were getting so bad, we knew it could not wait until the doctor appointment I had scheduled for him the following day. From Tuesday morning to Thursday night he had a total of about 4 hours of sleep due to the muscle spasms causing him so much pain. In the ER, an xray was done and he had a huge mass in his rectum. There were many other tests done as well. He was very dehydrated and was re-hydrated with fluids. We all just thought this was spasms from CP. They gave him Valium and sent us home at about 2:30 am. I was very surprised he was not admitted just with the diagnoses of failure to thrive. He came home 17 pounds on his 5^th Birthday. My oldest son was born 10 pounds 1 ounce! We went home and Silas slept until it was time to wake up the next day.
On Friday, November 30^th we had an appointment at the International Adoption Clinic at Children's Hospital at 1:00 in the afternoon. Well, I thought it was an International Adoption Clinic, which is how it is listed in the directory. It is just a typical clinic and there is not really any type of extra experience with international adoption. To be honest, I do not think anyone had any experience with international adoption. Even to this day when I mention to nurses, doctors, etc. that I took them to the International Adoption Clinic here, they look puzzled. The visit was a very detailed visit. The boys were given thorough examinations. They were even able to get us in at the cardiologist. This was done for 2 reasons: 1. to determine what kind of surgery André had 2. to determine what his meds were. The cardiologist was great. They also had blood-work and received vaccinations. The visit was very long and we did not arrive home until 8pm.
On Friday, there was something else that happened. Silas stopped eating. It was as if he did not know how to eat. He just bit on the nipple. He did know how to eat prior to this. In fact, he was eating really well. I have no clue why he just stopped. By Saturday morning I decided to bring him back to the ER.This child has no reserve and can not afford to miss any meals. We were admitted to the hospital Saturday, December 1, 2012.
I think I will end this post here and make the hospital visit its own post. I have made this one long enough and there is so much to say about being at the hospital. It has taken me 2 days to write this one, so please bear with me. Silas just had surgery yesterday and the only reason I am able to take the time to blog right now is because he is resting. I will try to get the rest up ASAP.
In the mean time here are some recent pics. I have been staying at the hospital with Silas and my husband has been at home with the other 4 boys. I am unsure of which one of us has the heavier load lol

Silas 12/14/12 just before G tube surgery.

André loves American food, including Cheerios.

Tage & André

Maben teaching André how to drive. lol

Silas' first Hanukkah gift ever from Grandma & Grandpa.

D.J. comforting his new brother after surgery.