Moses.

This is going to be a long post, there's a lot to share and it has been possibly one of the most stressful times of my life, so stick with me!

After discussion on the adoption forum about getting our newly adopted children tested for TB, I decided to go last week and get Ayana and Moses checked out. Our wonderful paediatrician had recommended it when we got back from Ethiopia, but had advised us to wait for a few months before doing the testing as malnutrition can affect results.

I took them in, they had the skin test and we waited a couple of days to see if they would react.

In my mind I was half expecting them to react and sure enough, after a day, they both started to develop a red bump on their arm.

When I took them back to the TB clinic, they read their skin tests and said that they both needed chest x-rays. We had already waited a couple of hours in the clinic and I prepared myself for a loooong day :) Little did I know!

Up to the x-ray centre, waiting, waiting, x-rays taken (Quite difficult to get a 1 yr old to stand completely still on a little bench leaning against a cold metal plate) Back down to the TB clinic, waiting, waiting. Finally the Dr called us in to look at the chest x-rays.

The procedure is that with a positive skin test, you get the chest x-ray to determine if you have active TB. With children under 5, the recommendation is that with a positive skin test, even with a clear chest x-ray, they need to be on meds (3 different types of antibiotics) for 6-9 MONTHS to clear them of the latent TB.

I went into the Dr's office and he put Ayana's x-ray up. "Negative for TB, all normal"

Then he put Moses x-ray up and the drama started...he literally said, "Oh my god! This is not normal. He has a huge heart that is spread right across his rib cage. I've never seen anything like it."

Then he called the nurse in and said again, "Have you ever seen an x-ray this abnormal?"

The nurse looked at me standing frozen in complete shock, and suggested that the Dr told me whether Moses was clear of TB...the Dr just kept shaking his head and saying, "This is serious, really serious"

Finally he looked at me and said, "I don't know what this means but I need to be in touch with your paediatrician..oh and he's clear of TB"

I managed to gather my wits enough to ask about the medication and he said definitely not, they didn't need it. I asked why all the literature says that they do need it and he said, they don't need it, absolutely not. I then asked what I should do about Moses, was he OK etc. Then he said "I'm a TB Dr, I'm not a cardiologist but all I know is that this isn't right, it's very serious."

Can you imagine how I felt as I left the clinic? I was in complete shock and I could barely buckle Moses into his stroller because I was shaking. The nurse came after me as I left and asked if I had the meds all sorted out. I told her the Dr said they didn't need it. She brought me back into the clinic again to recheck because she said children usually get the meds with a positive skin test. The Dr again said no....she gave me her card and told me to call her.

I wandered around the medical buildings for a while trying to absorb the fact that my little baby boy had a serious problem with his heart. I called Dave and told him in tears. He was stunned of course.

Then I decided that I was not going to wait for the TB Dr to get hold of my paediatrician, I was going to talk to her myself. Fortunately she was in the next building and I went in to her office and burst into tears again...the lovely receptionist told me she was fully booked. Of course, people wait for months to see her. I pleaded just for 5 minutes. I was told to come back in an hour and she would see me for 10 minutes.

More waiting, getting the kids something to eat etc. I couldn't eat, everything tasted like sawdust in my mouth.

Ayana kept saying, "what matter mommy?"

Finally I went back up to the Paediatrician's and she was so AWESOME... she took me in her office, sat down, gave me kleenex and told me to start at the beginning.

She is so wonderful, very matter of fact and reassuring.

She then gave Moses a thorough physical exam and said that everything checked out as far as she could see. She got on the phone with the TB clinic and also a pediatric radiologist who had the x-rays sent over. The ped radiologist said the x-ray was normal.

WHAT? How can it be "the most abnormal x-ray " a Dr had seen and "normal" at the same time?

My paediatrician said that she would call her friend at Children's Hospital in Vancouver, a renowned cardiologist and ask her to help us out. She phoned and this wonderful lady told me to come down to Children's today and she would sort it out. I could not believe it. Do you know how long it takes people to get in to see specialists at Children's???? I knew that God was watching out for little Moses.

I went back to the TB clinic to pick up the x-rays and a different Dr called me into his office. He at least apologised for the way that the other Dr had told me about Moses x-ray and said that they were OK with the ped radiologist opinion and also....told me that the kids needed to be on the medication. I was so furious. I told them that I didn't care if they were happy with the ped radiologist opinion, I was getting my own second opinion and also that I had triple asked earlier if the kids should be on meds and had been triple told no. I told them to call me when they had come to an agreement on treatment.

Down to Children's hospital. It was now the end of the afternoon...I had gone to the TB clinic at 9:30 a.m.

We waited, waited, waited for the waiting room to empty and finally I got into the cardiologist. She examined Moses, said that he had a normal exam, looked at the x-rays and said that she needed an ultrasound of the heart and an electrocardiogram to be 100% sure that all was OK. I asked her why that needed to happen...were the x-rays showing something abnormal...she said "maybe".

However, as this was the end of the day, all the testing had to be done the next day.

I went home and our whole family prayed, I called my family in UK and they started praying, my church started praying, my friends were praying. I couldn't even post about it on the adoption forum as I was so upset and scared. This little boy had a lot of prayers offered up on his behalf in that 24hours before we could get the tests done.

So...(I told you this was going to be loooong, but I need to tell the whole story) yesterday we went back down to Children's for the tests. This time, Dave was with me. Also, it was my birthday but the day just didn't seem that happy for me even though the sun was out and the blossoms were blooming. It just all seemed blah.

Moses had his tests...hard to see your baby hooked up to machines...and then more waiting to see the cardiologist for results.

As I was waiting I was watching the parents in the Heart Centre. There were teenagers there with their Ipods on, right down to a newborn baby being nursed in the corner and I wondered how many of them had battled through agonies of having their children diagnosed with heart problems, it was so sad.

We were called into the office. I was shaking.

We sat down and the cardiologist said, "This little guy is fine. He checks out 100%. His tests are great. The size of the heart is normal. The chambers of the heart are strong, with good activity. The Doppler (sound) reading is good. He's a healthy baby" His x-ray had shown that the heart size was big, but she said that's why we do other tests. It turned out to be something called the thymus (spelling?) gland had been in a slightly different place than normal, but it was completely fine..no worries at all!!

I almost burst into tears on the spot. I thanked her over and over for squeezing us into her busy schedule, for her kindness in seeing me the day before. She smiled and said that she liked to put parents worries to rest.

The drive home was wonderful. We sang. We called people. I kept looking at my little guy in his car seat blowing kisses at me. We thanked God.What a fabulous birthday present!! Moses has only been in our lives for seven months but my goodness....we LOVE him so much!!!

Oh, yes, they probably do need to take the meds for latent TB...that now seems like a walk in the park.

I am so grateful for healthy children, something that money just can not buy. I thought of all the parents still waiting anxiously in the Heart Centre and felt so bad for them.

Thank you God for my healthy baby boy.

Thank you for sticking with this long post...I'll get by with a little help from my friends.