She has significant build up on her teeth and from what I can tell likely a cavity or two, but definitely not as bad as what I first thought. She sees the dentist next week and they will likely recommend an oral surgeon who will put her to sleep for a full cleaning and repair so as to help alleviate further trauma.
We have made so much progress with her eating since the first day we met. She went from screaming when she saw food to now sitting up in a high chair, with the tray on and a bib on and opening her mouth willingly to accept food. She is currently only eating baby food (sweet potatoes, peas, prunes, apples, etc). She is drinking still only from the spoon bottle.
Today Heidi had her first doctor appointment with our primary care physician. Zoey came to hang out with the rest of the girls so I could focus solely on Heidi. If you don’t have a Zoey in your life, you need to get one. She’s amazing.
I brought a whole list of concerns with me to the doctor. Some of these were things the doctor at CHOP had mentioned as concerns and some were from her previous medical records and some were my own observations on the short time she’s been my daughter.
One by one we went through the list. There were initially concerns about her liver but that seems to be all cleared up based on her physical exam. I had a worry about her ribs as they slant in midway down her chest but our doctor wasn’t concerned about this. She had a PFO (small hole in her heart-very common with premature babies) that our doctor could not detect.
Heidi does a lot of strange things with her hands and they often seem uncoordinated and weak. I had some initial thoughts that maybe this was a neurological disorder. While it’s not impossible, our doctor felt this was likely a couple of things. One, lack of opportunity in the orphanage setting. And two, she had a brain bleed sometime as a premature infant. He explained that sometimes these brain bleeds cause delays but that the brain is amazing and can heal. He was confident that with physical therapy she will catch up.
Another concern I had was that her left eye occasionally drifts inward. He noticed that her eyelid is also a little droopy on that side. Sometimes this happens to babies born premature. He did recommend seeing a pediatric ophthalmologist. Thankfully I have prior experience with this as Abbey was seen by one at about 14 months old.
The doctor at CHOP mentioned multiple times the possibility that Heidi has autism. She does do some things that are signs of autism but they are also very common orphanage behaviors and self-soothing behaviors. Most notably, Heidi often stares at her hands.
However, she is very interested in people. She makes great eye contact. She engages with people and is usually curious about what is going on around her. She laughs, smiles, and plays peek-a-boo. She cries when she needs something.
(She’s mastered the “mean mug”)
The overall take on Heidi is this: she is (medically speaking) healthy; and with love, a family, and therapy she will in all likelihood catch up. This is literally the best case scenario prognosis we were given. While it remains to be seen where she will be cognitively, we have tremendous hope for our sweet girl.
She does have a lot of fears. She was handled roughly in the orphanage and will often blink rapidly, flinch and cry when something happens. This was especially bad in China when I would get her dressed or undressed. The act of putting something over her head terrified her. With gentleness and patience this no longer makes her afraid. The same with the high chair. She used to cry being sat in the chair and we had to gradually add on new things (bib and tray) but she doesn’t cry or flinch at this anymore.
Friends, you get to join us in watching Heidi blossom. Enjoy watching miracles unfold in the life of Heidi Grace.
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