China Day Fifteen -- Medical Stuff and Squeaky Shoes

Minsy didn't cry, but I don't think she liked her medical exam

Oh golly!  I finally was able to get around the internet blocks China sets up so that I could get onto blogger and have found that my entries have had some crazy formatting issues.  I have had to submit all of them through email for the past two weeks.  I'll have to correct that when I get home.  Sorry for the crazy "enter" spots that make my entries look like free verse poetry.  I'll try to prevent that in the future.

Today began early for us. We got ourselves together and headed down to the hotel restaurant for some breakfast. When we arrived we found the place packed with adoptive parents and their Chinese children. I can see why we weren't stared at as much in Guangzhou. There are a million other people like us running around, and it is probably like this every week. It was fun to see all of the families taking care of their new little ones. Some of the couples obviously waited several years so that they could adopt a baby, but most of us had adopted special needs children, whether that was a special need involving some sort of handicap or a special need because the child was considered older (like over the age of four). I have to admit I went a bit nuts on the breakfast buffet. We pounded down the fruit selections. I was told over and over before our trip that we should only eat the things that we can peel ourselves because we can't trust the water sources used in cleaning peeled fruits. Well, our constitutions must have adapted very well to things here, because after about a week we gave up on that rule and ate the mouthwatering selections of fruits offered at hotels and restaurants. I'm not recommending this course of action to anyone out there. It has just worked well for us. I have heard of many others that didn't have things turn out so well for them. I was a total pig when I saw that they had sugar donuts on the buffet. I was so hungry for some sort of American bad-for-you pastry that I think I ate four of these donuts, even though they weren't the best donuts I've ever had.

After rushing through breakfast I headed to the lobby to meet with Helen, our adoption liaison who would guide us through the Guangzhou portion of our adoption journey. She is an absolute sweetheart. I liked her immediately. She has a lot to work with this week as there are five families who are affiliated with our adoption agency, Wasatch, who are here at the same time, and none of us really have the same schedule. She met with a parent from four of the families to fill out paperwork and collect documents for the US consulate. This is the part that I have had nightmares about for months. I have been convinced that I would arrive at this day and find that I had forgotten some seriously important document work, so we would have to leave China without our little girl. I was wound up as I arrived. Helen was wonderful, though, and she walked each of us through the steps that we needed to take to get this paperwork completed. I did really good pulling out all of the necessary documents until we got to the last piece of notarized paperwork that we needed to have completed. It was a paper that involved the immunization of the child. We had to have this notarized in the US before we left. I copied the form that was included in the adoption instruction manual that Wasatch gave me at the beginning of this journey and then took it to the notary and signed the necessary spots. When I pulled this paper out I noticed that it was completely different than the form everyone else was holding. They had an official government form. Mine was something that said the same thing but was not what the consulate was looking for. Oh no! However, Helen assured me that everything would be okay. They would just need to look things over at the consulate office and make it work for me and for them. Phew!

The paperwork took about an hour. Then I ran upstairs to gather Herman and Minsy so that we could walk to the medical exam office so they could do Minsy's final medical exam in China and test her for TB. We walked through a crowded market on our way to the medical building, taking our laundry with us to drop off at a shop that was supposed to be inexpensive. Fingers crossed on that. We won't be happy if it costs as much to do laundry in China as it would for us to buy a brand spanking new washing machine. The market we passed through had two parts. There was a pet market which sold all sorts of animals, like dogs, cats, turtles, fish, hamsters, rabbits, and things like that along with supplies to care for them. I have heard that this is hard to see, but it wasn't so bad today. I think if it was sweltering heat outside I would have felt differently as I saw the animals in their cages. The second part of the market was the Chinese medicine ingredients. There were hundreds and hundreds of sacks of ingredients that I couldn't even begin to identify. I recognized some dried mushrooms and dried animals like sea horses. Most of the stuff was unfamiliar. No one really tried to sell us anything. I think that they knew that none of us would know the first thing to do with these things in our home. They did try to sell us saffron. I was tempted to see how much they wanted for it because I know that this is expensive in the US, but I don't really use enough saffron in the things I cook to justify buying much of it here.

One of the outdoor market shops that
sells medicinal herbs and such

Some of the goods they sold

We stopped at the laundry place first. Nothing very complicated there. We just dropped everything off and told them our room number so that they could return it to us tomorrow. Then we headed to a little shop where they took pictures of Minsy so that they could use it on her US visa. I wish that Minsy could have thrown them one of her dazzling smiles, but when she isn't really sure what is going on she gets quiet and contemplative, and she wasn't going to smile at all. I think the government actually prefers that for visa photos, but as a mom I like the smiling pics better where her personality shines a bit more. This shop had some cute little outfits that I could purchase for Minsy later. I will come back there because I need to get her some short sleeved lighter items that she can where in the warmer climates of Guangzhou and Hong Kong. It's 85 degrees here and all I have is the quilted heavy garments that we received in Wuhan. The lighter stuff I brought from the US is way too big for her.

Outside the med clinic

After this little stop we headed to the medical examination office. The lady in our group who had adopted three times before explained that this exam was no big deal. It would last less than five minutes, and it wouldn't give us any real confidence that they would discover if anything was wrong. It was mostly to take measurements and weights. Well, this time it took a little longer than five minutes. They had three rooms that we needed to go to. In one room the nurses measured height, weight, and head circumference. In a second room a doctor checked hearing. He was a real hoot to see. Do you remember in the old days when they would show pictures of doctors wearing the giant light contraption on their head? Well, that is what he looked like. He was a nice man, but he just looked so funny with the light I had to smile whenever I saw him. The final room was a bit more of an extensive exam where they palpated her abdomen and checked out the rest of her body briefly. It didn't take too horribly long. I was glad that we arrived when we did, because after we got started the waiting area filled to capacity and then more people had to crowd down the hallway. All of the adoptive parents who were in Guangzhou had to get this medical exam done, so it wasn't just the five families from Wasatch. It was people from all over the place who converged on this one area. Amazing to see just how many adoptive parents were out there! It was fun to see everyone together getting this necessary step completed. Everyone of us have our own wonderful stories of how we ended up on this journey, and it was neat to talk to others and hear their stories.

Minsy doesn't seem happy to begin the exam

Getting her height and weight

Checking her ears

Yes, this is the getup for a Chinese doctor!

Checking her hearing

Here's what that lighted mirror contraption on his head is for

Minsy's final part of the medical exam was to get tested for TB. This involved her getting a tiny little injection in her forearm. Her body would react to this injection, and in two days we would need to return to have them see this reaction. If the red and hard area of the reaction site was bigger than ten millimeters Minsy would have to get an x-ray to see if she had TB or not. In the worst possible case, if Minsy had TB she would have to stay in China and get the TB treated, a process that could take at least six months. That would not be a happy thing for us, so we're hoping that everything turns out okay. It was strange to see Minsy's reaction to this test. All of my children have been laid back children in most ways, but every single one of them has cried when getting any sort of shot as infants and small children, whether the shot was big or small. Minsy just sat there calmly and watched the whole thing happen without changing expression at all. Not even a little flinch. That kind of freaked me out a bit. I don't remember if I wrote about this or not, and it's too late to check it out, but yesterday I opened the hotel door and Minsy was right next to me. The heavy door slid right over her toes and scraped off the top layer of skin on her big toe. I've done that to myself in the past, and I know that that hurts like crazy. But Minsy just looked at it calmly and then pointed to her foot to let me know that something had happened. That was it. No tears or anger at all. After this experience in the clinic I started to wonder if this was somthing that I needed to worry about. It could be absolutely nothing. Maybe it is just her personality. Or maybe she has just grown up in an environment where she learned that crying for things like this doesn't solve anything. I don't know, but I'll continue to keep an eye on this and check it out later when I have more time to see whether this is something to worry about or not.

The exam is almost over.  No tears, but no happiness either.

After finishing our medical exam we walked back to the hotel and joined the rest of the kids. They had been dying to go swimming, so we took everyone to the rooftop pool at the hotel. Even though it was pretty warm for November, the water in the pool was freezing. I didn't bother going in at all. Everyone else who jumped in didn't last very long. Minsy didn't want to get in the water at all, but she loved to sit on the side of the pool with her feet in the water so that she could splash her feet around and laugh at the kids and Herman as they played games in the pool. It was so nice and warm on the roof. I have really missed the sun during the last two weeks where we were either in cloudiness, fog, or hazy smog. The Guangzhou sunshine was wonderful. I drank it up.

There is a wedding photography place on
the island near the medical clinic, and we
saw tons of couples getting absolutely
beautiful wedding pics taken.  I'm a little
jealous!

For dinner that night we met up with four of the families working with Wasatch to eat dinner together as a group. We walked back over to the island where the medical clinic is located and ate at a nice Chinese restaurant there. Our family sat at a table with another family. This was Sam and Mika, with their 2 1/2 year old daughter and their brand new 5 year old son who is mostly deaf. They live in Korea now but are from the US. It was neat to see them communicate in sign language with their new little boy who has not been taught any signs at all during his life in China. No one had really communicated with him at all, so he was having to learn everything new. He seems like a real sweet boy, though, and it is obvious that he loves his new mommy.

Our family was completely wound up at dinner tonight. I'm not sure why, but we were a boisterous group. Helen ordered for all of us. I'm glad because the restaurant brought out this huge book full of their menu. I always thought that The Cheesecake Factory had huge menu books. Well they are nothing compared to this giant volume I was handed. I just stared at it in awe, having no idea at all what to do with it. I begin to panic if I am offered too many choices, and in this case I was entering overload. Helen took over, though, and all worked out for us. The problem came because the restaurant was horribly slow getting us our food. I have never experienced anything like this in my life, and definitely not while we have been in China. We must have sat for over half an hour before our first dish was brought to the table. And then it would take five to ten additional minutes until the next dish arrived. Total craziness. By the time the food started coming my kids were bouncing off the walls. Poor Sam and Mika had to help their son who was distressed about something involving our meal. He couldn't express himself quite yet, but I think that he was concerned that there wouldn't be enough food, and the restaurant wasn't helping things out in that regard. Finally they just had to leave without eating. We did eventually get our food, but it was definitely not the most filling meal I've had in China. It may have been a higher end restaurant in the area, but I wasn't impressed at all. I've had better food and better service at any number of the local hole-in-a-wall places we have visited throughout China. Oh well! At least we had a great time getting to know the other families in our group.

We headed home as a family soon after eating and walked the same path we had walked when we came to the hotel from our medical exam. There were several little shops along the way, and I stopped in one when I saw that they had some warm weather clothing. I found a super cute dress that Minsy could wear to church tomorrow. It was also casual enough that she could wear it some of the time while she is in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Hurray! That makes me feel much better. I"ll come back later and see what else I can find for her. As we passed one of the shops Laney saw a cart outside the shop that contained all sorts of squeaky shoes. Laney squealed and said that we had to get some for Minsy. I have heard of these little shoes before, but I never felt any strong urge to buy them. I was expecting a bigger child, so I thought we wouldn't have much need for them. The shoes really do squeak. Apparently they help children as they are learning to walk. But they are also super cute too. Laney showed me some cute little sandals that matched the dress we just bought. The lady was selling the shoes for a great price, so I decided to go ahead and buy them. We put them on Minsy right away. She had been riding in a stroller to this point in our walk, but we let her get down to walk in the shoes for a bit. I was not prepared for her reaction. She LOVED them! When she first heard the squeak she gasped and then turned around to look at all of us to make sure that we heard it too. Then she took a few more steps to see if it would happen again. Once she realized that her shoes were making the sound she started running and stomping and sometimes even dancing to make those shoes squeak. As the squeaks occurred she would run back to us, point at her feet and giggle uncontrollably. She laughed and laughed and laughed during the entire trip back to the hotel. She refused to get back in the stroller. She wanted to walk the entire way. Unfortunately her feet are not really made for long distance walking at this point, so we had to insist that she ride. She was not happy at all about this, and she let us know very vocally about her displeasure. It was the cutest thing in the world to see her reaction to these shoes. I took some video, and once I get home and add pictures and video to my blog I'll make sure and include it here. It is adorable!

After returning home we dropped off the kids to get ready for bed, and Herman and I made a quick run through the neighborhood to try and find a bakery where we could purchase a cake for Hyrum's birthday tomorrow. Unfortunately we couldn't find anything. I knew that I had seen one in the mall next to our hotel, but it was nowhere to be found this evening. I assumed that it was shut down for the night, and since shutting down basically means closing a garage door, there was no sign or window to let us know that a bakery ever existed. We will have to explore tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a free day with an adventure to try and find the church here in Guangzhou along with Hyrum's exciting birthday in China. Hurray!