Dr. Staat is wonderful!

I heard from Dr. Staat, the director of the International Adoption Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  She was so caring and encouraging.  We learned quite a few things about what is going to be available to help with whatever situation we find ourselves facing once Abigail comes home.

The bottom line with the diagnosis?  Yes, the CT shows an area of brain damage.  It seems to be caused from a trauma of some sort, she thought likely in utero.  It seems to be in the area of the brain where the communication center is located.  This could mean a couple of things.

1. Abigail doesn't talk because she can't.  She simply cannot perform the physical act of speech.  It could mean that learning sign language will be more important than learning some Chinese!

OR

2.  Her intelligence is affected, and thus speech is delayed.  If this is the case, we really have no way of knowing at this time how much it will affect her learning or IQ. 

Otherwise she looks healthy, like she is receiving adequate nutrition, and has a good growth rate -even though she is a little on the small side.  All of our kids have been!

Dr. Staat was impressed in the video with how sweet Abigail is and what a good disposition she has.  We likewise think  she is a doll!  If God will grant us favor with the caseworkers and with China, we will happily and joyfully bring her home.

On a totally different vein of thought... Dr. Staat's office sent five pages of precautionary information and a vaccine list for tourists of China.  There were stories of diseases we don't have here (just from eating the food???) and rabid monkeys on the streets.  (insert the image of me shrieking and running!)  In the course of the conversation, I told Dr. Staat that I was quite surprised at the travel information they sent me because it sounded as if we would die the minute we stepped off the plane.  "How bad is it REALLY in China??"  She said that we need to be sure our routine vaccinations are up to date, then it was the Hepatitis A and Typhoid that we really needed to get vaccinated against.  She added that we should not be "too adventurous" with what we ate.  I replied, "Oh and we shouldn't play with the monkeys."  Her reply?  "Its never a good idea to play with monkeys, no matter where they are."

Maybe its the endless typing of this "Parenting Resource Plan" that has gotten to me, but I've been giggling about this advice off and on for hours!