Kiya update

Isn't she cute? Well, poor Kiya has had a rough few days full of doctor's appointments and attempts at blood draws. We had to see a Pediatric Gastroenterologist for a follow up since she tested positive for the Hepatitis C antibodies. She has tested negative for the virus but we aren't out of the woods so our regular doctor recommend we see a specialist for a game plan etc.

Well we were less than thrilled with the experience at this clinic. It started with the receptionist calling Kiya a him even though she was dressed in pink. It was followed by the nurse getting upset that we didn't fill out the questionnaire which had 1/3 of the questions about my pregnancy and another 1/3 about mother's health. I politely wrote on the form that Kiya was adopted.

Well the nurse then went on to ask how to say Kiya's Ethiopian name as we haven't changed that with insurance yet so I told her. She then asked me if we were going to change it. I told her we were and she said "oh that's good. We can't have a name like that here in America." Really?

She went on to comment about how lucky Kiya was to get out of Ethiopia and make assumptions about the lack of medical care she could have received while in Ethiopia. I kindly pointed out that we have ZERO doubt that our daughter was VERY well taken care of during her time in Ethiopia. We met the doctor and the nurses and were very pleased with the level of care, concern and compassion. The nurse was in shock that they had vaccines in Ethiopia and assumed we would just revaccinate to make sure. I politely told her no we were not revaccinating as we ran titers and her vaccines were all fine.

By this point I was getting annoyed, well it got worse. The doctor came in and obviously didn't read my daughter's file or the questionnaire I filled out that listed that my daughter is from Ethiopia. He assumed that I was Hepatitis C positive and that is how Kiya had the antibodies. Really?

We came up with a game plan for the next 7 months or so which unfortunately include some more blood tests. We went to the lab that day and wow, let's just say I left with a screaming baby in tears. They too kept calling Kiya a him and the people at that lab had no idea how to draw blood from an infant. I know and realize it can be challenging but you should never say in front of a mom "I am not sure if this is a tendon or a vein, let's try it and see what happens." If this in fact was the case, do me a favor, leave the room and discuss with a colleague out in the hall.

So we had to go in to our regular clinic today for the blood draw and due to the tests that were ordered and Kiya's size, we weren't able to get all the blood today. We have to go back next week for the rest. Poor baby...