Doctor Day

Today brought a somewhat strange twist of events. Every family has a doctor’s visit to check out their child’s health. Our appointment occurred just before lunchtime, and as the doctor examined Caroline, he and our interpreter were talking a lot in Mandarin. Finally, our interpreter said that Caroline has two problems. First, he said she has a cleft palette which would require surgery when we got back home. Second, she is severely anemic due to malnutrition. We were not surprised that Caroline is suffering from being malnourished because she weighs only 13 pounds and is 10 months old. Plus, she gets extremely excited every time she sees a bottle or some food. However, we were suspect about the cleft palette because she was not having any problems taking a bottle and she was not listed as a special needs child beforehand.

Fortunately, one of the adoptive mothers is a dentist and looked at Caroline after dinner. She said that she’s pretty sure Caroline doesn’t have a cleft palette, but that her uvula is missing (the flap that hangs down in the throat area). She said we should get her examined when return to North Carolina.

Regardless of what Caroline’s condition is, we are so thankful that God chose her for us. Over the next 3 to 4 months, her malnourished condition should improve. In the meantime, Caroline is no exception to the fact that children seem to always cope with things better than adults. She loves playing with toys and is now chattering a lot with us!

With doctor’s appointments and legal paperwork now completed in Nanchang, we will have a couple of days to tour the city before we depart for Guangzhou this weekend.