One Year

September 3rd was the anniversary of Rebecca's "Gotcha Day." For those of you not as versed in Chinese adoptions, that is the day we first met Mei Xiao Mei, the day we saw her walk through that door in the Guangzhou Civil Affairs Office and into our lives and hearts forever. We were sort of her "foster" parents for the first night, and we had to come back the next day to the same location to sign all the paperwork. So, September 4th is her "official" adoption day.

Last Tuesday, on September 2nd, Rebecca had another one of her "episodes." I don't know what else to call them. She did have an obvious seizure back in April, but we haven't noticed any definite seizure-type activity except for that one day. She has had a total of four of these episodes (one in March--when at the time we thought she may have had a short-lived gastroenteritis, the aforementioned one in April, one in late May, and then another one last week). Back in the spring, she had a normal MRI and EEG, so we were even thinking along the lines that these episodes could have a psychological component to them. The one last week lasted the longest, about 9 hours. Usually, they are around 6 hours. She is very lethargic, hard to arouse, doesn't speak hardly AT ALL, and vomits off and on throughout the day. She is also extremely disoriented and confused. After talking to international adoption specialists in the late spring and summer, we were thinking less that these episodes were just psychological. But, she had not had any problem for over 3 months, so we had not thought much else about it, until, of course, it happened again. We took her to the pediatric neurologist this week but we still haven't got many answers. The neurologist doesn't feel that these episodes classify as seizures but she is very concerned given the history of severe developmental delay as well as the symptoms of vomiting and ataxia. She is suspicious of a metabolic disorder, and is going to consult with a geneticist and get back with us.
Please pray with us that we can get a diagnosis for Rebecca's problem quickly and that the treatment won't be too difficult. We also pray that she can somehow make up for her cognitive delays as quickly as possible.
After Rebecca finally "woke up" last Tuesday, we all went to the park and met my dad & stepmom and my brother and his family for an evening picnic. I got the girls a special "Family Day" cookie. (Vivian's official adoption day was August 29th, 2006!) Rebecca was still very tired and didn't eat much. Most of the time she just sat at the picnic table with her head on the table or in someone's lap. It was heartbreaking to watch her! I hope next year will be a more joyous celebration!


The next day, the 3rd, was met with Henry and Vivian suffering from stomach viruses. Then, I got the pleasure of having it over the weekend. I must say that this week has been free from MAJOR issues (except for that doctor's appointment and our one-year post-placement visit with the social worker), and that was a welcome change!

I want to thank my mom, sister-in-law, my church family, and my FCC family for all the support that they have given us over these past two trying weeks! I know we could not have gotten through the day-to-day struggles without you! We love you all so much!!