First the doctor & thal stuff for interested parties... ;)
He had a ferriscan of his heart and lungs under full sedation. Transfusion dependent thalassemia patients receive a tremendous amount of iron during each transfusion. In America, we "chelate" these patients, that is- we give them medication to take the iron out of their bodies. In the orphanage Chengbin wasn't afforded this luxury. Chelation medication is incredibly expensive! So his body has accumulated a significant amount of iron over the years.
Our liver ferriscan from October showed liver iron of 43mg/dry gram. This is extremely high!! He has been receiving chelation ever since then, so we are hoping to see improvement of his liver iron from this scan. Because his iron was so high last time, it was also determined that we should check his heart to determine if any iron had deposited in it.
This little boy is incredibly silly when you get him in a hospital. I'm telling you, he just lights up and charms the heck out of anyone he comes into contact with!! He laughed and laughed and got so wound up that everyone in recovery commented how quiet it suddenly was when he received the anesthesia! ;) One nurse even had to stop by ahead of the anesthesia cause she just had to see the little boy with the infectious laugh, before the anesthesia stopped it. LOL!!
It took around an hour before he was wheeled back into the room to sleep off the lasting effects of the anesthesia. Around 30 minutes later he began to stir and about 15 minutes later we were cleared to leave.
Easy Peasy!!! Thank goodness he does well with anesthesia. This was our 4th time since he came home of him going under for a procedure, so I don't get nearly as nervous as I did those first couple times.
After our hospital visit we grabbed Katelynn & Grandpa from the hotel and headed to the zoo.
Ever since Chengbin began to speak English he has talked about how much he loves pandas and wants to see them... Well, we DID see them. In CHINA. But by the time we got to them... let's just say our little guy was out of sorts. I don't think he even looked at them. So this was his chance to finally see his beloved pandas!
The zoo was shady and pretty compact. Perfect for us, since we had only gotten 5 hours sleep the night before. We came, we saw, we fed giraffes, and we went back to the hotel for a nice long nap before dinner. :)
Doctors & Animals in Atlanta! Can't wait to go again in 6 mos with all 3 of my kiddos!!
Thanks for stopping by,
Fannie, Matt, Kate, & Chengbin
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