An Outing for Blood Work

Another great, restful night! Tomorrow I’m getting up in time to exercise. We also had warm showers. Thanks, God. Egg, yogurt, juice for breakfast.

Yesterday afternoon they told us that Daniel would need to go to the hospital for a blood test, and could Sergei please take another girl, too. It would be around 9 AM. Sergei picked us up just before 9:00. We wanted to go along if permitted, just to have a little time out of the orphanage with Daniel. Sergei checked when we got there and they said yes, although maybe only one of us would be allowed in the room where the test was done. That was fine. No braces this morning - hurray! We know they are important and we will do whatever is best for Daniel here and at home, but when it is determined he may have some freedom we will also celebrate with him. They had him in a nice warm coat, hat and boots. I pulled out the hat I had knit with his Ukrainian name and showed it off proudly - until I learned that in this circumstance I should have left off the last letter. Back to the graph-paper drawing board! The caregiver and I rode in the back seat with the children (of course no car seats). Daniel was very solemn, not even a smile the whole trip.

The caregiver said it was a “general” test. No specific reason. Sergei was told he would also be examined by a phthisiologist, a tuberculosis specialist (routine). The “hospital” was part of the first floor of the building right next to our 2007 apartment building (!). We waited in an entry room with several other parents and young children who one by one were taken into another room and shortly there after emerged crying while a piece of cotton was held to a finger. The caregiver took the little girl back first. After a while she took Daniel and I went along. When she saw me in the lab-drawing room she just indicated I should take my coat off. We actually stood to the side while all the other children (three) finished up. The phlebotomist showed me how to sit next to her table, hold his right arm out and keep my left shoulder back away from the table. She had a couple of rubber toys for the children to look at, but I couldn’t tell if he was allowed to hold them. He wanted one of her little pieces of paper and she gave him a clean wrapper from a pipette. She didn’t put on clean gloves that I noted, nor did I see her clean off his finger, but maybe I was distracted trying to be a good holding mommy. She took out a sterile little metal jabber (like a razor blade with an extra point sticking out) and jabbed his finger, then held a plastic pipette with a bulb to his finger. As she got a little blood she squeezed it into an open test tube on her rack (Daniel was #33). A corresponding piece of paper presumably had his name on it. I talked in his ear, not telling him to be quiet but saying “I know, I know” in Russian. She got probably about a milliliter and then put a piece of cotton on the tip of his finger for me to hold, she gave him the wrapper from his own pipette and we escaped. The entry room was empty except for us by then and we headed back to the car. No other examination. ?

He was still pretty quiet on the way back and played with the wrappers, trading them back and forth with me. We were back at the orphanage by 10:15. After removing his warm jacket and hat we headed off to our corridor. Daniel definitely loosened up after that.
In fact, he was one silly, floppy noodle. He thought everything was hilarious, even when we took a toy away for being naughty. Usually this makes him quite mad/sad, but today he just flopped backwards in Daddy’s arms and laughed. If he didn’t also practiced standing on his own strength and without braces, and if he hadn’t learned to both sign and say ‘cracker’ (cookie) I would have thought he was on Vitamin V (valium) or something like it. “Cracker, please” was his first two-word (without consecutive prompts) combination.
Without the braces we also had him ride up on our shoulders. Sometimes he would sit upright, other times just flop over with a goofy grin. He liked hiding under Daddy’s coat. On our way back to his room John had him try a couple of stairway steps and without his braces he can lift his leg nearly the whole height of a step. It was a pretty happy session!

Sergei was waiting for us, doing some translations on this laptop. He does translation work for technical manuals for various countries. We stopped at the Billa to get more minutes for the Internet device we are using (couldn’t get on-line this morning and thought maybe we were out of minutes). First John exchanged money at the adjoining bank. After intense scrutiny and a look at John’s passport they exchanged the $100 bill that the apartment agency had rejected and that Sergei had been unable to exchange. We also picked up 12 L of water (since we had a ride), bananas to share with Daniel, oranges, yogurt, juice and yogurt for us.

Then we all went to Pizza Bella - a place near our old apartment that Andrei had introduced us to. We shared ante pasta. John and Sergei each had a ‘Bomb’, I tried the ‘Bella’. Mine had pepperoni and cheese, as well as pineapple and bananas! It sounds strange but was quite tasty. Then we took him (okay - so he drove but we treated) to our favorite . . . French pastry! He seemed to understand why we liked it so much when we finished.

Back at the apartment it took many tries but we did eventually get on-line and were able to talk to Nick and Dennis (and Christine and Katie). Still no heat coming into the apartment. Sergei said there are no rules about this. The city shuts it off without notice and it may be off for a short time or a long time. We are still fine, but I don an extra sweatshirt when we come in and we were both snuggled under blankets on the bed when we called the boys.

It was a bright sunny day, the walks slightly slushy over the pavement or ice. It took a while to get Daniel ready for us this afternoon. It was pretty quiet back in his room, so I wonder if naps ran late today. They have a buzzer up on the wall next to the door that we used for Dennis, but it hasn’t worked since we arrived this round. We always knock and wait, knock and wait. Time and again staff from outside and inside the room have told us to use the buzzer because they can’t hear the knocking, and then we show them it doesn’t work or they try it for themselves. It’s okay, we can be patient, content (and quiet) Americans. Doesn’t hurt to defy the usual stereotype.

We headed off to our very warm upper landing where we have room to spread out the blankets. Nothing too remarkable about the afternoon. He did enjoy the banana. He refused to use the sign or word for banana, but he sure has “more” and “please” mastered. He got mad when we cut him off after a half banana. We had fun with the ball and he showed us that it is much easier to ‘catch’ fish with the magnetic fishing pole when you significantly shorten the string. He also practiced some more “down” and “up” antics with John, standing and ‘dancing’ to my version of “Rock Around the Clock”. He seemed tired by 6:15 and when we asked if he wanted to go back to group he smiled and said “da” (yes), so we packed up (slowly) and headed back.

Cheese, almonds, an orange and a few leftover chips for supper.

One potential snag came up today when Sergei told the director I plan to go home before John. She is a very cautious administrator and isn’t sure if that is possible. Things may have changed in the past two years when the other Amercian couple adopting at the same time had to do the same. She will look into it.

Tomorrow we hope to do a bit of sight-seeing in the boys’ hometown, about an hour from Kharkiv. It is dependent on the weather and no currently unknown but absolutely necessary documents cropping up.