Life in China

is interesting to say the least.

There is simply so much going on in the World of We5Chois that it is getting harder to keep up and post. What I can tell you is that we are loving it here and wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything. Putting aside the health issues of living here, which honestly I am at a loss to really understand, life here is good. We are surrounded by good people and have been taken into the community like family.

Some of the recent highlights in no particular order are:

Being involved in the Eco Design Fair. This was a fairly small show put on in downtown Shanghai on Saturday to highlight the various eco-friendly products and companies here in Shanghai. Aimee and I were involved by association with our favorite children's foundation. One of the fashion designers participating in the show is a huge supporter of the foundation and had promised any monies raised during the Eco Fair would be donated to help fund future surgeries. As such and to help keep her overheads for the show to a minimum, she had asked for volunteers to model the clothes in the show. Even though Aimee can be extremely shy at times, she wanted to do this to help the babies. So without a second thought Aimee and I left the house at 7.30am (yes, I know, no one would expect that from me on a weekend) for an early morning dress rehearsal, followed by hair and makeup and the final live show at 12.30pm. In between times we managed to get breakfast at MacDonalds (in an eco-friendly style!) and find time for some shopping before heading back to wait for show time.

Needless to say from a completely biased viewpoint, Aimee looked stunning and made her Dad and me very proud as she strutted her stuff in front of the fairly large crowd. I was so proud of her: she was scared to do it, but she put the needs of others above her fears and truly did herself and her parents proud. After the show, we met up with Richard and the little ones for some lunch. The little ones thought Aimee was so cool being in a show and told her so throughout the afternoon. Even though it meant I missed my lie-in, it felt good to be doing something good for others. I took some photos, but since I am now learning to use my camera properly the results are not as good as I would have hoped. Thankfully, there was a professional photographer there who happened to catch a couple of good shots of Aims - America's Next Top Model.







After grabbing a quick bite to eat at a Japanese restaurant nearby (rice filled omelettes for all) we jumped in the car and headed for home. A quick costume change and we were back on the road. This time we were dressed to thrill (at least the kids were) and ready to party. The kids school were hosting a Halloween BBQ for the lower school kids and it was the social event of the year so far. Unfortunately, thanks to the rain, the event was held inside the gymnasium, but even the wet weather could not dampen the kids spirits (pun intended). For a solid 3 hours, we bounced, spooked, danced and played our hearts out. Thankfully there was limited candy around, but there was free food and drinks and more fun than could be had in one afternoon. Our whole family had such a fun time. it was so good to let our hair down and let of steam. Everyone at the school is so nice and our kids love it there. For a free event (okay I know we pay extortionate school fees) it was incredible. We all had enough to eat (a hot buffet)and drink, there was a live band, plenty of games and activities, a performance by the man of many masks - which was so cool and plenty of friends to share a good time with. it has to be one of my favorite family things so far. We came home exhausted but full of great memories of a good day. Boy, did we all sleep well that night.

More on the milk issue

I know my Mother is going to start really worrying about her precious (or should that be precocious?) grandkids, but don't panic mum. I am being responsible in a fairly British way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To help answer some of the questions parents are asking, I am posting Dr
Gordina's opinion from today on the China Milk Issue yahoo group. Please keep
in mind that this is her opinion and I am not telling anyone what to do about
their own situation. As parents we make the decisions that are right for our
own family. I just wanted to try and clarify some of the questions, that I am
constantly asked.

If you do not agree with me or Dr Gordina, then please just delete this message
and accept my apologies for sending this information. I have no problem with
parents that disagree with me (on the contrary, I like to hear other opinions
and I like to think about both sides) but I would ask that you do not flame me.
,
Best wishes,
Kim C



OMG, so many questions in so many threads ;-)!

I will try to express my views on testing and follow-up as short as
possible. Remember, some of my believes do go (at least for now)
against the AAP SOAFC and ASPN standpoints. Therefore, this is not a
policy statement, not an evidence-based recommendations, but just a
personal common sense, down-to-Earth realistic approach to how to
tackle the problem that ... nobody seems to really know how to deal
with.

1. Whom to test.

EVERY child, who was potentially exposed to melamine, regardless of
age, gender, and/or adoption status.

2. When was the exposure.

As we are now aware of the "secret" recall in 2006 and we can not
prove when and where this all had started, I would prefer to test
everybody who were potentially exposed (read - CAME FROM CHINA, not
born) on or after 01.01.2003. Why 2003? because Chinese are testing 5
yo and because we had a 5 yo testing positive for stones.

3. What about kids arrived/adopted before 2003?

As you can not prove to me beyond the reasonable doubt that the kid
was not exposed, every parent who has a question should have an
opportunity to comprehensively test their child(ren). The notion that
"82% of all affected were under two, therefore we will test only 1
year olds" does not and should not be a reason not to test.

4. What signs and symptoms to look for?

Please note, that symptoms below are very non-specific and can be
related not just exclusively to melamine exposure. Even more, we don't
know what is normal or abnormal for our adopted children. That's why I
am fighting so hard for comprehensive testing of all potentially
exposed children.

- unexplained failure to grow as expected or failure to have a
catch-up growth after adoption,
- unexplained crying,
- discomfort, associated with urination,
- vomiting,
- frequent unexplained fevers,
- urinary tract infections
- blood-stream infection or bacteremia
- any history of urinary obstruction
- blood in the urine, either seen by naked eye or detected by the
urineanalysis
- acute kidney failure
- stones discharged while passing urine
- elevated blood pressure
- edema - swelling of the eyes, ankles, etc
- back/kidney pain
- any other symptoms that are concerning you

5. What to do with the asymptomatic, but potentially exposed kids?

Test comprehensively and then - observe. They still have to be on
database and have the opportunity to be contacted if any new
information will become available.

6. What to do with asymptomatic kids with abnormal UA/blood results
and normal US?

Repeat US, review the films in the reputable radiology department of
the reputable university clinic with a reputable urology/nephrology
service. Close follow-up.

7. What to do with asymptomatic kids with normal UA/blood results and
a detected stone(s)?

Educate local physicians, contact nearest hospital with a reputable
urology/nephrology service. Most of the time after the initial
evaluation by a specialist, follow-up can be done distantly.

8. What to so with the test results (UA/bloodwork reports, US reports
and US films/CD's)

Keep the copies of all results. "Normal" would not work, you need the
printout report. If you doctor is doing UA's in his/her office, ask
for detailed break-down of all data (SG, Ph, etc), as we don't know
what exactly with be specific for the kidneys, exposed to melamine. It
is imperative to keep copies of the US reports, but I would also
recommend to keep copies of the US films/CD's, as films can be read
wrong or you will need the reference point if any changes will happen
in the future.

9. Where to go if you local and not so local hospital is not providing
you with the answers you need/

Good question. We do need a database of "melamine-friendly"
specialists, so we will have a reliable network.

Yes, you are free to cross-post and share the above information.

Thank you,
Alla Gordina, MD, FAAP
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Drexel University School of Medicine
Global Pediatrics
International Adoptions Medical Support Services
7 Auer Court, East Brunswick, NJ 08816, USA
732-432-7777 (voice)
732-432-9030 (fax)
www.globalpfm.com
drgordina @globalpediatrics.net

All China Adoptive Parents - Please Read!

I am posting this here in an attempt to get the message out to other families. If you are the parents of a child adopted from China since 2004, please take a moment to read this.
Kim C

--- In ChinaMilkIssue@yahoogroups.com, "drgordina" wrote:

With all the October meetings and deadlines over, I would like to
express my personal thoughts about the melamine situation.

We all on this list know that we do have an extremely worrisome
situation here. The major concern is that too many people are either
not aware or not accepting the reality of this problem.

Not all adoptive parents are seeking such evaluations. I had to
physically contact most of my Chinese adoptive families to make sure
that they will have testing done on their children.

Most of the general physicians are not aware of the proper
post-adoption evaluation in general, to say nothing about the
evaluation for the melamine exposure in particular.

The attitude "Why to test if we would not do anything anyhow" and "Why
to test if kid looks good" is painfully common. Some time ago I had a
bitter discussion with a infectious disease chief in one of the NJ
teaching hospitals, who refused to test a newly adopted kid from China
for Hep. C only because ... there were no approved treatment protocols.

AAP unfortunately is a slow-moving bureaucratic machine, that is
always late to respond, unless there is some political gain or special
interest group push. As melamine-exposed children are not voting yet
and they don't have any special interest group backing them, the
probability of the AAP swiftly responding to our concerns is pretty low.

At the present time there is no consensus among adoption
physicians-members of the AAP section on adoption and foster care. The
division comes along the "academia" and "practitioners" line, with
academic-based doctors being more conservative with evaluations and
practicing physicians (me included) advocating for complete testing of
every Chinese adoptee. How we can sort the things out without any
statistical review?

Somebody here said, that it is not good to use kids as gunea pigs. I
do not agree with such comparison. That would be a case, when the
exposure would continue despite the present knowledge and we would be
just observing the kids - what would happen. Kids were exposed, and we
do not know who, for how long and with what amount of the poison. We
don't know, what will happen to them and we have to have the means to
follow our kids, stones present or not. I had a case of a 3 mo old
baby, whose congenital stones were missed by the initial US and the
only cause for further evaluation was an abnormal urine test.

The lack of funding was cited at the AAP section on adoption meeting
in Boston as an excuse for not doing any research at all. Funding is a
big problem for academic facilities, because that's how they can
operate. But does that mean that all research is sponsored? No, a lot
of studies are done in the beginning as grass root projects. Think
about it, what this funding is needed for? To pay for somebody to
oversee the project, to develop the study design, to promote the
study, to go through the institutional review board approval process,
to do the testing itself, to do the data entry, to statistically
review the findings, to make the data presentable/publishable and (the
most important) - to travel to some fancy conference all expenses paid.

You, as concerned parents, do have a unique opportunity to make a
difference in your kids life. I would not believe that on this list
there is no 8-10 people who can form the initiative group for such
study. I bet here we have somebody versed in writing the proposals,
creating the safe on-line databases, providing statistical analysis
and so on. Insurances are supposed to pay for the testing, but if not,
as one of the parents said here - the cost is a small price to pay for
the piece of mind and the knowledge, that can help your kid or her
adopted peer.

So, if you are ready, you can count me in and I also can offer some
space on my website for the database.

Alla Gordina, MD, FAAP
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Drexel University School of Medicine
Global Pediatrics
International Adoptions Medical Support Services
7 Auer Court, East Brunswick, NJ 08816, USA
732-432-7777 (voice)
732-432-9030 (fax)
www.globalpfm.com
drgordina @globalpediatrics.net

Monkey & Male!?

You Are a Monkey

You are a very fascinating creature. People are interested in every little thing you do. You are smart, curious, and clever. You are naturally witty, and you have a great sense of humor. You can see things from many different angles, and you always have an interesting perspective on life. You are likely agile and playful. You stay physically fit simply by staying active.

What Animal Are You?

Your Surfing Habits are 70% Male, 30% Female

If we had to guess, we would guess that you are a man. You use the internet to make your life more efficient - and to make you smarter. For you, the internet is like a vast encyclopedia. You search and surf extensively. You look up everything online.

Do You Use the Internet Like a Man or a Woman?