It’s unbelievable but we've had Bella for ten weeks yesterday. We wanted to give you an update on how we are doing and specifically on how Bella is adjusting, her eating habits, and our communications and, last but not least, her health.
Since arriving home Bella’s has become well acquainted with our home, her room and toys, the bathtub (her favorite place), and our family pet, Luther. She loves to blow bubbles outside, swing, let you push her around on her bicycle and color the sidewalks with chalk. Anytime we are out she eventually says, “Let’s go home. Play with Lutha.” She loves to give him a run for his money!
Bella's pallet has become more and more Americanized every day. Initially, she ate green beans or other veggies for breakfast. She even preferred them cold and would drink the veggie juice too. It was not too appetizing to watch first thing in the morning! Now she will eat some cereals but mostly eggs and bacon for breakfast. She will eat about a fourth of a bagel with cream cheese if offered. Like most American kids she has been bitten by the McDonald's bug. She loves their chicken nuggets and hamburgers which she calls a "hambo". She’s never a big fan of French fries. Noodles are no longer requested daily although she will eat up some spaghetti. She still prefers to eat her noodles with chop sticks. Occasionally, she eats bread but would rather have meat or veggies. She also eats at least one banana a day, usually two. Her appetite is healthy and she has gained two pounds in ten weeks.
Our communication is going very well and Bella understands 90% of what we say. It's been amazing to see how fast she learns English. Some of her most common phrases are, “Just a minute, I’ll be right back!”, “Oh no!” or “Oh my goodness!” She also says “Bella do it!” or “I can do it!” several times a day. She talks a lot in short sentences and sometimes tells long stories in a mixture of English and Cantonese. We understand about 75% of what she says the first time. With a second try or hand motions we can usually figure out everything she says. If she can't explain she says, "I don't know..." and moves on to something else. Rarely is she ever frustrated over language challenges. Some things are hard to translate clearly however. Some examples are shoes she calls “shoes on” and toothbrush she calls “brush your teeth”. When she’s hungry she looks at you and says, “Are you hungry?” Of course we know exactly what she means so we repeat the correction and keep going.
As for her health… that’s a lengthier update. First, let us tell you that Bella is doing well. She is under good care with the Hematologist at Children’s Hospital. Dr. Hilliard has been perplexed by her diagnosis of Thalassemia Beta-major because she has not shown the bone structure changes in her face. She kept telling us, “This just doesn’t add up…” Due to Bella being transfused it was impossible to get a test on just her blood for analysis. However, we were successful in obtaining her original blood tests from China. Those would have been done by the doctors at the orphanage right after she was abandoned and would show just Bella’s blood. Dr. Hilliard also sent some cells to Boston for gene testing and a clear diagnosis. Just last week those results came back and we received an unexpected blessing of a new diagnosis of Thalassemia beta-intermediate, not major! That means she eventually may not need as many transfusions and could actually live without them.
Since arriving home, we’ve been on a schedule of transfusing her blood every three weeks. However, her spleen is enlarged because it is producing blood. Blood should only be produced in your marrow but her body has started creating blood other places just to compensate. We are trying to get ahead of her spleen and moving to a two week schedule in hopes of her spleen shrinking back down. If it doesn’t slow down the doctor will want to remove her spleen and put her on a daily antibiotic. We are praying her spleen does shrink down with the new schedule.
Bella does very well with the transfusions. She never cries over the needles and usually doesn’t even grimace or respond at all, just watches quietly. Her veins are scarred and broken and the nurses don’t like to IV her. They always call for the IV specialist. Bella still doesn’t mind however, due to the condition of her veins, they are recommending we do a port so they can easily get into her vein. She will have another transfusion on next Thursday and outpatient surgery next Friday for the port. Transfusions usually take from 8:00am-2:30pm and Bella watches cartoons, colors, plays and talks the whole time. She’s such a tough cookie! We expect she will do well recovering from the port surgery too.
We have experience so many blessings, many unexpected, over the past several weeks. Our bonds with her are tight and as are her bonds with us. It feels like we’ve known her so much longer than we actually have.
Bella continues to be very independent, feisty, energetic, giggly and fun. She seems to love her life here and we couldn’t be happier to have her. We still covet your prayers as we work to get her to improved health and adjusted to life here with us.
