So our poop problems have come and gone. And thankfully, this week Brian, Grace, and I are all clear on our TB tests. Yes, TB. It was not a fun test. Just ask Grace!
So, when I finally got around to reading all the piles of documents and translations that Brian brought home from Congo, I came across a small notation that Haven's birth mother may have had tuberculosis. So just as a precaution we decided to have Haven tested and sure enough, the skin test on his arm left a bump. I wasn't too worried because you can have the bump and not really have TB. So next we had to have his chest x-rayed. Twice. The first time he was exhaling or something screwy like that, so Brian had to take him back and have it done again. The second x-ray worked OK and turned out clear. What all this means is Haven was at some point in his life, exposed to tuberculosis. However, the bug is not actively growing in his body. So he is not contagious and he is not really at any health risk. If it had not been discovered and the TB had been allowed to take hold then he might have had problems down the road. For now he has to have a super long treatment of antibiotics to knock any trace of the TB out of his system. Probably the worst part of all of this is that every month he will have to have his blood drawn to make sure the antibiotic isn't giving his liver any trouble. And as you read in a couple of posts back, blood tests are not high on Haven's happy list!!!
All things considered, Haven is one amazingly resilient kid. Last week, in spite of all the diarrhea he still gained a pound!
