Guangzhou

Since we left Hohhot there haven't seemed to be enough hours in the day, but yet it seems like forever until we can get back to the comforts of home. We left Hohhot Friday afternoon, and on the flight to Guangzhou we learned some new things about Chloe. Things were going fairly smoothly until the plane actually got airborne, but from that point on Chloe pretty much screamed for the next 2 1/2 hours. She was absolutely inconsolable. We have read that quite often children with a cleft pallette have issues with fluid in their ears. We're guessing this is the case with her. We felt so badly for her. And it really added to our frustration that since we were one of only 2 non-Asian families on a completely full flight, we became the freak show. One guy in the row behind us was literally pulling our seats back to peek through and see what was going on. But we finally got to Guangzhou late Friday evening and made our way to the White Swan hotel...the same hotel we stayed at when we adopted Isabelle, so there was a certain comfort level that was very appreciated. Immediately after breakfast Saturday we, along with the other 6 families in our WACAP group, several other adoptive families from other agencies, and a whole bunch of what we assume were local residents needing medical attention, went to the designated medical examination facility here on Shamian Island. It was absolute chaos. Now that the Chinese authorities have signed off on the adoption, we need to satisfy US government requirements to allow Chloe to emmigrate to the US and become a citizen. One of those requirements is a medical exam. First we stood in line to have Chloe's vital statistics taken. We have to laugh that although she has eaten pretty much non-stop from the moment she was placed with us, she has actually lost a pound from when we were provided with key data about her in January. Next...another line for a cursory physical exam. And then, another line for a visit with an ENT. Given Chloe's cleft issues, we thought this exam might take a few minutes. Silly us! Quite frankly, it was pretty much a joke. The doctor (?) turned on a toy piano, supposedly to check Chloe's hearing. She didn't react at all, but that didn't phase him from continuing his exam. A feigned look into her ears was also supposedly OK. But his examination of her mouth (and cleft palette) was laughable. It was clear that Chloe has had her mouth check out more times than we can imagine, because when the doctor came at her with a tongue depressor she clenched her jaw and would have nothing to do with it. And apparently that was OK. Examination complete; document signed. And that suits us just fine. Doctor Chambers at UAB is going to help us chart a course of action for Chloe anyway. But we weren't finished at the clinic yet. The US Consulate requires that all of these children be current on their immunizations. And according to the records provided by the orphanage, Chloe needed three shots but the required TB test. Translated: a shot in each arm and each thigh. Since these children are dealing with so much trauma, one of the other adoptive fathers suggested that we hold the other family's child for the shots, so the pain and negative emotions don't get tied to the father. An excellent idea! So he held Chloe (and showed all the compassion in the world...thanks Matt!) and Bill held their son. It brings tears to our eyes to watch the children go through all of this, but we realize the necessity of it all. And now that part is finished! On a lighter note, one thing that made Diann very happy is the fact that Papa John's Pizza delivers to our hotel! So you can guess what dinner Friday and Saturday night consisted of. Sunday night we went with the rest of the WACAP group to a restaurant near our hotel, and even though neither of us got very daring with the entrees, the food was not very good at all. We consider ourselves fortunate that our hotel has a very good breakfast buffet, so we are assured at least one substantial meal each day.