Updates from the Pediatrician and Dermatologist Appointments

Update from the Dermatologist (this past Friday):

I am happy to say that some of Amelia's skin conditions are clearing up.  Unfortunately, others are still causing trouble.  The Molluscum treatments seem to be working.  Amelia only had to have 6 places treated compared to the 12-15 we usually have treated.  She has been such a trooper with her "boo boos".  The places on her face will hopefully go away on their own and no new ones will form.  The treatment (Beetle Juice) can cause scarring, so we don't want to take any chances with her pretty face.  The dermatologist says that Amelia has a very mild case and that it usually goes away within 1-2 years of onset.  We don't know when Amelia began to have this because she came to us with places already on her body, so we hope that we are close to the time frame.  Her body is now learning to fight this virus because of the treatment, and we are hopeful that it will go away within the next few months.

There are no signs of any scarring or problems from the scabies.

The infant psoriasis is still present on her hands and feet.  We are trying a new treatment, which seems to be helping some, but not curing it.  The dermatologist feels sure that this should go away sometime while she is 2 years old, because it mainly occurs in infants. 

Amelia has some eczema breakouts on her lower abdomen and knees, but we think this is caused by the hot weather and her sweaty skin.

We will continue to see the dermatologist every 3 weeks for follow-up treatments.  Please pray that her sensitive Asian skin will miraculously cure itself.  We can deal with sensitive skin, we just want to have the itchy breakouts go away.

Updates from the Pediatrician (today):

Amelia made it to 23 pounds now.  She has gained 1 pound since February and 3 pounds in the past 6 months.  She is 31 inches tall, so she has steadily grown taller (she was 27 inches in December).

The pediatrician is so very impressed with our girl.  She really enjoyed observing her in the room today and thinks that she is really progressing.  There were a few things on the 24 month checklist that she could not do, but that was mainly because we have not tried them with her (examples: stacking 7 blocks on top of each other and kicking a ball).  Language was a bit delayed, but we expected that.  She should be saying or at least mimicking 2 word phrases, and she absolutely refuses to do it.  We demonstrated this for the doctor, and she laughed and said it was like Amelia was trying to play with us.  There were also several things that she did in the room that were on the 3-year-old checklist (she dressed herself and only needed help getting one of her arms through the holes because her dress was twisted and pulling up the back of her diaper cover).

The doctor recommended that we do not start potty training her until she is at least 2.5 years old.  She said if Amelia is interested and asks for it then that is fine but to not push it.

Sleep is always a discussion, and we really think that Amelia will just be one of those orphanage children that will have issues with sleeping.  I hope it gets better so that I can get more sleep.

Unfortunately, Amelia had to have 4 shots today.  I thought she only had to have 2, but those 2 were the ones that would catch her up on the vaccinations she missed while she lived in China.  The other 2 were the ones she was really suppose to have at this age.  It was very traumatic, but a sucker and some rice for lunch helped.  What we didn't expect was that she would have a reaction to these shots today.  She didn't have much of one to the 4 shots on her last doctor's visit, but today she did.  Amelia ran a temperature and cried and cried because one of her legs hurt.  I gave her medicine and thought a bath would help (she loves baths), but she continued to cry.  She cried so much that she actually fell asleep in my arms.  This is the FIRST time she has EVER done this.  I had just taken her out of the bath and had a towel wrapped around her.  It was so sweet and such a new experience that I stayed as still as I could for 30 minutes until I felt like I needed to put a diaper on her.  I gently put her in her crib, but she woke up when I started to put the diaper on her.  She started crying again immediately, so I picked her up and decided to feed her dinner.  I think the Advil started to kick in because she perked up by the time David got home.  I hope that her legs are not too sore tomorrow.  Fortunately, we don't have any plans, so we can hang out at home.