GT Strikes Again

The last couple of weeks have been super tough at the Roberts House! Janie came down with a yucky tummy virus that last about 4 days starting on the Wednesday the 23rd. I was called home from work to get her after being there for literally 1 minute. The following day I received a call from the Health Nurse to say that Quinn had a bloody nose but was mild. My worst nightmare had came true - for him to be at school with a nose bleed! Thankfully, it was indeed mild and I was able to pack his nose. I feared what the following day would actually bring ... the calm before the storm or we were going to be extremely lucky! By night it had stopped and I took the packing out. The following day there was no school so I sent Quinn to Citi Family Center across the street from work and the girls went their own separate ways. With Janie being sick she stayed with Daddy so that I could get caught up on work. It seemed like there was a large mound of Audits with no end in sight to have completed and of course by a deadline! My phone rang about 11:30 with a voice saying "Mrs. Roberts, Quinn has a bloody nose ... pause pause pause ... It is bleeding really bad!" Yikes .. I grabbed my purse and took out running across the street ... When I got there it was amazing, overwhelming and very sad what I saw. The blood was so fast and furious out of his little nose that it was rolling out of his mouth, nose and eye in a steady stream with large clots falling behind! I had never seen it that bad. I quickly got the supplies that I need and packing his nose ..... 10 minutes later he had quit bleeding. The bleed was so far back that it was still oozing some inside. We went to Childrens and they elected to infuse with Platelets. We stayed packed until Sunday and all was well as much as could be. On Monday morning he woke me at 3am to say that he felt blood in his throat. Sure enough 5 minutes later it started on the other side of his little nose! Once again, it was bad but not as much as Friday! At 9am he started bleeding past the packing. We went in for Factor (aka NovoSeven). It proved to be relatively successful with mild oozing. He lightly packed Quinn's nose. His Hemaglobin had dropped down to around 8.0. The is low but is for him is not too severe. The following day he asked to stay at home simply becuase he was not feeling well at all and was weak. He continued to oooz until Friday. Quinn seems to be feeling much better and is recovering from the last weeks events. It has been almost 1 year to the day that he was hospitalzied (10/3/08) and infused with both platelets and RBC. What a trooper this little fellow is!

Normally, we use Platelets for the nose and NovoSen for the mouth/gums. After debate and much talking we have elected to use the NovoSeven going forward. With many fights over the use of NovoSeven, the insurance company has finally elected to see it my way and the doctors way that it is "medically necessary" for him to have it! A shipment arrived at my door just a few weeks ago! Yeah! This will eliminate expense and trips to the hospital for an infusion. Next week, we go to the Hematologist and will meet with the nurse to learn how to actually use this! I am very excited about this. It will take some time to build faith that this will be a good choice for Quinn. What I have saw so far is that it wont completely stop the bleeding. But is certainly better than what was.

~ One Year Ago Tomorrow ~

I hadnt realized so much time has passed! Time sure flies when you are having fun I guess :) My mind has been wandering back to what happened one year ago tomorrow. I was united with my son in China! Hard to believe it has been such a short time. I clearly remember the day that he came to me. He was scared and puckered up at me for the first few hours really trying to hold back tears. Then he realized the all was good and he just jabbered away non stop. Honestly, I have no idea what he was telling me but believe he was telling me stories about himself. The first few moments he would not let me touch him and kept bouncing from chair to chair at the Civil Affairs Office. In the van on the way home he kept looking at me with big puppy dog puddled eyes his little hands in his lap. Now, that trip to Wal Mart when he got to pick out new sandles and a toy did it for him. He was good at that point!

Since coming home, we have made incredible strides both medically and emotionally. Medically, Quinn seems to be doing very well and has adjusted to American medicine and likes his Hematologist. He has a very rare platelet disorder called Glanzmanns's Thrombasthenia so he bleeds tsunami's. He has infusions of platelets and Factor VII (NovoSeven) depending on the type of bleed he is having, etc. He does well with all and just takes it in stride. He wants me to do everything for him other than stick him with a needle. Which, I will be doing soon. He said he is ok with that too and he trusts me!

Emotionally, we have made some great leaps but still have some work to do! It is hard for him when he misses China so much. However, having Ming and Juan in the US has been a blessing for him. Now that he is back in school he has less time to think and has improved his moral a bit also. All in all I am very proud of my little prince!

Quinn has became quite the little fisherman and his Daddy says he shows great potential as a Professional Fisherman one day! He loves this sport and will be sad to see the cold weather set in on him. Unfortuately, he doenst handle the cold weather well so he will be limited on his time in the boat.

This summer Quinn and his sisters took Swimming Lessons. The girls did rather well... Quinn on the other hand seemed to be like a "rock". So, I think that he will need some more guidance in this area. Hopefully, this winter we will be able to take some more classes and occupy ourselves during those cool months. He is such a good sport about it and really enjoys the water. When he came to me this is what he asked me for "could I teach him how to swim"! Very simple request out of a little fellow!

Two weeks ago we went to court to finalize Quinn's adoption in the US. He arrived home on an IR-4 Visa because Daddy and Janie couldnt travel with us due to the passing of Uncle Brian. It seemed to be such a long but simple process. I had all of the information and filed the case my self. However, the court appointed Guardian did not like the fact that I didnt have an attorney, so we had to hire our friend to go to court with us! Just glad that is all finalized. Now, I have to complete the remainder of the paperwork and apply for his SSN, Birth Certificate, Passport and Certificate of Citizenship. Whew!

Lou Juan is Home!

Finally after many conversations about Lou Juan .. She has landed in the US with her new family! We are very excited to have her among us :)

July 10th, we left to see her and Ming in SLC for a long weekend. It was wonderful seeing the three united together. In China, they were like the three amigos. Quinn being the youngest! Sadly, Quinn could not communicate very much with Juan due to his loss of the language but said that he could understand some of what was being said still. We are hoping to have another weekend trip in the fall!

Congrats Juan on Family Day!

** Finally Ming & Qi are Together **

Finally, Ming and Qi are together at last!! We met them at the airport to find lots of smiles and a few hugs. What an emotional meeting for me at least. Life is so different for both now and is all positive :)

Ming was able to stay with us both nights that they were here. I am not sure that the kids got much sleep at all. In the end it really didnt matter. They enjoyed playing Nintendo DS, a movie, lots of swimming and great conversation and fun at Chuck E Cheese!

We were able to spend time with Ming's parents and her brother and sister as well. It was absolutely fabulous to finally meet them after many long conversations and emails. They felt like family!

Both kids parted with a sad heart! Quinn was in a slump for about 4 days and didnt want to really do much of anything. They talked on the phone every night after school for several days. They both said that they didnt want to be apart. I promised Quinn that we would make plans for another trip soon! Hopefully it will work out where we can see them before the end of the school year.

*** Merry Christmas ***

Wow, I am really behind here - as usual it seems these days! Sorry for the late post.

This has been an exciting month for the Roberts household with the holidays coming and the excitement in the kids eyes!! Quinn is especially excited about the holiday and is so fascinated with the lights. He and Owen have bought so many lights that it feels like Chevy Chase lives here or something :) The Christmas Tree was a hit of course as well as the presents but not as much as the lights. It was almost disappointing because Quinn wasn't jumping up and down. He just doesn't get too excited about many things like I would have thought. The presents were all piled out in the middle of the floor because each child decided that they wanted their own piles and nothing under the base of the tree. It was a tremendous amount of fun shopping for the kids this year.

We were able to make a visit to see Santa Clause with all of the cousins this year. It was different saying that there were "8 children" this time around rather than our beautiful 7 chicks. Everyone smiled nicely for the camera. What a sight it was to see Quinn perched up on Santa's knee surrounded by 7 gorgeous girls! He was all smiles and seems pretty proud of his harem! Uncle Chad and his girls made a trip to the City and the triplets all came for a sleepover. What fun.

We were able to do some holiday baking as well. That was a big hit for the kids. They also were able to enjoy baking gingerbread cookies with their cousins. Santa loved the Yummies!

Quin had his visit at the Hemophilia Treatment Center earlier in the month. His levels are holding very nicely with improvement in all areas including the Anemia and his Nutritional Levels. No Bleed this month and are looking forward to more months that are good in the medical area.

Quinn's "China Sister" Ming will be visiting in the month of January. She is almost 4 years older than him and lived with him in China. The kids talk on the phone all the time and have a great relationship. It will be wonderful to see them together at last on American Soil with their families! Life is so different for them now but all for the better.