Yuck!

Well - we got Nicky's test results back from the doctor's office. We had submitted 3 stool samples (which I was oh so lucky to scoop out of diapers!) and they took several vials of blood. The nurse called and said that all the blood work looked good (there's still a few vaccines he'll need to have) - whew - no HIV, Hep B or C, or any other scary diseases! However, she said he has a parasite in his belly! EW Yuck! The type Nicky has is called "Dientamoeba Fragilis" (http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic563.htm). It basically causes gas & diarrhea...you know, the fun stuff. You, dear reader, may recall my previous writings about (what I lovingly call) "Peter Belly" and "Mockba Belly" (the former being the more daunting of the 2 conditions). Both are caused from drinking poorly distilled drinking water, or eating foods that were prepared with such water. "Peter" Belly's onset is much quicker than that of "Mockba's", but both like to hang on with a vengeance. I'm still feeling the effects from our visit to Mother Russia, and now after getting Nicky's test result and doing some reading, I'm thinking I might go and get tested. The only drawback...scooping you know what!!!

I will spare everyone the visual images that could oh so very well accompany this post; trust me - it's not pretty! Luckily, the parasite is pretty non-invasive and all that's needed is a $65 compound administered 3x/day...good thing Nicky enjoys taking medicines! He knows exactly what to do whether we come at him with a dropper or a small cup filled with the liquid...makes one wonder what kinds of things they gave him while in the orphanage.

That's all for now! Kris & I have some Fall TV to catch up on (Nicky's sound asleep...whew...we got a sleeper!)