I have tried to type this out several times and have yet to get it finished!  Several months ago Kelly noticed that Ali had swollen gums in one of her pictures.  She inquired about it and we were told that was all it was.  However, this weekend we found out that it is a little more than that and has been increasing in size.  The hemangioma on her face has caused some abnormal tissue growth on her gum line.  The updated pictures of her condition were a cause for concern. In addition to how it looks, the growth is causing her some discomfort, especially while she is eating.  They were asking us what we want to do about it and if we want the growth taken care of while she is still in China or if we want to wait and take care of it when we get her here?  This wasn’t the best news we have heard, especially since we already feel like this adoption is taking forever!

Sunday night we spent a fair amount of time on the phone.  Kelly was in one room talking with the medical director of Love Without Boundaries trying to get a handle on what Ali’s condition actually was. Then, she was on the phone with her cousin, Corinne, who is deeply involved with an organziation that works with kids that have hemangiomas.  I was in the other room talking to and texting some of my friends at University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center.  We were both looking for a surgeon who specializes in vascular tumors.  When we both got back together, we had come up with the same results.  Cincinnati Children’s has one of only a few pediatric hemangioma and vascular tumor clinics in the U.S … a short 40 minute drive away! 

Corinne helped us get in touch with their medical director.  The medical director reviewed Ali’s file and called Kelly on Monday and talked to her about Ali’s situation.  She felt that it would be in Ali’s best interest to get her to the U.S. and let the team at Cincinnati Children’s deal with the situation.  Corinne then helped us send the file to one of the surgeon’s who is a leader in this field and works on the East coast.  Seemed like it would be a good idea to get a second opinion.  He, too, called Kelly and spent a lot of time assuring her that there is much that can be done for Ali and that we just need to get her into the U.S.

So, we talked with out adoption agency yesterday and we are going to petition the Chinese government to expedite the adoption process for medical reasons.  Both of the doctors that reviewed her file are willing to write a letter requesting this and supporting our request.  The only issue (like there is only one in this process) is that the entire Chinese government is on vacation this week.  Really?  The entire place??

We were thinking we were going to end up in China picking up Ali in mid-November.  This situation may in fact push that process up, but we just don’t know.  I will try and keep everyone up to date on how this process is progressing over the next several weeks.  Keep Ali in your prayers as she will have to deal with these medical issues for a little while longer while we work to get her home. Please also pray that we can get some pain relievers to her as she is currently not being given anything to help her with pain.

Thank you to Corinne, Ty, and Sean for being so available to answer our questions on a Sunday evening!

Cameron