Pics and video? (maybe) of our first visit

Please let me know if you can see the video.

OK, so apparently the video is not going to work properly.  I will do my best to "paint a picture".

At and after our first meeting, I was so encouraged.  I was completely focused on looking at and for the things I was prepared to see.  I was looking for inability to perceive and display emotion -- total crock.  I was looking for shades of autism.  I'm no physician, but I did not see them.  I was looking for signs of sensory difficulties.-- none.  I was looking for a myriad of symptoms associated with fetal alcohol syndrome.  I was looking for behavioral problems, psychological problems.  I did not see any of them.  We expected to see some developmental delays as these kids are not held and loved and touched from an early age.  They are placed in the cribs with a bottle, and sent out to play on their own.  We expected to see a speech deficiency.  We were told that she did not make any sounds.  We were told that she could not pick up things and she would not take something like a toy from our hands, only if we put it in her palm.  She smiled.  She laughed.  She giggled.  She took a tiny plastic frog that Valerie had brought for her out of Valerie's hand with her fingers.  She was alert and aware and playful.  I had prayed exactly for that.  I had prayed that all of those diagnoses be wrong.  I realized that she did not speak and may never speak, but I prayed for no brain damage, tumors, things that might diminish her quality of life.  I was so encouraged.  She was happy and sweet and obedient, not shy or aggressive or defiant.  She waved bye bye to us and gave us a hug.  I felt like even if she never spoke, she could learn sign language and communicate and be self-sufficient and live a happy life.

I felt like there was a possible explanation for some of the symptoms we noticed.  She clearly has some airway issues.  She cannot breath efficiently through her nose.  She seemed to have a fever and some nasal drainage.  She was clearly a chronic mouth breather.  She is missing her two front teeth and it is quite a bit early for that... particularly if she is delayed in physical development.  Probably they protruded and interfered with lip closure and were taken out.  So, she sits with her mouth open.  Drools regularly.  she has learned to wipe with a tissue, often (she even wiped my arm with her tissue as she realized that she had drooled on me).  I thought that maybe she had a minor upper respiratory infection.  Probably a chronic one.  Would it be possible to clean up the infection, clear the airway, love and encourage, pray, lather, rinse, repeat and God would give her a voice?  ****Please do not mistake that as a lack of faith **** I AM CERTAIN GOD COULD HEAL HER COMPLETELY TODAY!

During our second meeting today, we went into her room as they were putting on her coat.  We brought bananas for all nine of her immediate classmates.  She recognized me immediately and her face totally lit up with a huge smile and she hustled to the door.  She knew exactly where she was going.  We walked out the door, outside to another room, through two locked doors and into a play room.  A caretaker stayed there with us for about five minutes and then left the key for us and said something guttural that we took as, lock up when you are ready to leave.  Another lady came about 30 min later and sat for about 5 min and said something resembling shoshy shosh bobendee falshoshy shosh and left us again with the key.  We played together for a tad over an hour.  She was sweet and fun.  She made noises, but not speech.  She motioned for us to come and to take her hand and to sit.  She was communicating in her own way.  She was responsive and actively played with us, repeated motions, and remembered where things were and what to do with them.  She absolutely loved looking at herself in the mirror, and my phone was a huge hit.  She definitely has some coordination issues and her gait is not centered and even.  She started to cry for a couple of seconds in the beginning.  I thought that was good.  I thought she was showing appropriate emotion.  This had to be weird for her - -two strange people looking and acting strange with her in a room without anyone else that she knew.  I bet I would want to cry.

We took her back to her class after she finished eating her banana by herself.  She had some on her hands, but she went over to Valerie who was holding the tissues in between bites and wiped her hands and face.  We put her coat on her and she helped us put our coats on too.  It was really cute.  She knew that there was a zipper that needed to be zipped and even some buttons to fasten.  We dropped her off and she hugged us and smiled a huge smile and waved dasvidaniya.  We will see her tomorrow.

It all seemed so encouraging until I began to think about other causes of the symptoms.  I was so encouraged that she did not have the symptoms of the things we were told she was afflicted with that I totally missed evaluating for other disease processes.  Let me be clear here, I am just a dumb dentist. I am not equipped to diagnose neurological problems.  It is almost midnight as I type this, and we have had an emotionally trying day.  I am leaning toward a diagnosis.  I think I have it figured out but I am just the dentist.  Lord, God, please help us to make the decision that is right for our family and for Viktoria.  Please allow us to make the right decisions for the right reasons.  Amen. and good night