Continued from the previous posts.

G6PD (Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase deficiency) is, apparently, the most common enzyme deficiency in humans, with an estimated 400 million people worldwide affected. It is most common in Blacks and inhabitants of the Mediterranean region, although Asians are also impacted.

It is sometime also called Favism, as many people who have this condition are also allergic to fava beans.

Like ... more

Continued from the previous post.

By the time I arrived home in the evening, word was starting to come in from doctor friends to whom I'd passed all the info I had and asked for opinions, strategies, and so on.

Being that medical care available on this island is limited, it is often necessary for patients to seek treatment abroad ... my cardiologist is in Singapore, for example ... so figuring out how soon T could be well enough to travel had to be a consideration.

A look at his chart had told me that his ... more

Continued from the previous post.

Although I thought I'd prepared myself, I was shocked when I finally did see T. Looking small and frail in the hospital bed, he was yellow and very weak ... and scared to death.

Because his mother didn't understand what was happening, no one had been able to explain anything to him. Well accustomed to my 'take charge' personality, he looked to me to give him a picture of what was happening. Unfortunately, I knew nothing.

Preparing to hang a second unit of blood for him, there was a problem with his IV ... a minor blockage... more

For anyone who happened to notice that I've not posted a darn thing in a while, my apologies. I've been in the middle of a situation here that required my full attention and most of my energy.

Being that I've been dealing with circumstances that could potentially happen in a number of international adoptive families, I'm taking the time today to share the experience and what I've learned so far.

As long-time readers know, Mark and I were foster parents before we adopted. Our foster son, T, went back to his mother, then to Thailand, but eventually returned to Seychelles a couple of years... more

A state-level orientation program on adoption was held recently in Lucknow, India, with the aim of increasing awareness locally on the issues of adoption in that country.

Domestic Indian adoptions continue to lack popularity, with most people determined to avoid adopting a child.

Also on the agenda, uniformity in adoption rules to remove much of what can be cumbersome when the many religions in the country approach the process.

Also... more

An early, warm wet season is being blamed for one of the worst outbreaks of Dengue Fever to hit Cambodia and the rest of SE Asia in recent history.

A British adoptive father, along with other volunteers, set up a UK Registered Charity, The Cambodia Children's... more

I'm starting today off with numbers ... the number of children adopted in a year worldwide.

Any guesses?

Somewhere around a quarter of a million would be about right -- 250,000.

Sound like a lot?

It's 1.5% of the estimated 16 million orphans placed in care each year, and 85% take place within the country of the child's birth.

In the US?

125,000, or about half of the total number of adoptions... more

Not new news, but another take on some countries banning overweight people from adopting children, this one from Australia, points out that South Korea, Taiwan and China have all decided that hopeful parents of a certain girth need not apply, citing the reasoning as wanting, "the most stable and harmonious environment" for children.

Excuse me, but … ahem … horse hockey.

I don't care what sort of tidy health-by-the-numbers... more

Kailee Wells, an international adoptee born in China, fell victim to Severe Aplastic Anemia at the age of five. Five years of perpetual transfusions, immuno-suppressant drugs and heart-stoppingly close calls followed. The only long-term hope was finding a perfectly matched bone marrow donor who would agree to provide tissue for a transplant.

In hopes of finding a possible donor among the Asian and Pacific Islander population... more

Contrary to what some may think, Jan Baker and I very often think alike. Not assumed to be a common phenomenon between birth moms and adoptive parents, the more we learn, the more we alike we find ourselves to be.

Case in point ... today's blog posts.

As I was sitting down to write about an international adoptee's recent bone marrow transplant, I scrolled to see what else people have been writing about... more