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 ago. We have stayed in close contact all along, and now that T is nine-years-old, he himself takes the lead occasionally in how people that love him interact.

A phone call informed me that T was in hospital, and that his condition was serious. I rang his mother, and asked if I could see him. Although she was reluctant to impose, she was obviously very happy for any involvement I was offering.

T's mom is Thai and her English is not great, and she speaks no Creole at all. Her understanding of T's condition was very limited, so there was little she could tell me over the phone.

I arrived at the hospital later that morning, but the staff would not allow me into the pediatric ward. I was eventually able to get someone to tell T's mom that I was there, so she came out to see me, unable to understand why I wasn't allowed in, but afraid to argue and unable to make her point to the officious keeper of the door.

Her explanation of T's condition? He had vomited on Saturday, then again on Sunday, had been taken to see a doctor both times and sent home. Monday he passed out and had blood in his urine. He was admitted to hospital, was running a fever and had been given one unit of blood. She'd been told that they didn't know what was wrong, but that it could be something he was born with and that there was something wrong with his blood that had to do with white cells and red cells.

That was it.

I was told I'd have to return during visiting hours that begin at 2pm. I did.

Continued in the next post.