When Dasha was 1 month old she had surgery done to remove her right kidney and the tumor in the process. The entire tumor, kidney and some surrounding tissue were removed to make sure all cancer cells were gone and then she remained in the hospital until October 2010. In October she was moved to the orphanage in Kirov City. During her time in the orphanage she was presented to 42 Russian families who all declined her due to her health and her heredity background. See Dasha's mother was a Gypsy. Hence Dasha's dark hair and skin. I don't know the whole story behind the relationships between Eastern Europeans and Gypsies, but it seems that it is not a positive one.
I don't know if Dasha was presented to any American families but I would be lying to say that I was very concerned when the word cancer was mentioned. So we sent her information to Dr. Dana Johnson and Dr. Cynthia Howard at the University of Minnesota International Adoption Clinic. They asked for a few more test results concerning the other kidney, and gave us an enthusiastic YES! Go get her. There will be a few things that she will not be able to do due to her condition, no sledding, no contact sports, and no drinking. All of those restrictions are just to protect the other kidney, if you only have one, you need to treat it nicely! But other than that she should be able to lead a normal life. We are actually traveling up to Minnesota on Jan. 10th to see Dr. Howard so that she get a very through exam related to her condition. The only major negative is that Dasha was not given any vaccinations due to her surgery so we have A LOT of shots in our future. That really stinks! Dasha's name is the nickname of her given name, Darya, we kept Dasha as her legal name because it means Gift from God.
After my last post I am very proud to say that, that night during bath time Dasha had a blast! I put her in with Camden and would splash him and then splash her and she saw that he wasn't dying and got into it. Though the best thing was last night she SLEPT ALL NIGHT! We did something a little different, don't know if that was it, but we will give it a few more nights to see. Then I will tell what our change is. So I will leave you with a picture of our pretty girl.
she really resembles your hubby..very cute baby
ReplyDeleteSo glad that she had an all night sleep.. for her and for you! And yay for bathtime fun. Nothing better then little kiddie giggles in the tub!
ReplyDeleteShe is beautiful! Isn't it so amazing to see how the roads of two families in two countries, so different, come together so beautifully! All those other families passed her up...so she could be with you, where God intended her to be right from the start! :)
ReplyDeleteShe is beautiful! Check out the following site and see if you can follow the catch up schedule for vaccinations. We are going to talk to our Pediatrician about it. If they get some immunizations after 15 months they only need one, not the whole series. They may want to do the full schedule on her because of her kidneys, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/catchup-schedule-pr.pdf
She is so cute!!! She looks like she has a touch of asian in her. Grace is half asian and had 3 Russian families look at her and walk away. Their losses, our gains! So glad to hear sleeping and bath time are improving!
ReplyDeleteShe is absolutely a Gift of God. She is God's gift to you and you are God's gift to her. Isn't it amazing how much better things look after a good night's sleep.
ReplyDeleteSuch a rough start to a little life but she will bloom in the stability of your home. I bet that's the first time she's associated fun with a bath.
We continue to pray for you folks. Now that the "finding" journey is over, you can just settle down and be a family.
Reine
Denise, She is beautiful and absolutely a gift from God. Thank you for sharing Dasha's story and best wishes for a healthy report when you travel. Take care! KariLynn
ReplyDeleteTurned down by all those families because she was perfect for yours!
ReplyDeleteShe is adorable and glad you all are doing well! My post-grad studies are all on ethnicity and nationalism and the Romani (Gypsies) are one of the key ethnic groups I study since my focus is all Eastern Europe. They are ethnically very different than the Slavs, originating from India, and are social "outcasts" because they are sadly viewed as inferior and also stigmatized as thieves but they have a rich culture of their own. Because of their traveling ways, they were unwelcomed by local communities and under communism were forced to settle in many parts of EE. There is a really popular song about "Black Eyes" (Ochi Chornoye) that is credited as a Gypsy song although it is from a Ukrainian. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQEjwKs_hpg The Ukrainians have a good album of folk songs often available in the US - it is the one with the gold background and a blue horse on it, just FYI. :)
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and I want to say congratulations! Your daughter is beautiful! I have a four year old son adopted from Kirov almost four years ago. I am originally from Omaha and have lots of family in the Kansas City area. I need to read back on your journey. Would love to chat when you have recovered from the whirlwind of the last 2 months. tanyabaer@yahoo.com
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