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When we got to the orphanage to pick our first daughter up, one of the first things the nuns said to us is that she was fat. Too fat, they thought. In fact, they even suggested that I should put her on a diet.
It seemed silly they wanted ME to put her on a diet. They admitted right out they’d been unable to. She cried too pitifully when denied more bottles, they said. So they always relented and fed her.
“Well, good for her,” I thought, “for having the gumption to be the squeaky wheel in this orphanage setting.” I was unconvinced about the necessity of putting a one year old on a diet.
When I first saw her, she did look round. At 20 months, she weighed 27 lbs, so she truly was good sized. But to me she looked like a normal chubby little toddler.
Except for her stomach, which was huge. THAT made me think parasites. By the time she‘d been with us a few days, and I had experienced half a dozen extremely foul-smelling diapers, I was wondering even more about parasites.
One of our first outings once home was the pediatrician’s office. He ordered 3 stool samples, each to be collected a day or two apart from the other. It seems parasites ‘shed’ on an irregular basis, so it can sometimes be tricky to get a clear diagnosis.
We dutifully collected the specimen, using nasty little elf-shovels fastened like mascara-wands to the tops of the specimen containers. I tell ya, it is very gross, even for me, a nurse. (Note: do NOT spill any of the liquid preservative in the specimen bottles. It is terribly staining. Second note; if you do happen to spill the liquid on, say, your jeans, do NOT scrub at it with your bare hand. You hand will be red for days. Just take my advice, kiss those jeans goodbye, and toss ‘em!)
By the time all 3 specimens had been gathered and turned in, our little girl had been in my care for several weeks, and I was utterly convinced there was something going on in there that was wrong. Never had I smelled such terrible diapers. However, the lab work found nothing. Nothing!
I was ready to cry. But my doctor, bless his heart, listened to my observations, honored my instinct, and ordered Flagyl for my daughter. Within two days she had her first normal poop in the whole 3 weeks I’d had her. Definitely it was giardia. And fortunately it responded to one round of the Flagyl. We were very glad to be done with it.
