October 2005

I have now been home with Molly for almost 8 months and am seriously behind in updating my blog. This is my attempt to catch up! I’m going to try and update once a month from now on – my very late New Years resolution.

October 2005
This was a rough month in the Salvage household. Beginning with the recovery from jet lag. I can tell people until I am blue in the face and no one who hasn’t experienced jet lag after returning from China will never understand how bad it is. I’ve traveled a lot and twice to China – there is no worse jet lag! Even returning from Australia is not as bad (and that’s a longer flight with a bigger time difference). It was bad the first trip (without a baby) and worse the second. Molly however did not seem to be affected! She adjusted to the days being nights and the nights being days immediately. She enjoyed meeting her grandfather who thoroughly spoiled her! She met her two little boyfriends, Diego and Ben, within a couple days of being home. She was also showered with attention by our extended adoption family in South Florida! Molly loves the attention too! After slowly recovering (allow at least 2 weeks before you will feel close to normal again), I had a very nice Baby Shower thrown by Jackie and Amy. The only problem was that we had a hurricane coming, so unfortunately a few friends couldn’t make it and we did not have ideal weather! But Molly and I appreciated and enjoyed the festivities anyway! Unfortunately the day before the shower, I had received very disturbing news from Dr. Liang, Molly’s Pediatrician. Molly tested as slightly anemic (not surprisingly, a lot of the children from China are, but this is easily remedied with some vitamins) which didn’t concern me. But the next bit of news sent me to hysterics – Molly tested positive for HIV. Before I scare anyone, let me tell you now that she is not HIV positive – it was all a mistake. Unfortunately, I did not learn that it was an error for about 6 weeks. So let me go back to the day I got the news. Dr. Liang told me that Molly tested positive on the ELISA test, but negative on the Western Blot – OK, so what does that mean? Well, after much research, I learned that the ELISA is just a screening test and can have fairly high false positive results. The Western Blot is done only if the ELISA is positive and is much more conclusive. However, occasionally it will show negative during a “window” even if the person is actually infected. The window is somewhere around 3 months. Since I didn’t have Molly for the past 3 months, I couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t somehow exposed (her HIV test in China said she was negative, but could it have been wrong)? What I did find out is that the Western Blot rarely shows negative even during the window – it is more likely to show indeterminate during that window time. But again, it was possible. Dr. Liang had already discussed her results with a specialist who wanted me to bring Molly for DNA testing in about 10 days. There were a couple of possibilities 1. she was actually negative and the ELISA was just wrong 2. she was negative (but her mother was positive and therefore Molly had the antibodies which would disappear by the time she was 18 months). She would not be HIV positive, but would show that way on some tests – the DNA test would confirm whether or not she had the antibody. or 3. she was positive. After spending the whole weekend researching the information I found on the Internet, I felt fairly confident that she was negative and either the 1st or 2nd possibility had happened. According to my research, the chance of a false negative from the Western Blot was almost non-existent. Also, there had been a study done in the 90s on several girls adopted from China who had exactly the same results as Molly. None of them ended up being positive. I called my agency and asked if this had ever happened before. My wonderful social worker checked and found out that it had not. She also contacted a doctor who is an international adoption specialist who reviewed the results and he felt that she was not positive and he didn’t even think that the DNA test was necessary. I decided to go ahead with it rather than be unsure. Well just 3 days after this news, a hurricane hit us! So no power for 10 days (and I was desperate to get on the internet and do more research). I couldn’t talk with Molly’s doctor, the Specialist, or anyone who might be able to provide information. It was very difficult – on top of the fact that I had no power – no hot water, no refrigeration, no lights, no gas, little money – just a new baby, who might be sick! I can safely say, I must have had one of the worst maternity leaves in history! Fortunately, my mother was able to fly in about 5 days after the hurricane (the airport was opened just in time). She had come down for the visit with the specialist, but of course that was cancelled. She stayed for about a week and eventually we did get power back. Molly and I, and later my mother, did a lot of walking around the neighborhood, talking with the neighbors I didn’t know until the hurricane hit. Molly loved meeting everyone and loved the attention. Candy and David, the only people besides my immediate family who know of the test results, were wonderful and checked on us daily. Candy and David were one of the lucky ones who got power back relatively early. They were nice enough to put Molly, me, and the 2 cats up for a couple of days. It was wonderful to have the company, hot food, and hot showers! Because of the hurricane, I couldn’t get into see the specialist for 3 weeks. Then I found out that the results of the blood test would take an additional 2 weeks – way too long! Those were 5 very stressful weeks. Fortunately, the results were due back the day before Thanksgiving so I was hoping we would really have something to be thankful for that year! And we did!! Molly tested negative on the DNA – she did not even have the antibodies. This does not answer whether or not she had them and they were just gone by the DNA test or that she never had them and the ELISA was wrong. I will never know the answer to that question, but the main thing is that Molly is negative! Her DNA was tested again at 12 months – negative again. She will be tested again using the ELISA at 18 months and then she is done. This additional testing is probably a waste of time, but it was recommended and I don’t see any harm (even the yelling Molly does when they stick her with a needle!)