We found out today that all the lab work came back negative - praise God- except both boys have Giardia and Josiah does/did have rickets in his bones. Giardia is the popular parasite that so many Ethiopian children come home with (no surprise since it has been 6 weeks and they still go through about 8 terrible dirty diapers a day and a few outfits). Javi tried to pick up the prescriptions for that, but they have to be sent somewhere to be specially mixed somewhere and it is really expensive - but we need to find out where to do that. Anyone else reading this blog have the same problem or should I ask for a different prescription? Also the rickets show signs of healing/good new bone growth now that he is receiving good nutrition (and probably even from the consistent food/nutrition in the orphanage). This is wikipedia says about rickets: Rickets is a softening of the bones in children potentially leading to fractures and deformity. Rickets is among the most frequent childhood diseases in many developing countries. The predominant cause is a vitamin D deficiency, but lack of adequate calcium in the diet may also lead to ricketsBelow is not my son, but I pulled it off the web because it is a picture of "frontal bossing" the forehead protruding from rickets/malnutrition. This was the first thing my pediatrician noticed about Josiah. Rickets also commonly cause bowed legs, which Josiah also has slightly, but both things should slowly correct with good nutrition and sunlight (which we have plenty of in AZ).
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6 comments:
Wow, 8 dirty diapers. I can't even imagine how sore their little bums must be. Hopefully, you can get the prescriptions filled quickly.
There are a couple of drugs that can be used for Giardia. My girls were both on Alinia, which is indicated for treating children with Giardia (but I'm not sure about babies under 12 months). It does not have to be specialty mixed. However, our CVS had to order it (came the next day). Both of my girls went through two rounds of meds about six weeks apart and are now asymptomatic.
When we brought our son home from China he also had giardia. We treated him with metronidazole. It did have to be compounded, but a local pharmacy did it quickly. It also should not be very expensive. Call and ask your usual pharmacy what pharmacy's compound prescriptions. Usually local privately owned pharmacies will do this. Then just call those pharmacies to see who is able to make it. His nasty diapers cleared up pretty quickly. There are not too many treatment options for giardia, so if it's metronizadole they wrote the rx for I would stick with that. (i am a pharmacist).
I'm glad you have some answers for the boys! I hope you are able to get the meds in them quickly. It sounds like Josiah should do fine now that he is getting proper nutrition!
Giardia is something that dogs get around here all the time. When I worked at the vet during college, we always had dogs coming in with Giardia picked up from contaminated water and things. So, I guess that's understandable that it would be a big problem in Ethiopia since I'm sure their water is not super clean. I'm so glad that these were the only problems, and not the other ones you were worried about!!! Great news!
After reading Cara's comment, you may want to check the Pharmacy at Dobson and Baseline. I can't remember the name of it but I know they compound medicines.
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