Shania went in for her surgery on Wednesday. That evening, Dr. Marino called to say that all went well. On Thursday morning, we received a call saying that she was doing well. The incision site looked go (no infection), her leg was swollen from the surgery which was to be expected and she was being fed fluids and medication through an IV. They were also going to give her lunch.
Yesterday (Friday), the doctor called to say she was doing "remarkably well". In his opinion, she was starting to feel better because she wagged her tail and raised her head when he went over to check her out. The incision site was still looking nice, she had eaten a little bit the day before and was doing great. They had also tried getting her up to take a walk. She is walking on three legs right now holding up the left leg -- not to worry, he said this is perfectly normal. It will probably be 2 or 3 days before she tries to use the leg.
We are now sitting here anxiously awaiting his call today to tell us that she's well enough to come home. We've completely renovated the living room to make it Shania's room. We were told that she'll have to be confined to one room in the house during her recovery. We put down some blue foam tiles on the floor so she won't slide around, we moved the couches and chair out so we had room to bring in my rocker with it's ottoman, the hightop table with chairs for eating, and a friend of Bob's offered their Aerobed so we could all sleep in there! We also brought in Shania's bed and her mattress from the bed by the front window (which she won't be able to look out for some time) and her food dish. It's all very cozy!
I'll post more when I know more.
Faith
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Latest Information from CHSFS
We took part in a conference call with our agency on January 31 regarding the status of the wait for China adoptions. According to the way things have been progressing with CCAA, it looks like we'll have to wait an additional 4 or 5 years to bring our daughter home.
This is based on the current way dossiers are being processed. As of the call, the CCAA had matched dossiers with LIDs of 12/19/05. If you calculate how many weeks are between 12/19/05 and our current log-in date (01/11/07), then divide by 12, you come up with this horrible wait time.
With these latest developments, Bob and I are now faced with a decision -- what to do. We could sit it out and wait, we could dual list with another country, we could do a concurrent listing, or we could withdraw our application entirely. The thought of dual listing had some appeal to us until we spoke with personnel at CHSFS. We will only be able to transfer a small amount of money from the China program to the new country, plus we'll incur the costs of the new country. In most cases, those new costs will range between $25,000 and $35,000 ~~ and this is in addition to all the money we've already laid out for China.
At this point, we have no clue what we're going to do. We actually just updated our homestudy and our CIS approval will be expiring in a few months so we'll have to figure out which way we're heading so we know what to do going forward.
Well, I'm at school and class will be starting in a few minutes so I'm going to end off here for now. I'll keep updating the blog as we figure things out.
Faith
This is based on the current way dossiers are being processed. As of the call, the CCAA had matched dossiers with LIDs of 12/19/05. If you calculate how many weeks are between 12/19/05 and our current log-in date (01/11/07), then divide by 12, you come up with this horrible wait time.
With these latest developments, Bob and I are now faced with a decision -- what to do. We could sit it out and wait, we could dual list with another country, we could do a concurrent listing, or we could withdraw our application entirely. The thought of dual listing had some appeal to us until we spoke with personnel at CHSFS. We will only be able to transfer a small amount of money from the China program to the new country, plus we'll incur the costs of the new country. In most cases, those new costs will range between $25,000 and $35,000 ~~ and this is in addition to all the money we've already laid out for China.
At this point, we have no clue what we're going to do. We actually just updated our homestudy and our CIS approval will be expiring in a few months so we'll have to figure out which way we're heading so we know what to do going forward.
Well, I'm at school and class will be starting in a few minutes so I'm going to end off here for now. I'll keep updating the blog as we figure things out.
Faith
Friday, January 11, 2008
Happy New Year
Happy New Year everyone!
We hope that 2008 is a fantastic year for all!
Well, a lot has happend since my last post so I'll get right to it ~~
Christmas has come and gone. As usual, Santa was awesome again this year. I don't know how he out-does himself every year but he seems to get the perfect gifts for me all the time! I hope that Mrs. Claus did as well in her gift giving.
We spent Christmas Eve with Bob's family. Kyla loved her new Princess Castle that we bought her and Keira even enjoyed the box it came in! Who knew that was all we could get for her and she'd be happy? :o) Mike and Jill were unable to make it down for Christmas Eve so I didn't get to see them.
Christmas Day was spent with my family. It was really nice this year because Michelle and Bubs made the trip up so we were all together. Let's not forget that Jimmy and Diane were here as well ~~ they are part of this family too, ya know! We had a full house and a living room full of gifts. Once gifts were done, we headed to the dinner table where the turkey was a hit. Even my sweet potatoes (or yams, whichever you wish to call them) which were late in arriving at the table due to "technical difficulties" turned out pretty good ~ if I do say so myself!
After dinner, Bob headed back to his mom's to see Mike, Jill, Kevin, and Haley while I stayed home with my family.
New Years Eve was a quiet one. We did our usual ~~ small hor dourves instead of dinner and a marathon of "Lost" to catch up for the start of the new season. We almost didn't get to see the ball drop because we were so engrossed in the marathon. Bob got the TV switched over in time to see the last 6 seconds of 2007 tick away!
I've finally left my job at CFCD (Yay). What a relief it was!! My last day there was January 4. Now I'm able to concentrate 100% on school. I started going to both the day and my regular night classes starting on January 7. My goal is to get the rest of the tests I need to get out of the 160-180 class by the end of the semester (January 25.) Wish me luck!
Bob has also been wonderful in agreeing to let me go to school during the day next semester. Hopefully, the move will give me the boost I need to finish school. I only have 2 academic classes, 2 labs, and one more speed class to graduate.
My niece, Keira, celebrated her first birthday this past Tuesday. We'll be going to her birthday party tomorrow afternoon!
Today (January 11) is the one-year anniversary of our Log-In date with CCAA. The hope is that by this time next year (yes, January 2009) we'll be in China bringing our little baby girl home where she belongs ~~ to her forever family!
I've met a woman on the Yahoo message board that lives right here in Ronkonkoma and is adopting from China. She also told me there are 2 other families right in our neighborhood that are adopting as well. It's exciting to hear of other families going through the same experience as us who live nearby. Perhaps one day I'll get to meet these families.
Well, I guess that's enough for now. I really have to get back to practicing!
Again, Happy New Year to Everyone!
Faith
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The Holidays are Here!
Well, Thanksgiving is over and done, and now it is time to get ready for Christmas! Our hope is that next year at this time, we'll have an idea of when we'll be heading off to China. Our agency is still telling us the wait is 23 months so that would put us at November 2008. Hopefully, it will happen sooner!!
Not much new has happened since my last post. I'm still in my 160-180 class at school ~~ but I'm really hoping to finish all my tests by the end of the semester (January 23). I'm still not happy at my job but what can you do.....the bills need paying! Bob has finally finished working round the clock at Purolator and hopefully that will not start again any time soon! And Shania keeps losing weight. She's now down to 81 lbs. Maybe another 10 lbs. and we can see about the surgery for her hip.
We're hoping that 2008 will be a fantastic year in the Pitino house! Some of the things we hope to accomplish are for me to graduate from school (and leave CFCD ... yay) and start working as a freelance reporter, Shania to have her surgery and be back to a happy puppy and to finally have the joy of bringing our daughter home to complete our family! We are also hoping to take some trips next year -- one to Vegas for the annual Club Z conference and possibly one out to Anaheim for the NCRA conference. There's also a possibility of taking a trip to San Francisco for an IIA event for Bob. But the greatest trip next year will hopefully be to China ~~ even if it means spending Christmas there!
This weekend, we had Kevin and Haley come for a visit. On Saturday, Bob, Kevin and Uncle Dan went over to the indoor go-kart place. From what I hear, Kevin won 2 of the 3 races! Way to go, Kevin!
While the boys were riding go-karts, the girls (Haley, me, Aunt Audra, Kyla, Keira and Grandma) went over to Build-A-Bear. Haley and Kyla got Clarissa Reindeers while Keira go Rudolph. A great time was had by all.
After go-karts and bears, Bob and I took the kids to see "The Bee Movie". And since it was going to snow today, we decided to take the kids home last night because Miss Haley had a birthday party to go to and we weren't sure how the roads were going to be this morning.
We, indeed, had our first snowfall today. It wasn't much but it's a nice way to get into the Christmas spirit.
Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!
Faith
Not much new has happened since my last post. I'm still in my 160-180 class at school ~~ but I'm really hoping to finish all my tests by the end of the semester (January 23). I'm still not happy at my job but what can you do.....the bills need paying! Bob has finally finished working round the clock at Purolator and hopefully that will not start again any time soon! And Shania keeps losing weight. She's now down to 81 lbs. Maybe another 10 lbs. and we can see about the surgery for her hip.
We're hoping that 2008 will be a fantastic year in the Pitino house! Some of the things we hope to accomplish are for me to graduate from school (and leave CFCD ... yay) and start working as a freelance reporter, Shania to have her surgery and be back to a happy puppy and to finally have the joy of bringing our daughter home to complete our family! We are also hoping to take some trips next year -- one to Vegas for the annual Club Z conference and possibly one out to Anaheim for the NCRA conference. There's also a possibility of taking a trip to San Francisco for an IIA event for Bob. But the greatest trip next year will hopefully be to China ~~ even if it means spending Christmas there!
This weekend, we had Kevin and Haley come for a visit. On Saturday, Bob, Kevin and Uncle Dan went over to the indoor go-kart place. From what I hear, Kevin won 2 of the 3 races! Way to go, Kevin!
While the boys were riding go-karts, the girls (Haley, me, Aunt Audra, Kyla, Keira and Grandma) went over to Build-A-Bear. Haley and Kyla got Clarissa Reindeers while Keira go Rudolph. A great time was had by all.
After go-karts and bears, Bob and I took the kids to see "The Bee Movie". And since it was going to snow today, we decided to take the kids home last night because Miss Haley had a birthday party to go to and we weren't sure how the roads were going to be this morning.
We, indeed, had our first snowfall today. It wasn't much but it's a nice way to get into the Christmas spirit.
Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!
Faith
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