Playtime Together

After picking up the little brother “A” from his groupa, we all walked down a long, dark corridor in the Baby Home to a room where we all could play together. It was a very large room with a few cabinets and shelves stocked with toys, and a piano. There was a long row of children’s chairs, hand-painted and shellacked in the Russian style. They were very beautiful, and there were probably between 40 to 50 chairs in the room. This is where they have their music classes. The room had a carpet on the wooden floor. This carpet was one of those carpets with “roads”, you know, with the printed roads, and houses, and green grass…..only it was HUGE…….about 20X60. There were some other musical instruments in the room, a xylophone, some drums, bongos, and old time accordion!! Wayne and “D” started to try to play that accordion……and I was ready to Polka!! One of the doctors of the Baby Home came in with little “A’s” records, and I asked her a few questions about his health. I got some vague answers, though, that I really was not totally satisfied with. For instance, “A” had been given a diagnosis of hypertension syndrome and encephalopathy (strange, but true). Both of these were neurological diagnoses, and the first one, we don’t even have such a thing for a child in the U.S. (See my link on Russian Medical Diagnosis for more info). Apparently, the Russian Neurologists are so worried that they may exclude a diagnosis, that they prefer blanket coverage!! In other words, it is better to give the child every problem in the book, and then look like a miracle worker when they no longer have it, than to be caught missing a diagnosis!! Sounds a bit like reverse medical malpractice, doesn’t it? Well, this doctor proceeded to tell me that after the baby received treatment with immune system boosters, and massage therapy, and a medication that increased the blood supply to the brain (I have never heard of such treatment, and neither has my Pediatrician or Family Practice Doctor!!) that by the age of 1 year, he was completely cured of the encephalopathy!! Hooray!! It is a Miracle!! I was still not real clear on the cause of the encephalopathy, but whatever the cause, now Little A. was cured!! During my conversation with the Doctor, Wayne and the boys were playing together. Wayne sat down on the floor with them. Little A, who we had been told had no attention span whatsoever, sat next to Wayne for at least 30 minutes, playing different musical instruments, as Wayne showed him how. Big brother “D” was handing little brother new instruments, and new toys, wanting to share everything he had with his little brother. Little “A” played so quietly and was very interested in each instrument or toy. He then got up and began to run around the room, laughing and playing with his big brother beside him. They were having a wonderful time playing together.