Doctors and More Shoes

Today I got a lot done but it didn't come easy! I spent most of the day on the phone getting Zoya on our insurance, setting up an intake meeting for Early Intervention Services, setting up an appointment with the International Adoption Clinic in Pittsburgh, contacting the Down Syndrome Clinic at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, and the most fun of all......trying to find a pediatrician for Zoya unsuccessfully might I add! 3 different doctors "declined" her.  I'm pretty sure at least 2 of those doctors declined her because she has Down Syndrome. The conversations all went something like this:

Me:      Hi is Dr. ** taking new patients?

Them:  What insurance do you have?
Me:      Highmark PPO Blue

Them:  Yes Dr. * is.

Me:     Okay, we just adopted her from Ukraine, she is 22 months old and has Down Syndrome and a heart condition that has been surgically corrected.

Them:  Umm let me get back to you.

Time ticks away....I call back......and bug them.....

Them:     Dr. so and so declined to take her as a patient

Me:       Okay, are there other doctors in this practice who would take her?

Them:    Yes I will have to get back to you

Me:      Okay thank you.

Them:    (getting back to me) He also declined

Me:       (hangup and call the next one)

The other conversation was similar and the doctor was taking new patients (I even said she was 22 months old) until the words Down Syndrome came out at which point the lady put me on hold and another lady came on and said, Ohh Dr. ** is only taking newborns, sorry.  Hmmph.  So tomorrow I'm back at it and after contacting friends and other parents, have gotten a couple more names to try.  If not, we will find someone in Pittsburgh to do all the initial appointments with her, and then when we get everything squared away we will transfer to someone in Erie who maybe isn't as good as what we'd hope for, but will be okay just dealing with the typical sicknesses and things. 

We did make a little time to do another shopping trip.  We bought some storage bins for the playroom and filled them up with all the toys we've already collected.  I have so many toys and therapy tools from teaching Life Skills...so it was fun to get all of those out!  We took a side trip to Old Navy :)  We found a dress on clearance that looks similar to the famous blue dress we met Zoya in.  We are going to take it to the orphanage and ask them if we can trade it and keep the blue dress.  I'd like to have the dress for the memory of that first meeting and our time there.  It is special to us.  Hopefully they will agree to swap.  I'm looking for another "winter-ish" dress so I can give the a 2 for 1 deal! Shawn told me I'm not allowed to buy anymore pink shoes (although he thought they were really cute)....so I bought a pair of PURPLE SANDALS! Hehe.  See?

On a different note.....a lot of people have asked me why the videos we posted on the blog were so short.  That would be because our connection in Ukraine was terrible and it took 10 minutes to upload a 30 second video and we were paying for internet by the minute.  So I have some longer ones that I will start posting.  YouTube is not working again tonight, so I will try tomorrow :) 

We had a nice night out with some friends and it was so great to share our experience in Ukraine.  It is amazing to see how it is moving others! We are so ready to have this special little celebrity home....she definitely has a fan club!!