This is the video transcript as we received it, with notes we made at the time. We have cleaned up the format for better web display and greater clarity in some instances.
The first part of the conversation takes place on our first visit to Dom Rebyonka No.2, Nov. 19, 1999.
[Cyril does not smile...looks aware that people are discussing him...]
Nurse:...Woke you up!...You are up now...?
He looks like the grandson[DBC1]...one year...blond...
Face is very much like his grand mother's...
Kirill, Kiriusha, Kirilka, Bunny!
They woke you up. Do not cry!
The Director (speaking as if for Cyril)
-Tell them that you were prepared and I was not...
[some time passes]
The Director
-Yesterday we were at their place until two in the morning...
Someone (unclear):
...ready to answer...I think you should look at him.
Take his clothes off. I believe you need to do it...
What if he is a girl...?
Someone (fragments in background):
...toxic...alcoholic...infection...another 10 seconds and he'd...
at his grandmother's...and if at his grandmother...if... hemnostesia
especially with years[DBC2]...
Someone(probably orphanage director):
-So, it is a boy, isn't it? I am ready to answer your questions.
What did we finish with... The [DBC3]mother was treated by a psychiatrist.
During the pregnancy the mother had anemia and chronic pylonephritis.
During the pregnancy her thyroid was found too enlarged... inflammation!
Three times she had an aura[DBC4]. Birth was on time. 3 kilos and 880 grams,
52 cm, head: 33 cm
A medsestyor:
-Telephone call for Tamara Mikhailovna.
The Director speaks again:
-So, we have shown the pregnancy history. What else..?
CASE: (in English) ... Is he OK?
The Director
(in
Russian
again):
He is two months behind in his physical development.
And he is three and a half months behind in his neuropsychic development[DBC5].
The Director (to
Lena):
-There is a different scale for tracking physical and psychic development.
Technically, we may only speak of the conclusion as hypothetical
and it may not be correct.
(more loudly)
-I am reading the diagnosis. Let them ask questions:
(going over items from Cyril’s medicals)
Peritoneal encephalopathia ...
Syndrome of the cranial hypothensia ...
fetopathia ...
Needs to be explained:
Pathology of the fetus
Anemia of the second degree
pyloactesia on the right side: enlarged right liver
Someone in the back (probably Gennady):
Hypertrophy of the second degree...
The Director
Questions?
Gennady
What questions. They will probably need explanation about each item.
The Director:
Do they need explanations?
Lena:
No, they do not.
CASE
(in
English again): WHAT?
Lena:
What is Anemia?...
The Director: ”Perinatal encephalopathy” is slow development and a difficult adaptation after birth, which has caused a disorder in the larger hemispheres of the brain. In other words, the total development of the neural system.
(pause)
Perinatal means after the birth.
More questions?
CASE: ...IS HE EATING MILK?
The Director:
He is fed with American mixes or similar to Similac and the like.
CASE: ...SOLID FOOD?
The Director:
Twice a day he is given mashed fruit or vegetables
...They are fed at seven o'clock in the morning...
Gennady:
-They should be prepared for the court. Everything has got to be
clear to them and if not they better ask now. If the judge asks them
and they do not know, it will be too late at that point
The Director
explains:
There are two aspects here....
Feto means fetus, pathia means pathology
Pylo means liver, actesia is enlargement: ...widening of the knuckles,
but hypertrophy of the second degree of the spinal system.
(pause)
first degree is 10 percent weight deficiency
second degree is 20 percent deficiency
third degree is 30 percent deficiency
(pause)
more than that is dystrophy
Anemia of the first degree means that the hemoglobin is at the level of 100.
CASE: HE IS SUCKING HIS THUMB...
Lena(in English):
We are impressed
with your Russian...
-We just complimented each other...
The Director(in the back):
I do not know at what level it is with them [USA] when you serve with the police...
I know that if you are just a little bit deficient, you may have better chances...
Gennady:
I knew a lady... she served in a ship in the Navy... Now she works as an
analyst for the US Defense Department.
The director speaks out loud (out loud again):
Lena:
They say that they will do their best to give him every opportunity.
The Director:
They should prepare for that. Do they want to take the baby now or after
the court hearing?
Lena:
They want to take him now if that is possible[DBC7]
Gennady (in
the back again):
... same system with the head of the administration ...
The Director:
... yes ... all the legal issues. I have all of her contact information and she has
mine... tomorrow about 10 am... Tatiana Mikhailovna.
Gennady (to the director):
... Medical transcript?
The Director:
... The man has already left. But he is generally in from 10 through 12 am.
Frankly I made the Form 162.
Gennady:
-We'll take care of all other issues later...
The Director:
-Yes I took care of that... when they face it... For today all the
accounts are being closed. I have no idea how these issues
are resolved. They will stay here for ten days. I will assign someone.
We'll need to buy soap and other items. We have already filled out
the papers and...
Gennady:
There was another man in charge...
The Director:
I do not know where you got such information.
Gennady:
A friend of mine told me.
The Director:
The situation is as follows: we have resolved the issue with
Anatoly Mikhailovich. There is a whole new structure that takes care
of that and there is a new decision to create a whole network of institutions...
-What do
we do with those children. We've got twelve children with
Down
Syndrome. The situation is unpredictable. We have so many children
from heroin addicts[DBC8]...-What does that mean? Well, it is hypotrophia and hepatitis C.
If the mother takes heroin the chances of hypotrophia are 50% and
100% of all cases are hepatitis. Also some traumas of the spine. In our case
everything seems symmetrical, which means that it is not just some part of the
brain but that the whole system is deficient. See he is stretching his feet out[DBC9]. It
is the deficiency and it is not peripheral but all of his system is affected
The next day, after the court hearing. We learn Cyril is
sick with a fever.
Nurse:
He had high temperature this morning. He needs some medicine.
The Director:
Let us take his temperature
The Director:
We need to find an alternative solution[DBC10]. How was his stool?
Nurse:
Three times a day.
The Director:
We should leave him here. We have professionals here who will look
after him. They can come to visit him every day. We'll make a schedule for them.
I am here on Sunday at 10. We will make up a schedule for them. When they tell
you that you can take him, you can take him.
Gennady:
They have to treat him here. You will have a long way back home
CASE: WE HAVE SOME DRUGS...
The Director:
-I'll find out right now
CASE: IS THE FEVER GOING AROUND WITH THE BABIES...?
The Director:
It is a viral problem. It apparently started last night. If the temperature is
OK tomorrow , you should be able to take him then.
Just give me the time when you want to take him. That way it will be better
for me. If you do not know, that is OK, too. Take him any time that is convenient
for you.
Gennady:
Drugs...?
The Director:
-This is not a big problem. We use American Tylenol. If they are sure that they
can handle it themselves they should take the baby now. If not they should leave
him at least until tomorrow.
CASE: WE WILL LEAVE HIM HERE
The Director:
Just a virus. Nothing serious. but that will be the last trouble before a
happy life[DBC11]. Nothing serious. But it would be better if he were watched. He does
not even have 39° C[DBC12]. It is just a virus.
Gennady:
Let him stay here.
The Director:
We'll take care of him. Tell them that they can go to bed and sleep well. I'll be
here on Sunday at 10 and will look at him myself. If tomorrow they make the
decision to take him, let them take the baby.
CASE: I WON'T DISAGREE...
The Director:
Everything should be OK.
Lena:
See he is stretching out his legs. Is that how it is always going to be?
The Director:
Yes, for a while
[DBC1]Hmm … obviously this woman knows his family. Although “grandson” and “grandmother” can be used as universal terms of endearment in Russian, she is referring to specific people here
[DBC2]This passage is vexing, isn’t it? I certainly can’t say for sure if they’re referring to Cyril, but you never know …
[DBC3] These medicals do square with what we got.
[DBC4] A sonogram
[DBC5] They told us he was behind, but never gave us exact figures on how much
[DBC6] Gennady, perhaps
[DBC7] We were never told in English that we had this option. Although Lena is certainly saying what we would have said.
[DBC8]
OOOOH! I don’t know if Cyril was one of them, but now we know the
dirty little secret of Dom Rebyonok No. 2!
[DBC9]A lot of other people noticed this too … Now we know what it means. Maybe.
[DBC10]Alternative to WHAT?
[DBC11]Uh-huh
[DBC12]This is equivalent to 101.6° F