diff --git a/ObjectHelper.inc b/ObjectHelper.inc
index e9bebdfb..12f8dd9b 100644
--- a/ObjectHelper.inc
+++ b/ObjectHelper.inc
@@ -233,8 +233,8 @@ class ObjectHelper {
           elseif ((isset($user) && $user->uid != 0) || $forceSoap || isset($_SERVER['HTTPS'])) { //If not anonymous, soap is force or we're using HTTPS
             //Have the webserver mediate the transfer (download and restream)
             
-            if (($contentSize = self::getDatastreamSize($pid, $dsID, TRUE)) > 0) {
-              header("Content-Length: $contentSize");
+            if (($contentSize = self::getDatastreamSize($pid, $dsID, TRUE)) > 0) {
+              header("Content-Length: $contentSize");
             }
             
             $opts = array(
@@ -624,30 +624,9 @@ class ObjectHelper {
    *
    */
   function getStream($pid, $dsid, $showError = FALSE) {
-    module_load_include('inc', 'fedora_repository', 'ConnectionHelper');
-    $soapHelper = new ConnectionHelper();
-    try {
-      $client = $soapHelper->getSoapClient(variable_get('fedora_soap_url', 'http://localhost:8080/fedora/services/access?wsdl'));
-      $params = array(
-        'pid' => "$pid",
-        'dsID' => "$dsid",
-        'asOfDateTime' => ""
-      );
-
-      if (!isset($client)) {
-        drupal_set_message(t('Error connection to Fedora using soap client.'));
-        return NULL;
-      }
-      $object = $client->__soapCall('getDatastreamDissemination', array('parameters' => $params));
-    } catch (Exception $e) {
-      if ($showError) {
-        drupal_set_message(t('Error getting Datastream for %pid and %datastream<br />', array('%pid' => $pid, '%datastream' => $dsid)), 'error');
-      }
-      return NULL;
-    }
-    $content = $object->dissemination->stream;
-    $content = trim($content);
-    return $content;
+    module_load_include('inc', 'fedora_repository', 'api/fedora_item');
+    $item = new fedora_item($pid);
+    return $item->get_datastream_dissemination($dsid);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/api/fedora_export.inc b/api/fedora_export.inc
index f3c82160..32d7b49d 100644
--- a/api/fedora_export.inc
+++ b/api/fedora_export.inc
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ function export_objects_for_pid($pid, $dir, &$log) {
       $file = $dir . '/' . $ds->label . '.' . get_file_extension($ds->MIMEType);
       $paths[$ds->ID] = $file;
 
-      //$content = $ob_helper->getDatastreamDissemination($pid, $ds->ID);
       if ($content = $ob_helper->getStream($pid, $ds->ID, FALSE)) {
         if (!$fp = @fopen($file, 'w')) {
           $log[] = log_line(t("Failed to open file %file to write datastream %dsid for pid %pid", array('%file' => $file, '%dsid' => $ds->ID, '%pid' => $pid)), 'error');
diff --git a/api/fedora_item.inc b/api/fedora_item.inc
index d9a1202d..93e2b65e 100644
--- a/api/fedora_item.inc
+++ b/api/fedora_item.inc
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@ define("ISLANDORA_PAGE_URI", 'info:islandora/islandora-system:def/pageinfo#');
 define("ISLANDORA_RELS_EXT_URI", 'http://islandora.ca/ontology/relsext#');
 define("ISLANDORA_RELS_INT_URI", "http://islandora.ca/ontology/relsint#");
 
-define("RELS_TYPE_URI", 0);
-define("RELS_TYPE_PLAIN_LITERAL", 1);
-define("RELS_TYPE_STRING", 2);
+define("RELS_TYPE_URI", 0);
+define("RELS_TYPE_PLAIN_LITERAL", 1);
+define("RELS_TYPE_STRING", 2);
 define("RELS_TYPE_INT", 3);
 define("RELS_TYPE_DATETIME", 4);
 
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ class Fedora_Item {
     $datastream_url = drupal_urlencode($datastream_file);
     $url = file_create_url($datastream_url);
 
+    // add_datastream_from_url forces a re-sync of the datastream list
     $return_value = $this->add_datastream_from_url($url, $datastream_id, $datastream_label, $datastream_mimetype, $controlGroup, $logMessage);
 
     if ($original_path != $datastream_file) {
@@ -177,8 +178,10 @@ class Fedora_Item {
       'logMessage' => ($logMessage != NULL) ? $logMessage : 'Ingested object ' . $datastream_id
     );
 
-
-    return $this->soap_call('addDataStream', $params);
+    $soap_result = $this->soap_call('addDataStream', $params);
+    // make sure to refresh the datastream list after adding so this item stays in sync with the repository
+    $this->datastreams = $this->get_datastreams_list_as_array();
+    return $soap_result;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -197,6 +200,7 @@ class Fedora_Item {
     $tmpfile = fopen($tmpfilename, 'w');
     fwrite($tmpfile, $str, strlen($str));
     fclose($tmpfile);
+    // add_datastream_from_file forces a re-sync of the datastream list
     $returnvalue = $this->add_datastream_from_file($tmpfilename, $datastream_id, $datastream_label, $datastream_mimetype, $controlGroup, $logMessage);
     unlink($tmpfilename);
     return $returnvalue;
@@ -513,6 +517,12 @@ RDF;
    * @return null 
    */
   function get_datastream_dissemination($dsid, $as_of_date_time = "", $quiet=TRUE) {
+    if (!array_key_exists($dsid, $this->datastreams)) {
+      watchdog('fedora_repository', 'Requested invalid datastream dissemination @dsid on object @pid',
+               array('@dsid' => $dsid, '@pid' => $pid));
+      return NULL;
+    }
+
     $params = array(
       'pid' => $this->pid,
       'dsID' => $dsid,
@@ -538,6 +548,11 @@ RDF;
    * @return type
    */
   function get_datastream($dsid, $as_of_date_time = '', $quiet = TRUE) {
+    if (!array_key_exists($dsid, $this->datastreams)) {
+      watchdog('fedora_repository', 'Requested invalid datastream dissemination @dsid on object @pid',
+               array('@dsid' => $dsid, '@pid' => $pid));
+      return NULL;
+    }
     $params = array(
       'pid' => $this->pid,
       'dsID' => $dsid,
@@ -859,7 +874,10 @@ RDF;
       'logMessage' => $log_message,
       'force' => $force,
     );
-    return $this->soap_call('purgeDatastream', $params);
+    $soap_result = $this->soap_call('purgeDatastream', $params);
+    // make sure to refresh the datastream list after adding so this item stays in sync with the repository
+    $this->datastreams = $this->get_datastreams_list_as_array();
+    return $soap_result;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/formClass.inc b/formClass.inc
index fc3b1748..06d840de 100644
--- a/formClass.inc
+++ b/formClass.inc
@@ -817,15 +817,12 @@ class formClass {
    * @return string 
    */
   function createQDCEditForm($pid, $dsid, $client, &$form_state) {
+    module_load_include('inc', 'fedora_repository', 'api/fedora_item');
     $dsid = empty($dsid) ? 'QDC' : $dsid;
-    try {
-      $params = array('pid' => "$pid", 'dsID' => "$dsid", 'asOfDateTime' => "");
-      $object = $client->__soapCall('getDatastreamDissemination', array('parameters' => $params));
-    } catch (Exception $e) {
-      return array();
-    }
-    $content = $object->dissemination->stream;
-    $content = trim($content);
+
+    $item = new fedora_item($pid);
+    $content = trim($item->get_datastream_dissemination($dsid));
+
     $doc = new DOMDocument();
     if (!$doc->loadXML($content)) {
       echo "error loading xml";