We apologize that we haven't updated this blog since we returned home from adopting Ali in China, but here is the beginning of our story once we returned home.
A week after we got home, we had the usual post adoption medical exams and lab work. We met with our pediatrician, who is awesome and had already been researching the medical issues we were aware of with Ali and forming a medical plan with which doctors to visit and what our plan of action would be. Through this we learned of her single kidney, hole in her heart, severity of her scoliosis and tethered spinal cord in addition to her radial aplasia and back curvature we knew before we traveled to China to bring her home. After initial routine blood work, we got a late night phone call from our pediatrician. Little did we know this phone call would change our life. We found out that Ali had a rare blood disease that she had been born with... Hepatitis B. We were shocked, confused, angry, upset, heartbroken and uncertain as to what was ahead.
For those that have adopted before, you remember the paperwork you had to complete with the many disabilities and illnesses and what you were "ok" or "not ok" adopting a child with. This was one of the most challenging parts of the paperwork that we bathed in much prayer.
While there were many illnesses/disabilities we were fine with, there were others we knew physically we might not be adequate to care for. Hepatitis B was one of the illnesses we said were were NOT comfortable with and did not want to adopt a child with this. So, here we were faced with the question of "now what"?
How accurate was this test? Could there be a mistake? Depending on the brand of the Hepatitis B surface antigen test used, it was 98-100% accurate. How discouraging. Our daughter had a blood disease that was incurable, infectious, and would likely shorten her lifespan by decades due to eventual liver disease or cancer. Do you know how rare hepatitis B is in the US? Although common in many other countries, only 1 in 1,000,000 kids in the US have it. Hep B is most common among adults, associated with drug use and as an STD.
What about our other girls, could they catch it? What could we do? Once it set in that this was a trial we had been dealt we decided that we could either be discouraged and heartbroken day in and day out or realize that God is sovereign and His plans are perfect!!!!! PERFECT!!!!! ALWAYS!!!!! He knew our level of faith and had we known this in the beginning, our faith probably would not have been strong enough to follow through with adopting Ali. (If we are being completely honest!) But nonetheless, she was in our arms and we were going to thank God for each moment we had with her regardless of how few or how many in numbers her days may be. After all, our children ultimately belong to the Lord, he just entrusts them to us on earth. (Psalm 24:1, John 10:29)
The next step was to meet with a gastroenterologist to figure out how advanced the Hep B was and what precautions to take to protect and care for Ali and the rest of our family and friends that come in contact with her. We insisted on additional blood tests prior to this appointment, praying that the Lord would heal our daughter before we met with him. Brittney was extremely prayerful while Jonathan combined his prayer with a lot of research. We took precautionary measures everywhere Ali was cared for and especially within our home. It was a difficult burden to bear with only a handful of relatives even aware of what we were going through. For Ali's long term privacy and care this was perhaps the most difficult secret we had been advised to keep (Ladies completely understand where Brittney is coming from as a momma and how hard it was hiding these emotions when all you want to do is fall apart.)
A month later, when we finally entered the room to meet with our gastroenterologist he casually flipped through Ali's paperwork before turning to look at us with a somewhat befuddled glance, asking "So what are you here about? Alia's second set of testing revealed she does not Hepatitis B at all." We were overjoyed and overwhelmed by God's goodness and answer to our prayers. We did find out that the tests could only be confirmed by subsequent and more extensive tests three months later. And as Jonathan was researching he learned that there can be a period of time that a person who is actually Hep B positive can come up negative on certain tests.
Here is a picture of Ali and Brittney shortly before we received the good news!
It was difficult to wait and such a burden to bear and joy to contain simultaneously. We continued pray, fast, and trust the Lord's provision. Over four months after our initial diagnosis we were finally relieved that Ali was cleared of Hepatitis B on every single test! God is so good!
In the end it might seem easy to explain Ali's initial diagnosis as due to the 1-2% chance of human or test error, but we choose to believe the 98-99% probability that Ali did have hepatitis and our God chose to heal her in His almighty power and strength! Is anything impossible for our God? No. He is the Creator of the universe and is mighty to save! We know He has a perfect plan for each of us...this is just another part of her amazing testimony we know He will use for HIS GLORY! So thank you for the prayers, many times of which you had no idea what you were praying for! God heard our prayers and healed our girl! ALL PRAISE TO OUR GREAT GOD!!!
