We're Home.... but with complications

My son Evan and I arrived home this past Tuesday from China after going over to adopt the newest member of our family Gideon Sage Lie Rowe.  Turns out, there is some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that our adoption is finalized!  Gideon was officially adopted just two days before he turned 14 and by China's laws would have become un-adoptable.  We praise God and thank all those whose efforts help get us to China in time to add this precious boy to our family.

Now for the bad news.  After a week exploring and touring in exciting Beijing, we flew down to Guangzhou to have Gideon's medicals done and to have our consulate appointment on the 25th.  We were so excited that the Consulate had granted  us our originally requested appointment, despite them having a busy schedule.  It was the last piece of the puzzle fitting in perfectly and we were ecstatic.  We thought there was nothing else standing in the way of getting our new son home now before the Chinese New Year.  Unfortunately we were wrong.

When we went for Gideon's routine medical physical which is required before he can receive a visa to enter the United States, we found out that he tested positive for TB.  This was of course a major blow, and one we had not expected.  His TB skin test had been a bit abnormal, and I had told the doctor that he had been coughing a little, but many skin tests come back looking a little raised and usually it is nothing.  The doctor told me Gideon probably had bronchitis.  But a chest x-ray just to be sure told them that it was most likely TB.  I was stunned and so was our guide.  The doctor told us we were only the 4th case of TB to ever turn up there.  Lucky us. 

And poor Gideon, he was just beside himself with the news.  He thought this would mean we wouldn't want him anymore.  He told the doctor he was afraid we were going to abandon him.  I told the doctor to tell him no, that I was on the phone with his father right then and we were going to find a way around this.

The whole diagnosis of TB took me aback though I must admit.  I didn't know what our options were with him.  Was he still going to be able to be part of our family?  Was this curable?  Could we now be infected?  All these things were running through my mind at once.

Fortunately I was able to find out answers to most of my questions.  Since Gideon has officially been adopted we are now his parents.  No one can take him away from us now or tell us that he cannot come here to the US, thank God.  He just needs to have testing done first, which happened this past week, to determine if it is TB or not for sure, then he needs to begin treatment so that he can be cured and not be contagious when we bring him home.  Treatment lasts for a full 6 mos, but it is usually only a matter of weeks for most cases until you are not contagious anymore.

As for Evan and I, we are not contagious unless we start to exhibit symptoms like fevers, night sweats, and severe coughing.  We will get tested in 8 weeks and then go from there depending on the results.

For right now, we are focusing on what we need to do to get our newest baby home more quickly.  There are waivers to be signed by the health department and our pediatrician, but the health dept won't sign until he has been confirmed to have TB and until they can see that he has received treatment and is not contagious.  The doctors in China are differing on what they want to do as well-- one wants to begin treatment right now, the other wants to wait the 8 weeks for definitive results before treating.  If we wait that long it just adds months to the time when he can come home.  If we could just start treating it now, he would be non-contagious a lot sooner and thus home much sooner too.

Please pray for our family as we make the necessary decisions to get our son home.  God has already put some extraordinary people in our path helping us along the way.

Thank you for everyone's support and encouragement as we weather yet another storm and climb yet another mountain on this adoption journey.