Today we have had our sweet Anna Banana for one year. Hard to believe. So many ways she seems like she has always been here. Other ways it seems like yesterday we were in a conference room in a hotel in China waiting for our sweet miracle to arrive. Then crying happy tears as she came in the room and was handed to me. I'll never forget that sweet moment. I wanted to share with y'all that read our blog the big miracle God performed in our lives over the past year. It is long but will be well worth the read. SO here it goes:
We received our referral for Anna August 2008, and she was special needs. We have always made public that she was cleft lip and cleft palate. Well she had another special need that we didn't tell very many people and that was that she was Hep B positive. We kept that private because we had talked to a few physicians and they told us that a lot of people are uneducated about Hep B and sometimes children with Hep B can be ostracized and made fun of, or people are afraid to be around them because it is contagious disease. Children are now immunized for it at birth so they cannot get it but those who have not been vaccinated could although it would be hard. So we didn't tell anyone except our family. We actually didn't tell them until we were home with Anna. We had to wait 6 months to travel to get Anna and the whole time we prayed that the referral paperwork was wrong, that she didn't have Hepatitis B..it was NOT.
We took Anna to an International Adoption clinic in Birmingham once we got home with her in March of 09 where they tested her for everything including Hep B; and a couple of weeks later we got a call saying she indeed had Hep B and not only that but it was very active. They told us we needed to start seeing a pediatric gastrointerologist. I started heavily researching and talked to some sweet ladies who had adopted children with Hep B and they gave me a peace saying it was a pretty easy special need to deal with. Basically in their child it was something they monitored every six months by having blood taken and that was all they had to do at that point.. For 75% of people with Hep B it stays dormant and they live a long live but for the other 25% it is active and attacks the liver causing liver damage, possible transplant and even early death. We prayed and claimed that Anna would be a part of the 75% who lived a long life. We then met with a Peds GI doctor locally and she told us basically what I explained above and that right now they would monitor Anna's blood and if they saw that it was staying active they would refer us. Hep B is a disease that children NEVER clear, they are NEVER healed from it. So we left that doctor's office having a peace that Anna was a part of the 75% that would always have it but that it wouldn't affect her and she would live a long life, be able to get married, and have children. In September, it was time to have her blood tested again. We waited and about two weeks later we got a call from the Ped GI office saying that they were referring us to a specialist in Birmingham. The doctor here wouldn't meet with us and told us we needed to take the referral and go because she felt like she didn't have the therapy/treatment Anna would need; and if she needed a transplant they would be able to do it at this hospital....TRANSPLANT?????? We started freaking out. We thought she was fine. Surely this nurse didn't understand and she even admitted so on the phone so we waited for November to meet the specialist. In the meantime our pediatrician saw us and I told him everything that had been going on with Anna's Hep B and he told us he didn't understand why we were being referred already and he would call the GI doctor and see. He called us right before we left for Birmingham and told us this was basically a visit to meet the specialist and start building a relationship with him so we went thinking all is well.......
Well we were wrong. We met with him Wednesday before Thanksgiving to hear the worst news we could possibly hear. According to this specialist, Anna was not part of the 75% but a part of the 25% who would need a transplant and would probably not live a long life. He told us that her viral count was in the millions, her liver enzymes were up which meant there was liver damage already. We were FLOORED and shocked and devastated. He took blood then and told us he wanted us to come back in 6 weeks to do a liver ultrasound so they could see the extent of the damage to her liver. Also he was going to talk to some other hepatologist and get their opinion about what would be the best course of treatment for Anna and what medicine she would need to start on....neither medicines would cure her but one of the medicines would hopefully bring her numbers down so she possibly could live a long life. But the specialist wanted to make sure we understood that the path we were on now was not good.
Needless to say we cried and cried and cried over the next 6 weeks. It definitely put a damper on our first Thanksgiving and Christmas with Anna. So we went back January 6th scared to death but trusting that whatever lay ahead God would get us through. We first had the ultrasound and the technician took pictures of everything in Anna. I was worried sick wondering why it was taking so long. We then had over an hour to wait to see the doctor. My mom met us there to be an emotional support fearing what the doctor had to say. Well in walks the doctor and he says "I don't know how to explain it but she doesn't have HEP B. " He asked us "Do you pray?" We started crying and laughing and I kept saying "GOD HEALED HER" Scott than said, "Well we have done research and understand that the viral load can fluctuate and get low," and the doctor looked at Scott and said "You don't understand her viral load is ZERO" "She doesn't have Hep B anymore!" He said he has never seen this before and he can't explain it. We just kept telling him Our God healed Anna. He agreed but said he wanted to run two more test on her and that is what they did a few weeks later and do you know what CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN.....HER BLOOD IS CLEAN!!!!!!
God cares, God heals, God loves us beyond what we could ever imagine. As much as I love my sweet Anna Banana- God loves her more and MAN AM I EXCITED TO SEE WHAT GOD HAS IN STORE FOR OUR MIRACLE GIRL. God is good.
