A daring adventure
“Life is either a daring adventure - or nothing.” - Helen Keller. I remember learning about Helen Keller when I was a young girl and I was so inspired by her story of perserverence and strength. I saw this quote on a ceramic tile a couple weeks ago and I thought it embodied our family’s journey well and so it now hangs in our home as a reminder of reaching for those adventures that at sometimes feel overwhelming.
I had a somewhat jolting blessing in disguise this past week as part of our homestudy preparations. In addition to the many documents, forms and reflections we are filling out, we have to complete blood studies for TB & HIV and have our physician vouch for our health. So it wasn’t alarming at all when my doctor tried several times to get ahold of me the day after I had my blood draw. We played phone tag and she tried getting ahold of my husband which then sent him into an anxious spiral. :) My doctor finally reached me as I was driving home to inform me that I had tested positive for TB, as in tuberculosis. This was news to me and I had no recollection of ever being exposed to TB, but I do work in a medical setting and have traveled internationally quite a few times. Oregon has one of the lowest TB rates whereas worldwide 25% of people live with TB infection or latent TB (non contagious). So I just had to rule out that mine was indeed latent and not active tuberculosis which of course would have more serious ramifications. A chest X-ray and two days later of missing work (just in case I was contagious) the radiologist confirmed that it was latent TB (Phew!) which means just an infection and not the disease. Since the infection has a 5-10% chance of becoming tuberculosis disease, I am now on antibiotics daily for 4 months to help reduce and possibly eliminate this risk. I would have not even known about this without this adoption process, so my little blessing of sorts. :)
In the meantime we continue this process and ready ourselves for our little girl. I have been most excited to dive into the transracial adoption reading material that Holt has prepared to help parents reflect on the impact that race has on a child’s upbringing, specifically white parents raising little ones of other races. It is both fascinating and jolting to reflect on some of the research that has been done in this arena. Overall it will be imperative for our family to make sure we are willing to dive head into racial issues, talking, asking questions and listening to others to become more comfortable talking about it. Our little girl will NEED us to talk about it. I ordered a couple children’s books on this topic and I’m so intrigued to start this conversation with our kiddos now. I will dive more into this issue in my next blog post, but it is safe to say that we will NOT be color blind, but strive to see, listen and be sensitive to all race issues.
I had a somewhat jolting blessing in disguise this past week as part of our homestudy preparations. In addition to the many documents, forms and reflections we are filling out, we have to complete blood studies for TB & HIV and have our physician vouch for our health. So it wasn’t alarming at all when my doctor tried several times to get ahold of me the day after I had my blood draw. We played phone tag and she tried getting ahold of my husband which then sent him into an anxious spiral. :) My doctor finally reached me as I was driving home to inform me that I had tested positive for TB, as in tuberculosis. This was news to me and I had no recollection of ever being exposed to TB, but I do work in a medical setting and have traveled internationally quite a few times. Oregon has one of the lowest TB rates whereas worldwide 25% of people live with TB infection or latent TB (non contagious). So I just had to rule out that mine was indeed latent and not active tuberculosis which of course would have more serious ramifications. A chest X-ray and two days later of missing work (just in case I was contagious) the radiologist confirmed that it was latent TB (Phew!) which means just an infection and not the disease. Since the infection has a 5-10% chance of becoming tuberculosis disease, I am now on antibiotics daily for 4 months to help reduce and possibly eliminate this risk. I would have not even known about this without this adoption process, so my little blessing of sorts. :)
In the meantime we continue this process and ready ourselves for our little girl. I have been most excited to dive into the transracial adoption reading material that Holt has prepared to help parents reflect on the impact that race has on a child’s upbringing, specifically white parents raising little ones of other races. It is both fascinating and jolting to reflect on some of the research that has been done in this arena. Overall it will be imperative for our family to make sure we are willing to dive head into racial issues, talking, asking questions and listening to others to become more comfortable talking about it. Our little girl will NEED us to talk about it. I ordered a couple children’s books on this topic and I’m so intrigued to start this conversation with our kiddos now. I will dive more into this issue in my next blog post, but it is safe to say that we will NOT be color blind, but strive to see, listen and be sensitive to all race issues.
Comments
Post a Comment