Setback

Well, as I sit down and write this, I feel like we had our first setback. To be honest with you, I also hope it's our last.

With our last update, we wrote that we had turned in our application. Within a day of turning in our application, we received a message at home asking Jason to call the agency back, because they had some questions on the information we submitted. I have to admit that I was surprised that they were processing our application so quickly, and for that I must give them a lot of credit. We didn't get their message until after hours, so after a restless night I called them back the following day. The gal processing our application wanted to clarify my diabetic condition. After reading back my diagnosis date, and a list of the medications that I currently take, she said that she wanted to make sure that she had all of that information correct (I informed her that she did - she was reading it right off of our application info). Then she informed me that she received my physical report back from my doctor, and that my doctor had listed my medical status as being "satisfactory". It turns out that most international adoption programs have strict medical guidelines, and even having diabetes puts us on the edge of meeting the stringent guidelines. Apparently, a diabetic who is only taking care of himself in a "satisfactory" manner does not meet the guidelines for the two countries that we are the most excited about: Korea and Russia. If left as is, we could not even apply to adopt from Korea, and there is only one region in Russia that might even give our application a fighting chance. Now, notice that I said "if left as is". That's why we're calling this a setback, and not a screeching halt to the entire process.

The gal processing our application informed me that she felt we could still fulfill the international guidelines if she had more information from the doctor, and if that information proved that I was taking good care of myself (I guess the officials overseas want to make sure that I am going to be around for a while). In all honesty, this report from the doctor was a real slap in the face for me. I cannot say that it was undeserved, because although my diabetic care has been complicated by other factors lately, I have probably been a little more lax than I should have been too. In the past 5 months, I have been meeting with a lot of different medical specialty teams, and I feel like we are making progress on these other issues. Now, it's time for me to get disciplined again about my health, which means detailed blood glucose monitoring, and regular exercise again. The good news is that I have been able to do this before, so I will not be learning new disciplines. It's more like re-introducing my body to disciplines of years past.

We didn't feel that we could leave this situation "as-is", so I scheduled a follow-up visit with my physician for early December, and I have a Hemoglobin A1c test scheduled for mid-December. It's the A1c test that will score my diabetic health for a 3 month period leading up to the test. That should be a good indicator to the doctor about how I'm doing with my management.

A bit of good news - we received tentative dates for our required pre-adoption classes (PAC). The next set of classes are available the third week of January, and we are hoping that we can get into those classes. Otherwise, we will have to wait until the third week in February. With the timing of these classes, it means that I have a little time to get my medical records straightened up, and I won't be holding up our process any more than what is usual and customary.

We do have a few prayer requests for you:
1) That Jason can convince his doctor to provide a better health report.
2) That Jason's test results in December show some fantastic results.
3) That we can get into the January PAC sessions.
4) That Jason's shift back to a disciplined lifestyle will prove to be a rewarding change, rather than another frustrating endeavor.
5) That we grow closer to each other and God as we work through this process.