The "E" word

Most of you know that I have not had an extremely healthy body.  This really complicates things when it comes to adoption.  Turns out they want HEALTHY people to adopt children, who knew?  Just a brief history:

When I was 8 years old I had been taken into the Emergency Room for an asthma attack.  My blood pressure was through the roof.  When the doctor came in to assess the situation he started checking my pulse.  My mom said that when she watched him feel the pulse in my wrist and then reach to feel the pulse in my feet to compare the two, she knew.  She knew what he was going to say.

The doctor said to my mom, "Have you ever heard of a Coarctation of the Aorta?"  I'm not sure what my mom's response was exactly, but I believe it must have been something like, "Funny you should ask, my son just had one repaired."

I had it repaired twice when I was eight.  They have more luck of repairing it when it is found as a baby.  After the second try they decided that they'd do another surgery when I was fourteen, when I would be more grown.  At fourteen they decided to put in an entire new Aortic Valve.  I now have two Aorta's.  Bet you don't know anyone else who does!!  Pretty sad that this is my claim to fame.  I'm lame, what can I say?

I have recovered like a champ and I'm as good as new.  When I started looking into agencies I was worried that they'd see this heart issue and run.  Imagine my surprise when I figured out that apparently they don't care if your heart beats, but your brain has to function right.  That leads us to the next problem-

EPILEPSY.

When I was first married it took me over a year to get pregnant.  When I did I was delighted!  Everything seemed perfect until I woke up one morning in an ambulance.  While being unloaded on a gurney from the ambulance I was informed that I had suffered a seizure in my sleep.  A what?!  I don't have seizures.  That's weird.  I saw from a distance Marc, my parents and a few other people from my family (people do NOT understand our support system) waiting for me, waiving.

After a sleep deprived test it was found that I have epilepsy.  Once again, who knew?

I have spoken with several agencies that say that the heart is not the problem, it is the epilepsy that throws up the red flag.  Marcus really wanted to aim for a healthy child.  I kept telling him that there are PLENTY of people out there willing to adopt young, healthy children.  I'm doing this so that I can help a child who possibly would not have been adopted otherwise!  There is a 3-4 year wait for a healthy child.  We have been informed that we only qualify for a child on "The Waiting List", AKA children who have a hard time being placed in a home.

On a serious note, I just wanted to mention that am I in NO way complaining about these health problems.  I actually forget I even have a "problem", really.  Now would be the time to insert a motto that I've heard many times in my family: These are not PROBLEMS, just minor INCONVENIENCES.  I feel so blessed to live in a time where I can get medical help!   As I look around at other peoples' problems, I realize I really don't have any.