Wednesday - 12/5/07 - The HIV Battle

Tinsae has been fighting this battle her whole life (maybe 16-24mos). Yesterday we took her to one of the best children's hospital in the country, AI duPont Hospital for Children. Before yesterday, she fought this battle almost entirely alone from a physical perspective. Today, she is no longer on the defensive. Today, we take the offensive. Today, we introduce 'shock' and 'awe' in the form of medicine that will begin to attack the disease. Tinsae will continue to fight this battle for the rest of her life...but never alone.


Like her birth mother, Tinsae is a fighter. Her mother's immunity was weakened by HIV and battled several infections for many months and sought treatment as she could afford. However, another infection took hold and she checked herself into a hospital with Tinsae in her arms. The next day she died. A form of meningitus took her life. Tinsae was there beside her mother when she died.


The hospital cared for Tinsae for a month in hopes that a relative would come to visit the mother or see what happened to her. If someone came, the hospital could then find out more information about Tinsae's mother and determine if a relative was available to claim Tinsae. No one ever came to visit. No one ever came to claim Tinsae. After a month, the hospital then declared Tinsae to be abandoned and turned her over to the police who then turned her over to an orphanage.


Estimates indicate there are over 4 million orphans in Ethiopia. There are not enough orphanages to take care of the lost children of Ethiopia. Many dying mothers are turned away from orphanages because they are full. Many children are found next to dying or dead parents with no one to take care of them except for maybe an older sibling. Some children have been left outside the gates of orphanages. We believe Tinsae's mother knew that Tinsae's only chance to get into an orphanage and receive care was if she died in a hospital. We believe Tinsae's mother did not go to the hospital to save herself but to save Tinsae. The last act of Tinsae's mother was one of love for her baby.


Just think... before all this took place, God was already preparing and calling us to a far away land to a child that we would later come to know as Praise Tinsae McConomy (see details of our calling in an earlier post http://hisloveforus.blogspot.com/2007/12/wednesday-112807-our-calling-to-adopt.html).


God's love for us has called us to love in a very similar way. You see, Michelle and I have been adopted... by God. God uses the same language in scripture to describe what He has done for us. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die and pay the penalty for our sins. We were slaves to sin and death. His Son's death was the payment or ransom for our souls and He adopted us as His children. We are no longer orphans of this world but we are heirs of the King. The Apostle Paul elaborates on the adoption theme in the passage below:


For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus...for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are ...heirs according to the promise. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Ephesian 3:26 - 4:7 NKJV


Have you been adopted by God? Do you know for sure that you are one of His children? Many people assume that just because they know about Jesus, they have a relationship with God. If you wonder or question if you are truly one of God's children and would like to hear more about this subject, please send me an email to CaughtByGrace@comcast.net. I'd love to share more.


Yesterday when we saw the infectious disease specialist at AI, he said that he believed that Tinsae would not have lived much longer if she had stayed in Ethiopia. But he has great hopes that she will not only survive but thrive on her new medicine. Yesterday she was started on 3 anti retroviral medications to treat the HIV. She is also on two antibiotics. One is for preventative measures and the other is to treat borderline pneumonia. She is also taking iron supplements because she is anemic. Her hemoglobin is 6.0 and if it drops to 5.9 she will be admitted to the hospital for additional care and a blood transfusion. In addition, the HIV medications can also cause the hemoglobin to drop.


We have an appointment again at the hospital tomorrow (Thursday) at 10am. At that time her hemoglobin will be retested and a second series of chest x-rays will be taken to check on the pneumonia. It is possible she may need to be admitted to the hospital based on the outcome of Thursday's battery of tests.


That's all for now.


His love for us... is more than we can ever begin to imagine,


Bill & Michelle


Check out the picture below of Tinsae bundled up and on her way to the hospital!