Xavier has Typhoid Fever

Yesterday we found out Xavier has typhoid fever.  Typhoid is a bacterial infection so with the right antibiotic it can be cured.  We found out this morning that Xavier is in a hospital in Haiti and getting the antibiotic.  He should be better soon and completely cured in two weeks.  

That's the good news.  The bad news:  our son has a deadly disease in a very poor country.  My first thought on hearing the news was 'I wonder if he can get treated or recover in America.'  The short answer  is neither.  Xavier cannot travel while he is contagious--that makes perfect sense.  He also cannot travel overseas while the adoption is in process.

So we wait.  

When we first thought about adopting Xavier I thought about 'This seems OK unless he gets some nasty tropical disease.'  When we visited Haiti this thought became vivid.  

Ten years ago I had a job that took me overseas every month.  One of my colleagues was a very funny woman named Karen who traveled a lot also.  But she had a clear line she would not cross on where she would and would not go:  Before she booked a ticket she made sure the place she was going had water treatment plants designed and built by American, German or British companies.  Clean water, she knew, equals a healthy trip.

When Xavier gets out of the hospital he will go back to his orphanage and live in a country where Karen would not go.  

So we wait.