{ Hello! }

My name is Gavin. I am 11 months old. I was born with a genetic disorder called Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency that caused my liver to go into failure. I was misdiagnosed for 3 months and underwent emergency surgery before they found out what was wrong. I am on the Organ Donation List and am waiting for my "gift of life" so I can have a liver transplant. You can read about my story by clicking {here}. Thank you for visiting my online journal!

*It is our deepest sorrow to inform you that Gavin passed away while waiting to receive a liver transplant. He was only 14 days away from his 1st birthday. Please, if you haven't already, sign up to be a registered organ donor today and talk to your loved ones about your wishes: http://www.donatelife.net/. Thank you all so much for your love and support during this last year.

{ This is my family }

{ This is my family }

{ A Mother's Plea }

If you only read one thing on this website, let it be {this}.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Gavin & surgery

After the 3rd dry run I was ready to finally go home, and I flew home the next day. It was sooooooooooooooooooo nice to sleep in my own bed, and to get to see my kiddos. I got to take them to our church overnight "camp out" (its was actually cabins) and it was SOOOOOO great, the kids had a blast!!!! It was my small triumph over this CRAPPY liver disease. HA! A NORMAL WEEKEND WITH MY KIDS!!! :D

The docs were planning on transferring Gavin to the hospital near our house on Monday (tomorrow) but then they ended up diagnosing that weird thing on his stomach as a fungal thing, but couldn't ID it any further. Either way they wanted it OUT, so Gavin had surgery yesterday and they cut it all out. 6 inch incision that will be where his transplant incision is, so at least it will only be one scar. They were just going to cut the circle out and leave it OPEN to heal, but thankfully they decided to do it this way instead. The ID doc is sending a picture and some samples to some "friends" around the country to see if they can ID it. Here it is (sorry, its gross!):




They are doing a cat-scan today to make sure it hasn't spread anywhere else in his body. So poor Andre has been dealing with NPO for two straight days!!!!! Gavin will be off the list for the rest of the week while they give him antibiotics for it. I'm actually okay with that. I need a break. We all do actually. Gavin is not coming home (either to home or the hospital here) anytime soon. Andre is staying in LA until Monday, and then his mom and sister are flying out there to give us a break. They will stay there for a few days so we can all be home together and have a "normal" week. I will fly back Thursday/Friday I think.

I'm starting to adjust my expectations and trying to figure out a workable schedule for us to fly back and forth out there, and still get to see the older kids, etc. Thankfully we have a handful of family members who are willing and able to take some rounds out there with him. Hopefully it won't last long...I didn't plan for this expenses-wise!!! So anyway, that's where we're at now.

3 comments:

Janell said...

This just sucks Bethany. I'm so sorry. With him being #1 on the list, a liver is bound to come up soon that will work for him, but I'm sure that doesn't make this nightmare any easier. Glad you had a few "normal" days to relax--wish we could have made it to the campout! Amelia had loved to play with Evienne--it's been a while. Hopefully they'll get a chance again before too long!

Staci said...

I'm glad we got to get out & go to lunch today. You deserve a BREAK!

I'm so sorry you have to deal with all of this, but just remember you have so many people praying for your family & hopefully Gavin will be able to come back to AZ...sooner than later.

You are such an AMAZING mom & you will be so blessed for how you are handling everything & juggling life between AZ & CA!

Melody B. said...

All I can say is HALLELUJAH for normal in your life right now....even if it is just for a few days! I don't know how you've gone on this long without a break.

You're doing so good though. Of COURSE your going to have your days where you feel hopeless...who wouldn't? But after some REST and a break (knowing you) ya come back ready to deal. You always do. You are GREAT.

Sorry to see that infection causing so much trouble...hope they can figure out what it is.

Family and friends rock. I love you,