Update on Gavin

Please continue the prayers for sweet Gavin.  Here is the latest email from his Mom:

 

Hi Everyone,  

 

We saw the GI today and things went well.  The news is as follows:

• The pathology report on the current biopsy report show that Gavin has 20 gastrin producing cells per high power field in his stomach, and 3-4 is normal.    
  

• The GI ordered labs to be done later today and he also wants stool samples to ensure that there is no active bleeding.
  

• He wrote the order for the upcoming endoscopy (number 4) and we wait to hear back from the scheduler.  
  

• He chose a surgeon to do the gastrectomy and vagotomy.  He is a pediatric surgeon at both Miller Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and has prior experience with performing this surgery on adults.  There are no pediatric surgeons in the area that have experience performing this surgery on children, and our GI thinks this surgeon is the best man for the job. 
  

• All his doctors agree that it is in his best interest to do surgery at Miller Children’s Hospital because all his current doctors are on staff there.  
  

• Surgery is the next step regardless of whether we know the cause or not, and whether we can prove it again or not because medical management has failed Gavin.  While we don’t have to rush into surgery now because of recent medication additions, these medications are short term fixes–it may give us a few months before we find Gavin in a potentially fatal emergency situation.  Therefore, we are working quickly so that we get to surgery day without any emergencies, but aim to not have to rush so that everything will be well planned and thought out.
  

• If everything goes smoothly, we are looking at surgery in maybe 2-3 months.    
  

We praise God for making our path really clear, and that so far, all his doctors and us agree with each other completely.  Gavin continues to complain of stomach discomfort, but we are thankful that it is intermittent instead of non-stop.  He continues to take in the bare mimimum amount of calories to get by, but is maintaining the two pounds he gained back since starting an additional medication in the past month, because this new medication temporarily allows him to absorb all the nutrients in his food. 

 

And just in case you are all wondering why he looks so good, it is because he takes 28 doses of medication a day (with an additional 12 doses when needed) to maintain what you all see.  Again, the problem is that these meds will eventually stop working–they are short term fixes.  Therefore, we hope that surgery will be a long-term fix for our son, and that ultimately the Lord will allow it to heal him. 

 

Please keep our little man in your prayers while we wait and prepare for another endoscopy with anesthesia, and then surgery.  Please pray that the Lord will continue to guide us through each step he wants us to take and that He will continue to make our path clear.  Above all, please pray for protection over our son–protection before, during, and after surgery and that the Lord will allow this surgery to heal our son on this side of heaven.

 

Thank you so much for the prayers and offers to help.  We will let you all know when more help (beside prayers) are needed.

 

In Christ,

Carla (and Tim) Gorecki 

Please pray for Gavin

Please find it in your loving hearts to pray for my dear friend’s son Gavin.  He is just 3 and has suffered so much in his short life.  Now his parents have gotten some more bad news regarding his health.  The following is an email I received from his mother.  I ask that you put him on your prayer lists and forward this in any way you’d like.  The more prayers the better.  More on his story can be found on his mom’s blog:  Mastomama

 

Hi Everyone,

We spoke to our son’s gastroenterologist today, and got some huge news.  A few weeks ago, he pulled Gavin’s old endoscopy biopsy slides from the hospital.  He had the slides re-stained with a different stain than previously used, so he could see if he had hyperplastic gastrin producing cells in his stomach.

 

What they saw astonished them.  Because of the stain used, the abnormal cells turn brown to alert the pathologist of the abnormality.  The whole slide turned brown.   

 

So we finally have our diagnosis for his severe gastrointestinal issues–he has a disease called Antral G-Cell Hyperplasia…..FOR SURE. 

 

So many of you may know that the past two years Gavin has had several whole body scans because they thought he had a tumor that was producing the severe symptoms.  We were all stumped when scan after scan revealed no tumor.

 

One night, I spent some time researching through journal articles, and came across this disease.  I thought it sounded so much like Gavin that I was 99 percent certain it was it.  I printed the journal articles and brought them to my son’s GI.  He read them and agreed it sounded possible, and it was something he hadn’t thought of.

 

That led him to staining old slides, and that led to the discovery.  After 3 years of test after test, we finally have proof that this diagnosis is the right one.  I praise God for leading me on the path He laid out for us–for answering our prayers, for revealing the truth, and for making it so certain that there is no room for misunderstanding.

 

The treatment is a gastrectomy (surgery to remove the stomach).  It could be partial or total, that hasn’t been decided yet.

 

The next steps are as follows:

• On Monday we will go up to Miller Childrens Hospital to see our GI at his clinic.  While we are there, we will schedule another endoscopy, to be done in the next week or two.

• During the upcoming endoscopy, the GI will take additional tissue samples to biopsy again.  He wants to prove the disease twice before sending him off to such a HUGE surgery

• Assuming the results are the same, we will start interviewing surgeons, and go from there with the best surgeon for the job

If everything goes smoothly, and the answers continue to come so quickly and clearly, we are possibly looking at doing surgery sometime before the beginning of summer.

 

I ask you all to pray for our little man….our GI re-emphasized what a huge surgery this is, but with that comes the potential to completely cure him from this disease (*he would still have mastocytosis, but the surgery could cure the most pressing problem).

 

Please also pray for the Lord’s peace for me and Tim.  We won’t lie, it is scary.  It is a moment by moment, one step at a time decision to choose to trust Him–it’s a choice we have to make over and over throughout the day as fear and doubt creep in.  It is in these vulnerable times that Satan attacks, and we ask for protection against that.

 

I will update when I know more…in the meantime, we appreciate your prayers and support.

 

In Christ,

Carla (and Tim) Gorecki