Brothers

We received a phone call last week to schedule Gavins treadmill test. He'll go February 16th to OKC for a treadmill/echo. We're praying for good results and receiving confirmation that the coils are working for Gavin. Gavin had a pacemaker home check yesterday. We should get results on that next week. 

Gavin is loving being back at school. He received a shout out at school on Friday during their Friday Finale assembly. Shout outs are for displays of godly character. Gavin gave away 2 of his baseball cards and didn't ask for anything in return. His sweet friend Allie appreciated the gesture so much she turned him in for a shoutout! Love how their school recognizes children for their character. It came at the perfect time considering Gavin is struggling with not knowing whether he will be able to do baseball this spring. Gavin is trying out for honor choir on Monday so hopefully that will give him another distraction! 

I was changing out pictures yesterday and got sentimental seeing how much the boys have grown! I love these brothers and their special bond. They love to be together, get into trouble together and do the normal brother stuff. They also truly know how to lift each other up when they're going through a tough time. Which brings up something I want to share with you all. I haven't told many about Brodys health scare because we honestly thought this was just a stomach bug that put havoc on his body. But we've received some scary news recently and we're just requesting prayers for him. I want to be honest, because I am far from a perfect person, I have struggled a lot recently. In the last 2 weeks I have had some breakdowns. A couple of my girl friends and Gavins neurologist can confirm it. ;-) I think I have been in denial about Brody because I thought, no way, people will think we're crazy that both our children have serious medical issues. Some of you know Brody had two holes in his heart at birth but they closed before his first birthday. We were heart broken thinking both our sons would endure open heart surgery. We did think a lot, what did we do? Did I skip a prenatal vitamin? Did I drink caffeine? Did I not eat healthy enough? Is it a faulty gene we passed on to our boys? A lot of blame on myself thinking I did something that caused my boys to have heart defects. Since Brodys holes closed and he was released from cardiology, he's had a pretty healthy childhood.

 

That was until December 2014, he got what we thought was a horrible stomach bug.

X-ray and CT scan showed some alarming issues that got him hospitalized. They thought he had an obstruction in his stomach. This was the first time he had vomitted in his life. He vomitted and had diarrhea for a couple of weeks. He was so sick. The doctors chalked it up to a bad stomach bug and we let it run its course. After that Brody wasn't the same. He would get bad stomach cramps, diarrhea, constipation, bloody stools. Most of 2015 we spent running tests with the GI and a liver specialist in OKC. After an upper and lower scope, ultrasound and lab work we came back with some answers. Brodys liver was in the upper limits of normal (so slightly enlarged), he had sludge in his gallbladder. The scope and biopsies came back normal, so we were thankful for that! The most puzzling issue has been his blood work. His liver enzymes have been elevated, then normal, then elevated, then slightly elevated, etc. Another test showed that he did have some type of inflammation in his body but not certain where. The most recent lab tests (which we received over the phone while Gavin was being re-admitted post heart procedure) came back very alarming. Brodys creatine kinase was extremely elevated for his age. So when we got back from Kansas City we started the process of more labs and figuring out the right specialist for him to see. After more labs, the CK was still elevated and higher than before. So Friday I spent the day on the phone with doctors making a plan for Brody. We will go Monday to the neurologist (which is Gavins neurologist who we ADORE) for more tests. The main concern for Brody because of these tests is muscular dystrophy. We've been told there are multiple forms of MD and can range in severity. Brody has not been symptomatic for MD so we feel encouraged by that! At the same time, we feel like we've been punched in the gut. You all know, we're believers, we will always trust Gods plans for our life. But we struggle too, we're not perfect and I don't ever want it to come across that way. Please pray for peace, no matter the outcome. Of course pray for Brody and for the doctors to have wisdom and understanding on what is going on in his little body. 

(He's had so much lab work over the last year he's learned to just smile through it!)