Gavin's gastro appointment: results

Hi all,

Thank God, the biopsy reports came back very quickly and Gavin does NOT have eosinophilic esophagitis (requiring further allergy testing and diet therapy). The specialist suspects he has a "stiff" esophagus due to the extensive spinal radiation he had as a child to treat his acute lymphocytic leukemia. Gavin also wonders if one of his chemo drugs (Adriamycin) could have stiffened the muscle/tissue of his esophagus as heart stiffening was one of the long-term concerns associated with that particular drug. We don't really know; what we do know is that Gavin's esophagus needs to be dilated to help prevent future food impaction, but he can't have that done until he's all healed up inside. The doctor was surprised at how long Gavin had the impaction without perforating his esophagus, as happened to a recent patient after a similar time period and became a really bad emergency. We thank God that did not happen to Gavin, and we understand better now why the doctors in Ukarumpa were in such a hurry to get him to the hospital, beyond seeing how miserable and sick he was and having pity on him!

The doctor suggested a return to Cairns in about six months for the dilation procedure. We will see what our doctors at the Clinic in Ukarumpa recommend based on Gavin's consultation with the specialist today.

The kids, meanwhile, are doing great. I only hope they'll be happy to see us come home! They've had such a good time with their surrogate families and caretakers. Our sweet friends keep us updated with cute stories of their days. It warms our hearts - thank you, Careys, Stewarts, Metzgers, Penningtons, Leedahls, Brewers, McEvoys, and Blakes! Now the Tapps are on tap (ha, ha), taking care of the boys at our house while the girls are with the Blakes up the hill a bit.

A couple of pictures of Gavin and me, taken on our self-led waterfalls tour outside of Cairns on Wednesday:

And a lot of pictures of Will, thanks to his sweet babysitters/family! (How can a mother choose which of these to include and which to leave out?) He looks SO BIG and grown-up to me! Where's my baby?!? I miss them all, including Isaac!