The Gavin Chronicles, November 6, 2007

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 4:6

Greetings to all of our family and friends and fellow followers of the Gavin Chronicles!!

It's been a week since I have sent out an update and thought tonight might be a good night to do that.

Gavin continues to do well with his feedings. He is now up to 26ml every three hours and tolerating it well. They have begun to mix his formula with breastmilk. They started out with 1/4 breastmilk and 3/4 formula. As of today, they have increased that to a 50/50 mix. The breastmilk portion of the mix is being fortified with the neocate formula to make the total calories of the mix 25. Gavin is gaining weight at a steady pace and now weighs in at 2lb 14oz. This is the same weight that Ian was at birth. It has been fun for Ian to see his brother because he can now relate just how tiny he was when he was born.

Gavin's lungs seem to be doing a bit better and his apnea spells seem to be farther and farther apart. He is on a minimal amount of oxygen support at this time. He does still have the occassional brady but seems to recover from them on his own with little to no intervention most times.

Gavin has been having repeat eye exams over the course of several weeks now. Initially these exams showed very immature vessels in his eyes that had not matured enough to make a diagnosis. Over the course of several weeks the condition of Gavin's eyes has changed dramatically from the initial exam. Gavin now has stage 2-3 R.O.P. with plus disease. If left untreated this can cause complete blindness. As a result, Gavin will be having surgery tomorrow morning on both eyes. They do this with laser technology and the success rate is 95%. I am optimistic that this was caught at a very early stage where early intervention will prevent long term vision loss. For the surgery they will have to intubate him so that his lungs do not have to work overtime while under sedation. They do not use a general anesthetic for this procedure but rather a twilight sedation. He will be on the ventilator for probably a day or two until he has recovered and is able to maintain on the nasal canula again. If you are curious about R.O.P. you can read about it here http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/rop/ .

We continue to do well as a family just preparing for the upcoming holiday season. The kids are getting excited to see Santa and give him their wish lists. They each have their requests all lined out and the newest request seems to be that of a Nintendo Wii for the family. Brooke of course wants her barbies and High School Musical periphenalia and Ian has his wishes set on Legos and video games. Gavin of course would love new clothes and pretty much any cute toy that you could give him. Thanksgiving will be here at our house as usual and we will visit the hospital in the evening.

Colin's job continues to be a constant source of stress. We are finding out the implications of a new employer and the ramifications of small business health insurance. Many of our usual prescriptions monthly which previously cost a minimal amount are now almost tripled in price as a result of this insurance. He is still looking for new employment and I suspect within a few months he will be successful in his search.

Ian is doing phenomenally well in school this year. He loves to go everyday and he is learning at such a fast pace these days. He has spanish this year and has had fun talking with Gavin's nurse Belinda in spanish. He really has done very well learning the language in the past few weeks. He loves math and is reading very well.

That's about it for our family right now. Things seem to be moving along at a good pace for us. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Please pray for Gavin with his eyes that the Lord would lead the surgeons hand and Gavin would have a speedy recovery. Please pray for Colin and the job situation that the Lord would show us his way in this situation and provide whatever his plan is for Colin. Pray that we would continue to have strength each and every day. Your prayers and thoughts mean so much to us. We are truly thankful each day for all of our dedicated friends and family that have surrounded us with love during this time in our lives. God is good and his mercy endures forever.

I will update tomorrow after Gavin's surgery.......

Until then....