Garrett’s doing great

I realized it’s been a long while since we posted on Garrett.

Garrett has been doing great, particularly in the last 2 months. It took awhile to get to this point, with mobility being his biggest hurdle. He lost a lot of weight and muscle tone during his hospitalization and convalescence, so walking around the house was painful. He couldn’t make it up and down our stairs on his own.

However, Garrett has been going to PT, swimming and chasing/being chased by Gibson. He’s back to his old strength again.

Garrett was really thin back in July, but since August he has been trying new foods and eating a lot, and has increased his weight by 15% since discharge.

And, his skin has really cleared up too!

All told, we’re happy. He’s back at school and has started soccer.

The setback now really has to do with his stoma, which has been prolapsing quite a bit. We’re working on core strengthening exercises to help.

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Ultrasound and ice cream

Yesterday, Garrett’s right arm and hand began to swell below his central line and there is a significant difference in size between the right and left side. I asked for an ultrasound. The ultrasound was very painful for Garrett. The sores on his body hurt to touch and he has quite a lot of large ones where the ultrasound probe had to be pressed. He screamed through most of the ultrasound prolonging the process. Garrett does have a small clot, but it is not fully occluded. Typically, an anticoagulant would be started, but in a post-op IBD patient, the protocol is not as straightforward. Hematology and surgery are meeting this morning to determine next steps. They want to save the central line in order to provide nutrition for Garrett, but need to determine the best course of action. In the interim, he is on pain medicine for his arm (in addition to his abdomen and skin) as the swelling in his hand has now become significant and very painful. He can’t close his han...

Out of Surgery

Garrett had a successful stoma revision and is in post-op; we're waiting for him to wake up. Speaking with his surgeon, everything went well. It wasn't obvious what caused the small bowel obstruction (ie, adhesion or kink), but his doctor did think the opening in the abdominal wall fascia was tight and food may have obstructed it, leading to an inflamed and swollen bowel. More to come...

Garrett's Home!

Garrett is back home! Though tired, he wanted to try and catch the tail end of the school day at HFS. We thought it better that he just come home; he's already had some pizza and is relaxing in bed playing Roblox by himself. Gibson is not home from school yet, and all Garrett wants to do is play with his brother! Jill and I are happy that our house will be full again tonight. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and support this week!

Updates on Garrett

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