March 1, 2008

March 1st

This is a difficult, very long story to tell in a very short time, so I will be brief. Garrett has been diagnosed with Transplant Coronary Artery Disease and must have another heart again. He became very sick and was admitted to The Childrens Hospital very suddenly on Wednesday.

He has been complaining of chest and arm pains the past few weeks. Many tests were done and nothing showed up until an enzyme blood scan was done by his pediatrician on Wednesday. This caused immediate concern and a biopsy was ordered. It was during that procedure on Thursday that doctors identified the problem, and it was much worse than they expected. Little arteries that feed Garrett's heart were closed or closing, and his heart was dying. Amazing, since he's been so active, but in obvious pain. Enough to make him stop playing and cry. This was unusual. He even tried out for baseball last week and was complaining then, but still had a great tryout! Everyone thought he had growing pains from the bands in his chest pinching him.

A tricky procedure was done yesterday to place a very small stent in one of the arteries. We were told after the fact that all of the physicians were scared, and many thought Garrett might not make it off the table because of the seriousness of his condition.Suffice to say that he is feeling much, much better today and is his happy self. He's a little ornery for a hospital room!! But he keeps telling us how happy he is that he doesn't hurt anymore. The blood flow enabled by the surgery yesterday has had an immediate positive result. The down side is that this issue cannot be fixed. Garrett must have a new heart. He was listed "1A" yesterday, which means he is in critical need of a heart and is at the top of the list.Please pray for him, his mommy and sister, and the donor family who have yet to be identified.

Here we go again, but our prayers and gratefulness for all your love and prayers never ends. We will be relocating again to the Denver area for the near future. Garrett does not know yet.

Don't feel sorry, God has control. We just need prayers. We haven't found a fight yet we couldn't win, and we're not about to start. Garrett has NO quit in him. We've seen that too much over the years.

God Bless you all,

JD