Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Gamma-glutta-whatta?!?




     Sawyer continues to itch all over his body incessantly throughout the day.  There are some days that are worse than others.  His doctor has been treating this as an allergy issue since he had the anaphylactic reactions recently.  However, today she noticed something in his lab results that may better explain  the problem. 

     Sawyer's Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) levels are increasing, which may indicate some blockage in his bile duct.   It could also indicate a liver issue, but Sawyer's liver was biopsied during his kidney transplant.  The biopsy report concluded that he has a healthy liver (PTL!).  Therefore, according to his doctor,  the most reasonable explanation is some type of blockage from the bile duct being pinched because  of the large adult kidney being squeezed into  Sawyer's small abdomen.  It's tight in there!

     If the bile is impeded, this would force the body to absorb more bile acids, which can cause the itching that is plaguing him and who knows what else.  Sawyer will have an extensive  ultrasound scan of his abdomen on Friday to help determine what is going on. 

     At this point, Karen and I don’t even want to ask the "what if" questions.  We will wait until Friday to deal with next steps.   Sawyer's doctor was quick to say, "Don’t worry!"  We'll take her advice and the direction of Jesus when he said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own".   I guess procrastination is not always a bad thing.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Praying for you guys, love you all.

JJ said...

Praying, hoping, and waiting with you in spirit.

Courtney said...

I'm sorry to hear this. It seems like there is often one more thing to contend with.
God made Sawyers body wonderfully and fearfully, and its always amazing to me that we as humans are in any way able to replicate what God has done.

Praise the Lord that God has given us doctors who have an amazing gift to understand how our bodies work!! I am praying mightily that Sawyers doctors will be able to fix what they can humanly do, and that God will fix what they can't. (I hope they know that they are instruments of the Lords' work when they are healing Sawyer! :) Prayers for complete healing and clarity about what to do for Little Man. Love to all the DeBause family

Bax and Ruth said...

Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice...Sawyer's wonderful smile shows a spirit of rejoicing...enjoying the blessings of each day...our tomorrow is in His hands.