Denver Bound...

We took Greysen to see Dr. Flass today and the good news is his stricture doesn't feel as tight as it was 2 months ago. The bad news? We don't know what is causing his incontinence. More bad news? This means a trip back to Denver:(

This week Greysen will do another Sitz Marker study to check his motilty. The test basically measures how fast your food is digested. This is done by swallowing several plastic shapes "markers" at the same time everyday for 3 days. On the 4th day, an x-ray is taken to determine where the markers are at in the colon and if they are moving thru at a normal pace. Its a pretty cool test plus Greysen gets to eat plastic shapes. Life doesn't get much better than that, right?! He did this test last year before he was diagnosed and the shapes that should have cleared out of his colon within 6 hours had barely moved anywhere after 4 days!!! It will be interesting to see how much better he does this time and, even if his motility is slow, I know it won't be as slow as last time!

Dr. Flass told us that even though Greysen has improved since having the Pull-thru surgery, he hasn't improved as much as he would have hoped. There isn't the technology here in Billings to be able to test the things that need to be tested so he is going to talk to Greysen’s surgeon in Denver and try to coordinate a post-op follow-up along with some other tests. He is also going to see if Greysen can get into the bowel management program. This is good news for us as I have been struggling with Greysen’s day to day issues in not knowing how to help him. A few options may be to place a cecostomy. This is a tube that is put in through the skin and goes into the intestines. It is basically a way to easily flush out the bowels everyday without having to use laxatives, enemas, etc. It’s more effective in keeping the bowels cleaned out and can help with incontinence. This would be a better option than having to go back to a colostomy. They may also use anorectal manometry to be sure his nerves and muscles are working correctly. Hopefully, I will hear back from Dr. Flass today after he talks with the doctors in Denver and we can see what they want us to do. So I guess for now we just wait until we know what the plan is and of course I will update you all once we know! We appreciate all your comments and encouragement on our blog. It’s great to know who is praying for us and thinking of us during this crazy time! As I’ve mentioned before Kyle is making a job change in July and will be the associate/family pastor at Big Timber evangelical!  We are SO excited about this new opportunity but it is a lot to think about selling our home, moving, and transitioning our family, all while dealing with Greysen’s health issues.

If you’d like to pray for us here are some specific requests:

·         That we would be able to get into Denver Children’s Hospital in June or July before Kyle starts his new job.

·         Pray that Greysen would not be anxious about the doctor’s visits or about the move.

·         That Doctors would be able to find the problem and get Greysen to a better  place of healing and recovery

·         That our house would sell fast so we don’t have to be dealing with a sale in the middle of going to Denver.