Gavin's Story 1 year On

This time last year we went into A& E in Crumlin Childrens Hospital and tomorrow the 19th October is the day we Gavin was diagnosed with Cancer.

We created this video to try put togther everything that has happened over the last year.
We are so happy that everything is going Gavins way and we want to thank everyone for their support and help and prayers over the last year. We still have a long road ahead of us but we can now see the light at the end of this journey..

Love Team Glynn.

1 day left to go....

Well nearly there. Gavin's treatment this morning all went very well thank god.
He has a long day today as after his treatment in st. Luke's this morning ole has to go straight to Crumlin for his weekly IV chemo.
Picture below Gavin flashing his Freddie to the world and all the sticker for where the radiotherapy hits.

Also today at 3pm last year is when we went through A&E with Gavin in Crumlin hospital last year 18th Oct 2011...

He has come so far in a year and alot has happened and thank god everything is going well now and long may it continue...

17th October 2 more days of Radiotherapy to go...

Can't believe the sessions have gone so fast and thank God Gavin has had no issues.
Gavin is a bit more tired but that’s understandable.

He is so good every morning when we go into St. Luke’s, The staff in there are amazed with him.
He has a job every morning to help the porter feed the fishes in the tanks in the ward. Gavin is so funny and runs into the ward and looks for the porter.

Once he has done that job then he helps the nurses wheel the machines into the Radiotherapy Unit, then sits on Jayne or my lap and takes out his “Freddie” (Hickman Line) and waits for the anaesthetist to put in his sleeping drink (general anaesthetic)

The whole process takes about 1.5hrs now.

Gavin waiting for the machine to get ready

And below Gavin ready for his session

Monday 8th October Start Radiotherapy

Gavin started his Radiotherapy today in St Lukes Hospital in Rathgar.

The mainly treat Adults but since this is the only place in Ireland that has the equipment this is where we needed to go..

Gavin needs 10 session every day for 2 weeks of radiotherapy on his lungs (as their was cancer spots on 1 lung when he was diagnosied last year)

Gavin also has to be under sedadtion every day so like Switzerland he has to fast every night.
We have to wake him at 3 am for his last bottle and then 6am is his last drink of water until after the treatment.

10 sessions of treatment will bring us up until the 19th October. The very strange this is on the 19th October last year Gavin was diagnoised with Cancer.....1 year to the day

Below is a picture of the mould that Gavin is in while getting his treatment. This makes sure he is in the same poisition every day

Gavin waiting to wake up in St. Lukes today with his Bob Blanket.

We have come a long way in a year and thankfully Gavin has been so strong and the best patient in the world.

Update October 2012

Sunday 3 September

Everything was going so well Gavin was playing on a trampoline all day and running around

We came home and all the kids had a Sunday bath and we put Gavin to bed as normal

About 10pm we heard a rumble upstairs and then Gavin screaming, we ran up and Gavin had got sick all over his bed and was shivering.

We brought him into our bed and try to calm him down. We the then took him temp and it was 39.2 degress.....we couldn’t believe it was so high so that meant a quick run to Crumlin hospital

We packed the bags and off we went

We were seen by a doctor a few hours later who thought Gavin had a viral infection; they took blood from Gavin’s Hickman line and also from his hand.
We knew from previous temp that it would take 24-48hrs for the blood cultures to come back and see if there was an infection anywhere so we were then allowed to go home
On Monday afternoon we got the call to say a bug had grown in the blood cultures and he would need IV antibiotics for about 5 days which turned out to be almost 8 days...

 

Isolation

Well this is the worst part of having an infection, 5 x 8 room and not allowed to go outside,

Since Gavin was feeling well but the infection was in his blood it was very hard to try an explain that he couldn’t leave the room
We could write a book on how to keep a child entertained while in isolation

Some games like hide and seek, hiding in the wardrobe, under bed...anything and like the picture above we bought a Fireman Sam Pop Up tent...unbelievable but anything to keep entertained.

He had to have IV antibiotics  every 8 hours for 8 days.

And then we were finally allowed to go home but Jayne had to bring Gavin back in  every day for 3.5 weeks