Prayers for Dustin

I have been meaning to post about the health issues of my brother in law, Dustin, for the past several weeks. If you have known me for more than 5 years, or have been reading the blog since then you probably remember that Dustin was in a freak accident while moving and severely damaged his pancreas and injured some of his other abdominal organs. After multiple surgeries and procedures and 6 weeks in the hospital, he seemed to be on the road to recovery and was doing very well at first. Unfortunately as time went by he started having recurrent episodes of pancreatitis which often kept him home from work in terrible pain, with nausea and vomiting, also making him unable to eat or drink for days.

The doctors who had done so well initially treating his injuries and managing the complications after the accident were at a loss and gave him little hope. We were all praying for Dustin to be healed or find a treatment or some type of a prevention/management plan that would help him live a life with less pain and restrictions. Thankfully, after 12-18 hard months with pancreatitis occurring more and more frequently, Dustin was refered to a specialist in Dallas who worked specifically with patients having untreatable chronic pancreatitis. This new doctor recommneded Dustin have radical, new, but exciting surgery called a Auto Islet Cell Transplant.

After weeks of testing, insurance paper work, support group meetings, and doctors appointments, Dustin had his much anticipated surgery yesterday, March 3rd. I was able to be with my sister, Kate, throughout the whole process thanks to my dear friend who watched the boys all day and Philip who dropped them off, picked them up and did dinner and bedtime all by himself. Kate and Dustin have handled this stressful time so well up to this point, and I am so proud to call them my family! The wonderful support of family and friends who have been surrounding them with love, help and prayers is a testament to the kind of person they each are. Going through this at any point in life would be such a challenge, but adding 3 children age 5 and under ups the stress level so much in my mind. They have had their moments, but all in all have remained, calm, optimistic and faithful to God throughout the ordeal. Again, I'm so very proud!

Dustin's surgery went very well yesterday. Praise God! Thank you to everyone who was praying during his nearly 12 hours in the operating room! The doctor was able to successfully remove his duodenum (the first section of your intestine after you stomach), spleen and that troublesome pancreas. Next, the lab team successfully extracted 315,000 of the important, insulin producing, islet cells from his pancreas. We had been hoping that they would be able to get out at least 400,000 cells. This would give him the best chance of producing enough of his own insulin and avoiding becoming diabetic. However, the doctor still seemed confident that 315,000 was a good, high number and Dustin has a great chance of a full recovery, or at the worst a mild case of diabetes that would be managed fairly easily. The surgeon inserted about 1/2 to 2/3 of those cells into his liver, and the remainder into his abdomen, where they will attach to those organs and start to grow and produce insulin from there.

Today, Dustin is recovering in the ICU. By all reports he is doing well and his pain is being managed well enough for him to be fairly comfortable, considering what he has been through. He has two pain pumps inserted in his abdomen that seem to be helping keep the pain in check. Kate says he has been sleeping a lot, but is also talking and joking with her and the nurses, which is very encouraging! We are all feeling very hopeful that Dustin will have a full recovery, be pain free and have fully functional islet cells which will give him the chance to live the active life he loves so much. Please continue to pray for his recovery, specifically that the islet cells will grow strong and function well in their new home. There is a long road ahead while his body adjusts to all the changes, but hopefully in 2-4 months the old Dustin will be back jumping onto mailboxes and sprinting around the bases. For more regular updates and details please visit my sister's blog: http://kateanddustin.blogspot.com/

One of my all time favorite pictures of my good looking brother in law and pretty sister! One VERY special couple!