My son Gavin, has something called Primary Immunodeficiency. This means that his body doesn’t produce enough antibodies to fight off infections. What antibodies his body does produce, are defective.

Thankfully, there’s a treatment for this life-threatening condition, and it’s called IVIG. Gavin receives his IVIG via subcutaneous infusion, directly into his belly, twice a week.

IVIG is essentially donor antibodies. Each vial consists of antibodies from thousands of people. The idea is that the donor antibodies will temporarily replace his own missing or defective ones. These donor antibodies protect him from infection and or illness.

An update for my regular readers.

He had an IVIG infusion yesterday (Tuesday) morning. We had but one issue, and that was it leaked a little bit. Gavin freaked out as per the norm for a situation like this, but he did calm himself down, and we were able to address the issue.

The infusion itself actually went pretty quick. While I didn’t time it, I believe it came in under the two-hour mark, which is good. Sometimes it can take two or three times that long.

Having needles sticking in your belly isn’t much fun, especially for a special needs kids.

I don’t think he had any side effects, at least that I know of. He doesn’t always tell us when he’s not feeling well after one of these infusions.