Getting Better

Things here are steadily progressing. We had a little scare last Friday when Gabe's oxygen saturation was low and he just wasn't acting like himself. I called his cardiologist's office and they had him come right in. They did a quick echo cardiogram and put him back on a particular medication. That has made a difference and things have been better since then. We go back to the surgeon and the cardiologist on Monday and hopefully we will learn more about the next surgery. I am afraid that they will have to perform another cardiac cath to find out if the shunt is working. That means one more time of being "put under" before the big surgery. I know that it is necessary and I trust his doctors, but it all makes me a little uneasy. I am just hoping that by spring, we have all of these procedures and recoveries behind us and we can be a "normal" little toddler for awhile.

You would never guess by looking at him that he had an open heart surgery only 3 weeks ago. He is back to walking and being super active. He is so amazing! We are still pretty locked down in the house. He has only been a couple places and only a handful of people have seen him since he has been home. Walks are good for us and we take 1 or 2 a day. We are both getting pretty bored of the house! If things keep progressing as they are, I hope to get back to work in a week or so. I am starting to miss it. Plus, I know that I will need even more time off when we have the next surgery. I haven't told my mom about the new earlier start time for District 150. That means that she will have to be at my house to babysit at like 6:00 or 6:15 a.m. Yikes! I am so lucky that she is going to be our babysitter and she is really looking forward to it.

Not much else is going on here. Gabe is just learning all kinds of new tricks. He still isn't saying anything but mama and dada. Hopefully, that will start to pick up pretty soon.

We will post again after our appointments, as we should have more to report at that time. Until then......

Brian, Angela and Gabe

First Check Up

Things are so much better now that we are home. Gabe is sleeping much better at this point, almost back to his normal schedule. The eating is a little slower, but we saw quite a bit of progress today. It is tough to see a kid who was such a GREAT eater be so picky, but we will get back to where we were.

We spent the morning at the hospital today getting yet another chest xray, labs, and seeing the surgeon. Everything looks good and we go back in 2 weeks. We will also see the cardiologist on the same day. It looks like if things continue to progress as they are, we will be having the next surgery in 2-3 months. This one should be about the same length of around 9 hours, and we will likely be in the hospital about the same amount of time. I think going into it and knowing what to expect this next time will make it a little easier.

The PICU (the unit where he stayed after his surgery) drew his blood today and it was nice to see familiar faces. Everyone was happy to see Gabe passing through and they all commented on how healthy he looked. They made the process much easier for Gabe and me. The PICU has been amazing through this whole thing. I am so grateful for the wonderful care and compassion they have shown us.

Everything else is going great. We will continue to post as Gabe progresses and as we approach the next surgery.

Brian, Ang, and Gabe

Yipee!!!!!!!!!!

We are taking Gabe home! We have to wait a few minutes to make sure that the place where his lead was isn't going to bleed. We have only 6 more minutes to wait. I will post more very soon. Yeah!!!!!

Holding Steady

The past couple days have been interesting. Medically, Gabe is making progress. The doctor said yesterday that his xray is looking great. He is getting weaned off most medications. The real issues now are the fact that he isn't eating or sleeping. They want him eating on his own, but he is only taking a little bit because his stomach is upset. They give him IV nutrition for 12 hours at night. His sleep is terrible! They said that sometimes when a child has been sedated so much, this happens. He is sleeping only a couple hours a night with no naps. I hope he hits a wall with that soon and will get back on a schedule. I have a feeling that this sleep thing will be a nightmare when he gets home!

We did have some great times yesterday. I have been feeling really bad because Gabe is back to being in a crib so much, I am afraid that he thinks that his life is back to what it was in the orphanage. I am worried that he might think this is how his life is going to be again. So I brought pictures of the house, the dogs, and family to show him yesterday. He loved seeing the pictures, especially of the dogs. Hopefully, it won't be long and he will be able to see the dogs in person.

We also got to take many laps through the Intensive Care units in the wagon yesterday. Gabe was loving it. The nurses were blowing bubbles for him to catch and he was having a blast. They moved his room to the end, where he now shares a nurse with another room. The fact that he doesn't need the one on one care is a good sign. Hopefully, it will just be a couple more days.

We will keep everyone posted on his progress. We are so ready to come home and get back to our "normal" life. Thanks for all of the prayers and support!

Brian, Ang, and Gabe

Turning a Corner

Things are SLOWLY progressing. I don't think that Gabe feels all that great today. He only slept for 2 hours last night and he didn't really nap much today either. I really hope that he goes to sleep tonight. The great news is that I got to hold him for a couple hours today! Hopefully, he will be feeling better tomorrow and we will see more of that wonderful smile.

The docs say that the pneumonia looks better on the xray today and they were able to take more of the lines and tubes out today. Gabe decided to pull his oxygen earlier and has been able to maintain good saturation levels without it. (Future doctor????)

They said that we will probably be here another week. Bummer. More later....

Progress

Gabe was pretty cranky today, but I think we are starting to see progress. In regards to the pneumonia, his xrays looked the same today. Considering they were worse yesterday, I think staying the same is moving towards getting better. (Trying to stay optimistic) They also did another Echo Cardiogram today and they said that the heart function looks good. The really good news is that he good his chest tube out tonight. He wasn't too happy at first, but they assured me that he will feel so much better now. I had two nurses tell me that some of their older patients have said that their chest tubes actually hurt more than their chest incisions. He continues to fight stomach problems, so they took him off food and put him on fluids for nutrition. Hopefully, that will change in a couple days. They are also going to try to take one of the lines out tomorrow and we are then supposed to "challenge" him more. I think they want us to walk him around a little, which he should like. The best part of that is that I will be able to hold him again! I have missed that the most. It was a fairly uneventful day, which isn't all bad. Hopefully I can post more tomorrow of Gabe progressing. Good night all!

Another Bump in the Road

Gabe has had another rough day. We found out that he now has pneumonia. They have assured us that this is very manageable. However, this will also extend our stay, as well as the overall recovery process. It is so hard to see this little guy continue to suffer. The good news is that we are starting to see a little more of his personality again. I got a half smile today. I can't wait until he is feeling better again. Unfortunately, we will then be back to do this all over again. I know that it is all necessary, it is just hard when you can't explain that to a child. I think he has finally stopped being mad at me for all of this.

The other good news is that he starting eating a little today. He ate a half of a yogurt. Food is very comforting for him, so I am glad that he is now able to eat. I had to laugh because they brought him a lunch today of chicken strips and corn. Two things that he couldn't eat even if he wasn't sick. I thought it was a strange meal for a baby. However, I shouldn't complain because it wasn't too bad. (I ate it)

They have started a couple antibiotics for the pneumonia. They had been running tests to make sure that it all it is and not something else. We should know for sure in 48 hours. The doctor mentioned that we have some other variables to consider with Gabe. We are used to seeing certain "bugs" in kids here and we really have no way of knowing what all he has been exposed to in an orphanage in a foreign country. So these are all things to consider. Hopefully, these antibiotics will do the trick. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Until tomorrow.....

Tough Day

The docs said that the second and third day after surgery are the hardest, and they were SO right! Today was not a good one. The sedation is gone and he is more awake and alert. That is good, with the exception of being in pain. Also, he has had some lung issues that they are working on. Part of his lung collapsed, which they assured me with work itself out. He is also really congested and they are trying to get him to cough it all up. However, it is really painful to cough, considering they just opened his chest two days ago. So he is fighting it and he will touch his chest when he coughs. He has been crying quite a bit today and it is very hard to watch. From a medical standpoint, the crying is good because it pushes him to take deep breaths which is great for his lungs. From a mom standpoint, it sucks.

I think we are looking at another rough day tomorrow and hopefully the tides will turn soon. For all of those who have called and texted today, I apologize for not responding. Today was a little consuming, as I expect tomorrow to be as well. I appreciate the continued support, even if you don't hear back from me right away. It looks like maybe we will get to come home on Thursday or Friday. I would rather have him in there longer and be stronger when he gets home. Honestly, I am a little terrified of taking care of him on my own at home. I am so lucky that Brian will have some time off and can ease me into this.

Another great thing is that Brian is working tonight which means that I get to come home and sleep in my own bed. They wouldn't let him take care of Gabe, but he is working in the room next door. So he is about as close to Gabe as he can be. Not only that, but I feel so confident in the care that he is getting in the PICU. They are awesome. Many people have told me how important it is for us to get our rest also. Very true, so on that.....good night!

Resting

Gabe had a good night. The nurses convinced us that we wouldn't be bad parents if we went home and got some sleep. They reminded us that we will need our strength when he gets more active. We went home for a few hours. We were here in the morning for the doctors' rounds. They all said that he looks good. He gave him another echo cardiogram and chest xray and so far, everything is looking as it should. They have been keeping Gabe very comfortable and he has been sleeping most of the time. He will periodically wake up and look around and drift back off. He got his breathing tube out around 11:15 today and now he can have something of a cry. He is adjusting very well to breathing on his own with a new supply of blood to his lungs.

We have spent the day up here, however, Brian and I decided to take shifts for a bit. He went home to rest and he will relieve me in a couple hours. He has to get rested up because he comes back to work tomorrow night.

We did meet another little girl on the unit who was adopted from China and she is a cardiac patient here. She is three and as cute as a bug. Coincidentally, she lives very close to us, so she and Gabe will go to school together.

The doctor actually just walked in and gave us another good report. Things are really falling into place. Not much else to report right now. I will post more tomorrow.

Brian, Ang, and Gabe

Surgery Day

(As of 3:38 p.m.)

We started the day very early, as we had to be here at 6:30. Fortunately for Gabe, he didn't have to be hungry all day like last week. There was much to do at the hospital and Gabe was in pretty good spirits. They took him back at 8:15 for what was supposed to be a 2-3 hour procedure. We got our first update around 10:00 saying that things are good. Around 12:30, they were still working, but wouldn't give any indication as to why it was taking so long. The cardiologist just came to talk to us to let us know of the complications they are experiencing. They put in the BT shunt two different times and didn't like the blood flow that they were getting from it. They decided to start a central shunt around 3:00. With this procedure, they will have to put him on the bypass machine, which is something we were hoping to avoid. So we will be waiting for a couple more hours. I will post again in this same blog post with an updated time when we know more. Please keep the prayers coming, this is the first time that I have been really scared.

(At 5:11)

The cardiologist just came in and told us that Gabe is off the heart/lung machine. Things are going well. He said that the surgeon is going to keep him in there to make sure that things are working correctly. He has been in surgery for just short of 8 hours. This has been a really hard day for us. We are just waiting to hear that they are closing him up. I will post when I hear.

(At 9:57)

Gabe got out of surgery around 6:30 tonight, which made a 2-3 hour surgery a 9 hour one. The surgeon is a bit of a perfectionist and after putting in two shunts, wasn't happy with how they were working. After his angiogram, his oxygenation levels were in the 50s and leaving today's procedure, they were at 84. He looks so much better than I thought he would. He is a little puffy, but his color looks good. Better than last week after the angiogram.
even his nail beds are considerably less blue now. He is resting very comfortably and with some medical assistance. We are going to try to get some rest tonight because they say the next two days are really going to be tough. Doc also said that he sees the next surgery being somewhere in the weeks to months range. It all depends on how this shunt works. I am just anxious to get this little guy on the road to recovery.

Gabetastic Weekend

We had a great turnout for the "Meet Gabe" party. Thanks to all of those who helped us celebrate Gabe being with us. Sunday was his baptism and that was very nice. I was worried about him during the longer service and his all white outfit, but he did a great job. He didn't much like the water, but he quickly recovered.

Gabe had all of his cousins (6 boys ranging from 21 months to 9 years old) here at one time. They all love him and he thinks they are the greatest. It was so sweet to see them interact. We even had the 5 oldest over for a sleep over on Saturday. It was fun, but I am certain that I don't want 5 kids! Not even close!

We had a terrific weekend with friends and family and it was a great way to spend the last weekend before the surgery exactly like this.

To continue with the festivities, my friend Leslie and I took Gabe and her baby, Landon to the zoo today. If you live in the area and you haven't seen the new Africa exhibit at the zoo, I suggest you go. It was very nice and the kids loved it. Gabe especially loved the meerkats. He was cheering and signing more for them. He thought they were hilarious.

In regards to the upcoming procedures, we consulted with the surgeon today regarding the first surgery. The procedure is to start at 8:30 on Wednesday morning and last around 2-3 hours. We probably won't be able to see him until around 1:30 or so, we are guessing. I will try to post when I can regarding his progress. This surgery will be much easier and less risky than the second. It sounds like the next one to work on the repairs will be about 4-6 hours long and should be sometime between 2-4 months from now. It all depends on how the shunt works for him. He is only expected to be in the hospital for about 5 days this round and a couple weeks for the next one. The doctor said for having pulmonary atresia, his is the best case scenario and he sounded very positive and optimistic. Exactly what I was hoping to hear.

I will post at some point on Wednesday night or Thursday to let everyone know how the surgery went. Thanks for following and keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Brian, Ang, and Gabe