Operation Day

Today was stressful and painful...If i happened to say labour was painful, it comes nowhere near to the pain i felt today.

Gabe's op was scheduled at 8.30am, we got to the hospital at about 8am and went in to see him before he was wheeled away. I cried as soon as i saw him, my poor baby, not knowing what he was about to go through. But from a mother's eyes, nothing pains you more than seeing your newborn son about to be cut open in the chest. I think Terry was feeling the same way as me as we stared down and whispered sweet loving words to him.

Then begins the long wait in the waiting room. Thank goodness i had the trouble of breast pumping to distract myself, but still it was torture waiting for the op to be over. At about 12.45pm 2 of the medical staffs came to see us, we immediately saw their faces and lost all appetite..it didn't look too good..apparently, the surgeon had inserted the BT Shunt, but the performance of Gabe's oxygen level wasn't at the target mark of at least 80% and above. It was only about 67%-70%. Therefore, they informed us that they'd need to put him on a bypass machine which would supply oxygen to him while they performed a modification.

We then waited...and waited ....and waited..no one came, no one called us. It was torture and we continued waiting till 5pm. In between that timing, Terry & I were a total wreck, asking what has happened? Did something go wrong? I mean plus minus, but an additional 4 hours didn't seem so great to us. We prayed and prayed, i have never prayed so hard in my entire lifetime. I listened to Come Holy Spirit over and over again..I was mentally so exhausted and physically too as the night before we didn;t get much sleep. I thought i was about to suffer a mental meltdown if i didn't hear anything soon.

At about 5.05pm, Dr Murakami our surgeon appeared. We braced ourselves. He apologised that the op took so long as there was unexpected problems. Instead of the original BT Shunt, he had to use a back up plan, which is called a Central Shunt. It's a modification to the BT Shunt, still using a 3.5mm GORTEX but cut differently and placed differently (pls refer to the below diagram).



As of now, Gabe is stable, but they have left his chest open, covered with a layer of GORTEX to protect it. However, post-op, the next few days are crucial in 2 aspects:
1) Infection: Due to the chest being open, Gabe's chance of catching any infection is higher, therefore great care has to be taken
2) Cardiac arrest: The Central Shunt procedure carries a higher risk of cardiac arrest compared to BT Shunt. Therefore, in case of any emergency they can access his heart fast and insert a small clip to make the shunt narrower, thus reducing the flow.

Thus, from today until Monday, it is a crucial time frame to see how Gabe responds. We pray that no complications occur and he remains stable till then.

This little baby boy of mine, is extra extra special, he's already been through so much at 2 weeks plus and in my heart of hearts i know he is a fighter. But more so, he's a special gift from God to us, so it has to mean something for Him to put us through this great challenge. But i believe, at the end of it, all 3 of us will come out stronger than ever. We have to believe & have faith in knowing that. We have to...

I think we're gonna learn so much more from this boy than he will from us.

I have a picture of Gabe with his eyes really open, specially from one of the nurses looking after him. She heard that we only got to see Gabe eyes open once, so very kindly took this pic of him, which i absolutely adore.



On another note, my hubby has been so superb from the time of birth till now. He's been juggling his schedule like a mad man. Managing his business, getting work started on his land to build his office, delivering Gabe's morning milk, picking me in the evenings and sometimes afternoons to visit Gabe and briging my mom to buy groceries...i couldn't do it without him at all and i think Gabe couldn't have gotten a better Dad and me a better husband....

Hubby...you are THE BEST, we love u very very much

To all my family members, thank you so very very much for your constant prayers for Gabe, your loving support and unwaivering love. I wish to God Gabe be stable next few days and we can finally have him home soon.