Report on Gabe

I am sorry I didn't get more information out yesterday. I didn't hear anything until almost 9 and I was up until midnight making corsages and bouquets with Ellen, Lisa, and Katie. Going on just three hours of sleep I had to go fall into bed!

Gabe was scheduled to go to surgery at 12:30 pm, but the case before him (a baby girl) ended up going 6 hours longer than expected. Her situation was certainly more serious than his!

Keith said he finally went down for the surgery at about 6:30 pm. Neither Keith nor Gabe ate all day. Gabe couldn't (in prep for the surgery) and Keith wouldn't (out of respect for Gabe).

The report was very good. The infection was contained and only affected the tissue in/near the skin. The surgeon told Keith that it had been cared for and treated properly and that it was apparent it was handled in a timely manner--i.e. I didn't wait too long or mess up my boy!!

While the very weary cardiac surgeon was in the room explaining a very simple draining and packing procedure little Gabe woke up, sat straight up in bed, put out his arms to Daddy, and fell asleep again on his shoulder. Keith said the staff was touched. He also cracked them up earlier in the day when one of the doctors was talking to him in a duck voice. Gabe was immitating him with duck noises. Then Keith asked him, "Gabe, what does a BIG duck say?" Gabe lowered his voice and gave a loud, gruff, "Quack! Quack!"

The main story is: the sternum is completely healed and looks great, the infection was very limited and most likely caused by a problem internal stitch, and the healing should be very quick.

Our next question is, which Keith will be posing this morning, is, "Does Gabe really need to be in one of the highest rated Children's Hospitals in the country under the care of an expert heart surgeon at this point?" He will be pushing to have Gabe released and sent to the hospital here--assuming he needs the IV antibiotics over oral.

We have had a number of offers from people to go down and stay with Gabe while Keith attends Ellen's wedding and we will definitely be accepting one of those offers if we need it. However, we think it would be best for Gabe to be closer to home so he wouldn't be apart from us for such a long time.

I will be decorating with the girls all morning and hope to be back home in the early afternoon with an update.

Thank you all for your prayers and your encouraging words. They matter more than you can know!

"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."