Gerald at two years old
Hi Everybody, Everyone probably wondered why my son have a feeding tube in his nose, and some are afraid to ask. well, I can tell you why... here's the story........... I was five to six months pregnant when my baby in my womb diagnose with the heart defect. I've gone through a lot of test just to figure out what was going on with him . I've been in the hospital almost every week when I was pregnant, and some doctors predicted that he's not gonna make it. I was not happy to heard those kind of news; however, I just lift it all to the Almighty God. My OBGYNE referred me to the the specialist. I met a lot of doctors and specialist before I had the baby. I was also referred to the cardiologist, Neonatologist, and surgeon. March of 2006 after my ECHO cardiogram exam they told me the name of the heart defect and its called HYPOPLASTIC LEFT HEART SYNDROME. I never heard that kind of heart defect before. It means that the left ventricle did not develop properly. And in order for the baby to live he have to have the three stages of surgery or a heart transplant. My husband and I was really worried about our unborn child he even go to the Church with me to pray for him. Before I was due everything were set. I went to the best hospital in town at St. Joseph Hospital here in Phoenix. My angel born in June 6th, 2006 w/c they said the evil number because of 666. He was born th ru CS and put right away in the Neonatal ICU. The next day he was transferred to Pediatric ICU. Seven days later he had his first surgery called Nor wood Procedure. It was a major open heart surgery. After 49 days of hospitalization Gerald came home. We were very excited about him being home. In the hospital they work him about his feeding because he cannot drink the whole 90cc of milk which is just 3 oz of fluid. When he was home before the second surgery, he did very well. He had doctors appointment every week, but he conquers everything that are very susceptible to his immune system. He is on his feeding tube all the time because he can't drink milk by his mouth. After three months of recovery from the first surgery, he was back to the hospital again for his second surgery. He had his second surgery(Glenn procedure) in October 25th, 2006. The surgery itself went well. However, the surgery had complications and put him to stay in the hospital much longer than we expected. He have fluid built in between his chest cavity and the lining of his lungs. He had 5 chest tubes ( one of them he pulled it out by his foot). He didn't recover from that very well , so they did the heart catheterization to see what is the problem in his heart of why creating this problem in his body. Still did not helped him at all. The last procedure that they did is what they called pleural de sis. which means that a surgical procedure to drain fluid from the chest cavity. Gerald went back to ICU five times within 49 days in the hospital. We were blessed that we came home before Christmas of 2006. In this particular event in my life I can say that the healing power of God is really work in saving my son's life. He's still going have one more surgery in about two years. Please help us to pray for him. Right now he is very active and adorable. He have some late developments, but I hope he will catch up pretty soon. The photos above was taken in the hospital while we are waiting for him to bring in the operating room. The surgery lasted 6 hours. Thanks and hope I don't bore your day, and you have a wonderful day.
