Gabriel Athan had his surgery Wednesday morning at 11:00am at Columbia Presbyterian Children's Hospital. He had a G-tube inserted and they performed a Nissen Fundoplacation on him. Hopefully the Nissen will reduce the amount of Reflux coming up and give him some relief.

Gabriel is scheduled to be released tomorrow afternoon.

Surgery Scheduled for Tomorrow

Gabriel is set to go in for surgery tomorrow, Wednesday July 9th at 1:00pm. Please keep him in your prayers and we will update with good results.

G-tube and Fundo Surgery

Gabriel had an appointment with his surgeon, Dr. Stolar yesterday as a followup to the GI appointment we had last week and we have all come to the conclusion that it will be in his best interest to have a G-Tube inserted. While he is in there Dr. Stolar believes that a Fundoplaction will be to Gabriel's benefit as well. These past two weeks his reflux has gotten worse, he is very irritable and he is practically not taking the bottle at all anymore and his feed compression has slowed down. The NG-tube hasn't been that bad to this point, but he is now getting to the age where his hands constantly are grasping for it. We put gloves on his hands but that isn't fair for him either and it decreases his motor skills.
So we are planning on going in for surgery on July 14. Otherwise he is going pretty good.

An Update on Gabriel-Athan

Gabriel went to his GI appointment today and he is almost at 12lbs. He is about 3% height and weight for his age. The positive is that he is growing within his own curve. They broke the news to us that the G-tube and Nissen surgery is most probably going to happen within the next month. We have to schedule an appointment to see the surgeon. While he is growing and taking some bottle feeds by mouth, the severe reflux and slow progress make the surgery inevitable.

We even got todrop in to the NICU and visit with some of the doctors and nurses in the NICU today. They are such wonderful people and it made them happy to see him progressing so well.

Enjoy the pics that we took of Gabriel and Demetra the other day.

Getting Bigger Day...by...Day

Gabriel Athan weighs 9 pounds 4 ounces at his doctor's appointment yesterday. He is still on continuous feeds of fortified breast milk (1 Ounce per hour) for 21 hours. He is taking about 5cc twice a day from the bottle. His reflux is still very bad though. Hopefully I will be able to get some pics up this weekend.

Gabriel is Home Again!!!

Gabriel was released from the hospital yesterday (May 1st, 2008.) He is currently home and resting. He is still on continuous feeds with a three hour break during the day. Hopefully this little stay in the hospital was his last. We are all glad to have him home.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and prayers.

Kostaridis Family