So...Gabriel had his heart procedure on Friday, which did not quite turn out the way we hoped for. After Gabriel was sedated and they made a cut in his leg and the surgeon went into the heart, he saw that one of Gabriel's vessels was formed in a way that it blocked access to the pulminary valve - therefore, the doctor could not even get there and could not go ahead with the procedure. So basically, nothing was done. Gabriel recovered very well, and is now totally fine - as far as post-procedure; however, on the long term, this means that at some point he most likely will have to have the open-heart surgery - which would have been avoided if this operation succeeded :((

The surgeon did not give us a timeline as far as when this woudl be done, because for now Gabriel is not sick, and unlike with this procedure, they actually want to see some symptoms before going ahead - so it will not be a preventive surgery. So for now, Gabriel will have to continue to go to his regular cardiologist and get checked on the regular basis. When they see the change and see the need for the open heart surgery, then it will be done.. but he could be 2 years old, or he could be 5 - no one knows! So this is not very settling to me - b/c meanwhile he will have to be observed pretty closely....as we certainly don't want anything damaging to happen to him.

I feel somewhat bummed out about the whole thing. I just don't get it. Gabriel was a planned baby, so I knew I was pregnant from day one. I was so careful about everything - my diet, exersice, etc. I just don't understand why he had to be born a whole 2 months earlier and with this congenial heart disease.

I've decided to give more charity...it says that charity helps to soften the severity of G-dly decree. Maybe this will help. But it's kind of like asking for a miracle - even though they classified his problem as "medium", they said several times how it will not go away by itself... which means he will have to have this horrific surgery at some point.

Not quite an outcome we were hoping for! :(