Gabriel's update log from when he was at Mass General Hospital

November 21, 2006 at 08:31 PM EST

For everyone who has been praying for and thinking of Gabe, we send all of our thanks. Things are looking much better after a very harrowing first 48 hours. He was born Saturday at Kent Hospital at 5:55pm, 7lbs, 11oz. He was quickly given a breathing tube, as he could not sustain breathing on his own after birth. He was diagnosed with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, which means his abdominal contents have pushed through a hole in his diaphragm, displacing his heart and lungs, so he can't breathe on his own. After unsuccessfully trying to ventilate him mechanically at Women & Infants, he was transferred to Mass General. His first helicopter ride was very scary, but thankfully he pulled through it. Here in Boston, he is able to get treatment by a machine called an ECMO, which acts as a mechanical heart/lung machine. This allows his stressed lungs to rest. Since starting this treatment, he has become much more stable. The wonderful nurses, doctors, and respitory therapists here at MGH have been excellent, giving him 24-hour attention and life-support. He will need a surgery to repair to hole in his chest and put his organs back where they belong. Hopefully this will be done by Monday. More updates to come.... We love you Gabe!

November 23, 2006 at 04:43 AM EST

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thanks to everyone's prayers out there and the hard work of the excellent doctors and nurses at Mass General, Little Gabriel is staying pretty much stable. He's only needed a little adjusting of his medicine here & there. He is still on the machines and tubes, but the doctors are trying to wean him off some of his medicine. You can see him get stimulated as he tries to move his precious little eyes though they are not open yet and his sweet little mouth quivers. We are still trying to keep him calm & relaxed which is vital to his care. Any stimulation by noise, touch, or light can agitate & upset Gabe's vital signs. The plan is for him to have his operation Monday,but we still have a ways to go before then. His color is still looking good. Dr's put a chest tube in him to release air out of his chest on the 20th right after his pictures were taken. Corin & I are staying here with him and are trying to get a bit of rest in between. Thank You everyone for all your support, visits, prayers, care and for being there for Gabriel and us! We will try to keep you updated as much as possible here.

November 24, 2006 at 03:43 AM EST

Another good day for Gabe. We want to thank the wonderful staff at all three hospitals who have done such a wonderful job giving Gabe a chance. At Kent, our nurse Kristen was incredible at coaching Corin and helping the birth go flawlessly. The nursery staff was able to quickly diagnose his condition and help him by getting him transferred to W&I to get the support he needed. At W&I, he had wonderful nurses, such as Carolyn, Barbara, and others whose names escape me, who watched him 24-7. The Doctors and surgeons who cared for him did so with compassion like he was their own son. I could tell this in the way Dr. Stonestreet acted so protectively when the transport team from Boston came to get him. That team, of which the only name i can remember is Rob, who mechanically kept Gabe alive on his first ever ride in a helicopter, worked quickly and efficiently to get Gabe to Boston where his only chance of survival waited. Now, he is in the hands of the team from Mass general. Dr's Ryan and Doody are in charge of his care. From what I hear, everyone agrees they are the team anyone would go to when presented with this problem. I apologize for leaving anyone out, but I especially want to thank the nurses Joanne, Sue, Kelly, and there are and will be others, and the respiratory staff Rob, Kelly, Kevin, Donna, and kathleen. These people are watching him 24 hours a day, and giving Corin and I wonderful encouragement and support. I don't know how many times we've been ordered to get some sleep. To anyone else who was involved in his care, from Dr. Scott to Dr. Erinakes, and especially my sister Angela, my personal NICU nurse (and translator), we thank you, Gabe thanks you, and you have all helped to give our son a chance at life.

November 24, 2006 at 04:04 AM EST

It's now 6 days since Little Gabriel was born and he is definately a fighter! He is trying real hard to get stronger! He's staying stable, thank God, and is resting comfortably. His coloring is still good. He is still on the ECMO and will stay on until after surgery. As of right now the plan is to have the surgery Monday morning. Corin and I are constantly with him, and we rest in his room. He's getting 24/7 round the clock excellent care here. We are finally getting a little rest here and there. We still don't know how long Gabriel is because they can't move him yet. Gabe is a bit swollen too so they are giving some medicine to try to take that down before surgery. We will try to post pictures as we can get them. Gabriel hasn't had his "foot prints" taken yet or his hospital picture, but if they do it we will let you know. Thank You everyone for all the prayers, letters, messages, and visits- for being there for us! We will update again soon. Love Nate, Corin, & Gabriel

November 24, 2006 at 06:36 PM EST

After a short hiatus back home, we got back to see Gabe early today. While I was sleeping, Corin actually got to see our little boy open his eyes. She tells me they are dark brown, just like his daddy's. While it is very exciting for us to see him move, it is not necessarily the best thing for him. It tends to make his blood pressure spike and his heart rate drop. For this reason, they have given him some more sedative. I did get to hold his hand for a few minutes and could feel him squeezing back. The Lasix he has gotten has been doing a good job of reducing his fluid overload, and he doesn't look quite as badly swollen anymore. We are praying for another quiet night. More updates to come. Thank you for all your support. Love Nate, Corin and Gabriel.

November 25, 2006 at 10:19 PM EST

Thank you to everyone who has posted on this site and sent your love. The three of us apprieciate it more than words can express. We couldn't make it through this without all the love and support from our family and friends. Gabe had another good day. We did get to see him open up his eyes yesterday. He is still responding to voice and touch. It's very important they keep him stable right up until the surgery, which is fast approaching. Not looking forward to the waiting part of Monday, but the sooner it is over the sooner we can take our baby home, put him in his crib, and use all the wonderful gifts from all of you. Tonight we will be spending the night back home. it's hard to be so far from gabe, but the drive does seem shorter and shorter each time. We'll be back early to be with our boy. More to come...keep checking in. We love you all, Nate, Corin and Gabey the Baby

November 27, 2006 at 12:00 PM EST

As I type this, Gabe is having his surgery. Not much to tell yet, we are waiting for the doctors to come and tell us how everything went. We spent the whole morning with Gabe. He opened up his eyes and looked at us before they had to give him more sedative. The surgeon talked to us before he started and reassured us by saying his heart rate had been good and his lungs looked like they had become stronger over the past week. We should know more very soon.

November 27, 2006 at 01:45 PM EST

The surgery was a success! Gabe made it through wonderfully. They were able to patch the hole in his diapraghm and put his gut, stomach, and liver back in his adbomen. They had to put a patch in his abdominal wall, since there was not quite enough room to fit all the misplaced organs. His lungs seem to be moving air well, which suggests they are fairly mature. His right lung is just about full size, and his left now has the potential to grow. Even if it doesn't, he should still lead a normal life. According to Dr. Ryan, "He won't be a marathon runner", but neither will his parents. We haven't been in to see him yet. We expect him to look like he just went 12 rounds, but at least he's fixed on the inside. Now the healing process begins...

November 28, 2006 at 12:20 PM EST

Gabe is doing well on Post-Op Day #1. He looks a lot less swollen than we were anticipating. Also, he isn't requiring the blood-pressure control meds that the medical team was anticipating. His kidney function hasn't quite caught up yet with all the fluid he's getting, but that should come soon. For now, we just sit and wait for his lungs to get stronger. The next hurdle will be building up his tolerance to ventilator support and reducing his dependence on ECMO support. Ideally, we want him to be able to be on heavy, but not "industrial strength" (quote from Bob, the RRT) settings to avoid damaging his lungs. Hopefully this can be done relatively soon, though we don't have any solid timetable. He's on heavy sedation for now, and will be until tonight or tomorrow morning when they might start letting him move around a bit. As for Corin and I, it's time to catch up on all that sleep we haven't been getting. We'll keep you updated. N,C,G

November 29, 2006 at 06:56 PM EST

Still just another day of resting for Gabe. He's been getting pretty puffy since the surgery, so they might start him on some Lasix tonight or tomorrow. He's starting to wake up a little today, moving his legs and scrunching his face a bit. Hopefully it'll be soon they can start to work him off the ECMO, but we'll see. I'm wiritng this from home tonight, based on updates from Corin. I'd much rather be up in Boston with my boy. Gabe, I'll be back tomorrow after work. I miss you. Keep resting and healing, and I'll be with you soon. Be good for mommy. Love, Daddy

November 30, 2006 at 07:26 PM EST

Today has been a very good day for Gabe. He finally got cleaned up a bit, as mom was able to wash some of his parts. We also found out he is very ticklish on his upper thigh. He was opening his good eye for a bit today, though the other one is still a bit swollen. The doctors started his Lasix today, so he is looking less and less puffy, and peeing more and more. If the lasix keeps working like it is now, there's a possibility of starting to back off on the ECMO this weekend. Once he comes off the ECMO and becomes good and stable, he can be transferred back to W & I or Hasbro. Still far from home but much better than Boston. It's good to be back here close to Gabe after being home for a couple of days to work. Hopefully he'll be close to ready to move south by the time I have to work again. Thank you to everyone who has been there for us through this, with your messages, phone calls, emails, prayers, etc. We really do appreciate all of your concern, though we will never be able to fully express our thanks. Love, Nate, Corin, and Gabriel

December 01, 2006 at 09:35 PM EST

Well, we were hoping that the decision would be made today to start rewducing the ECMO support, but that was not the case. There has been some minor clotting of the blood in the tubing of the machine. The plan was to change the tubing only if it looked like he would not be coming off in the next few days. Unfortunately, they changed it today. Dr. Ryan was happy with the way he resonded to being off the circuit (if only for 5 minutes) which is a good sign for the future. He also said his cardiac function looks much better than when he was admitted, almost normal even. By the end of the day he was resting comfortably again, looking at us with his 1 good eye. We are planning to have one of the priests here at MAss General come up and perform a baptism in the next few days. Though hopefully it won't be too long until we can have a ceremony in a real church. We just want to make sure this gets done in case God forbid anything was to happen to him. But we all know he will be fine, especially with all the love and prayers from so many people.

December 04, 2006 at 12:38 PM EST

Gabe has been holding steady for the last few days, but not really with much improvement. Getting all the fluid off of him has been a problem. They've tried Lasix, and Lasix with mannitol, and he has been peeing, but not enough. Now they will have to put him on a machine (CVVH). This is a continuous dialysis machine to pull water off of him. Unfortunatly, there are some risks involved. In addition, his good lung has collapsed a bit. They aren't sure why, and have been suctioning out of his chest tube to try and releive some of the pressure. He also had to go back on blood-pressure medicine today. Hopefully once the fluid comes off he will be able to come off of this. He had his baptism today. It was a very short ceremony, done by one of the Catholic Priests here at Mass General. We will be having a full ceremony in a church after he comes home. Hopefully that will be sooner than later. Still no timetable in sight. I have to go home tonight to work Tues, Wed and Thurs. I'll try to keep updating from what Corin tells me.

December 07, 2006 at 11:23 AM EST

Today is another big day for Gabe. He is starting to look less like a puffball and more like a baby, even being able to open both his eyes again. They are doing a few things today to test how well he responds. First they are backing off on the sedation to let him move his limbs. Already he is awake and nosey as ever, looking around constantly to see whats going on. We are going to start helping his movement by massaging and slowly stretching his arms and legs, since he has had to keep them in the same position for so long they are a little stiff. They have also increased his ventilator settings and are planning on going down on the ECMO flow to see how well he responds. If all goes well today will be the first of many to slowly start getting him off the ECMO. We will keep you posted as he progresses. Love Nathan, Corin, and Gabe

December 09, 2006 at 01:23 PM EST

Things are going pretty well for Gabe right now. This weekend they plan on mainly concentrating on getting as much excess fluid off of him as possible in preperation for a big day on Monday, when if everything goes well, they will start actively trying to get him off ECMO and on to ventilator support. His right lung is looking a lot better. Now that there is less pressure from fluid, it is able to expand. Unfortunatly the left lung has not improved or expanded at all, but they tell us with help and care he can live off one lung without too much difficulty if the left lung does not grow. There are still a lot of factors and unknowns that will affect how monday goes and what the next steps will be, but we are hopeful and optimistic. We will let you know how everything goes. Love always Nate, Corin, and Gabe

December 12, 2006 at 11:43 AM EST

Today will be another big day for Gabe. The CVVH has been working great at getting all the fluid off of him. He has stopped peeing, since the CVVH is doing all his kidneys' work for them, but that's normal and should return to normal shortly after he comes off the machine. He had some successful trials of some very small reductions in the ECMO flow rate yesterday. Hopefully today, they will make a significant drop. This is his next big test. He is strong, so we think he will do well, but we just have to pray his lungs and heart are ready to start doing some of their share of the work. When he is awake you can tell he wants to move and cry and make messes for mommy and daddy, but he can't yet, and that agitates him, so he still needs pain/sedations meds periodically. I'll hopefully have some more news by the end of the day. I am taking a trip up after I get out of work to see him, so he better be good for all the nice nurses and respiratory therapists and doctors who will be watching him today.

December 12, 2006 at 09:50 PM EST

Gabe took a big step in the right direction today. As of right now, he is very stable, resting comfortably on about half the flow rate on the ECMO machine that he had been. It had been gradually reduced from about 375 or 400 the past several days in increments of about 20, and today they tried him at 100. His blood pressure dropped and his blood gas (carbon dioxide level in blood) was off. Actually, Dr. Ryan tried clamping the circiut (completely off ECMO support) but Gabe didn't take well to that. Now, he is steady at 200. Hopefully after tolerating that for a day he will be ready to take the next step. We're keeping our fingers crossed. He looks very good though. I got to spend some time with him tonight and he woke up, was looking around, trying to put his thumb in his mouth. I even saw him put his hand up by his nasal tube. Hope he doesn't pull it! back to RI/CT tonight for me for 3 more work days. It was a short visit but a good one.

December 16, 2006 at 08:42 PM EST

Well, not much in the way of good news to report today. The hope was to get him completely off ECMO as of yesterday, but that didn't happen. The main reason was because the doctor wanted to be able to keep a close eye on him because he was having some blood pressure issues and he wasn't going to be here this weekend. If Gabe continues to have a good weekend, they may try again on Monday. Key word there is GOOD weekend. He's on more blood pressure meds now. There could be several factors contributing to this. 1. His fluid status. While the CVVH has been doing a good job taking off fluid, in fact too good as they had to put some more on him, he seems to be getting puffy again. To me this suggests its not going into the right places in his body. 2. There is question as far as how efficiently his heart is working. 3. He had a lot of stress yesterday as they were doing lots of stuff to him getting him ready to be taken off the ECMO. He's also been getting agitated recently, probably related to all the work being done to him. The other day he started pulling his NG tube out! He's been getting another drug, Phenobarb (don't know spelling) that is a very strong sedative to knock him out. All this is contributing to things looking not so hot right now. We wish we had more good stuff to say. Hopefully he'll start behaving tonight and tomorrow and still be able to come off early next week.

December 20, 2006 at 12:44 AM EST

Yesterday was another eventful day as Dr. Ryan decided to operate on Gabriel's bad lung to remove big blood clot that was preventing it from growing & functioning. They put two drain tubes in to rid the fluid. They got quite a bit of fluid out. They fortunately were able to take him off his blood pressure meds and gave him some other med to help with the clotting of that lung. His #'s are looking good now. He has 3 chest drainaige tubes in him- one for right lung & 2 for left. This will help him so that they can keep fluid off him & they can grow & expand. Last night after the surgery he was draining so much out of the left side they were actually recycling it because he needed so much blood put back in him. He didn't have a very good weekend. Once the call was made to not take him off the ECMO, Gabe decided to voice his displeasure. His BP dropped and by Monday the medical team was getting ready to have a "we need to make some tough decisions" chat with us. luckily, when he had his circuit changed monday, things started improving. It was anticipated that he wouldn't take well to it but he did. That's when Dr. Ryan decided it would be good to get the clotting out of his left chest, give his little left lung a chance to expand, and hopefully improve his chances of surviving. So, the meeting with the docs and nurses turned out to be one with some optimism after all. We are all tired of course but we are very happy Tuesday went well. We will try to post again soon. Love Nate, Corin & Gabriel

December 22, 2006 at 08:35 PM EST

Gabe looks good today! He's been doing good over the last few days, since his operation. He had a little trouble with bleeding after the surgery, since they have to give him a blood thinner while he's on ECMO. They clamped his chest tube, so he's gonna have another clot inside again. They plan to remove this after he comes off ECMO and they can control his bleeding better. Right now, the plan is to keep taking off fluid until tuesday, and get him off the circiut then. Hopefully he has no setbacks before then and he tolerates the transition well. We're starting to get to the limit on how long he can stay on, so Tuesday will be a very important day. We appreciate your prayers for a good weekend and holiday! We need a healthy Gabe for Christmas!

December 24, 2006 at 11:31 PM EST

Merry Christmas Eve! Gabe is wide awake waiting for Santa! We just got back from a quick trip to RI with some presents for Gabe from his huge family. He's been great the last few days. Despite the sedatives, he has been wide awake, especially when his mommy and daddy come into the room. We got some nice pictures of him looking around today, but no way to upload them 'till Tuesday. So far, Gabe is having a wonderful Christmas. Now he needs to build on this to get good and strong for Tuesday. Time for mommy and daddy to go spend Christmas morning with Gabe, his very first!

December 25, 2006 at 02:48 PM EST

Merry Christmas! Gabe got a gift from Santa this morning! He's been wide awake, but a little grumpy on his first Christmas. He keeps trying to cry. His nurse helped by adjusting the cannulas, since they looked like they might be pulling a little bit. Hopefully now he'll be happy for the rest of the day. His grandparents have come up to visit him and we're about to have a nice Christmas Dinner, at least as nice as it can be here in the hospital. Merry Christmas everyone, Love Gabriel, Nathan, and Corin.

December 26, 2006 at 06:58 PM EST

GABE IS OFF ECMO!!!! Gabe gave us the best Christmas present we could have asked for today and allowed the doctors to take him off ECMO. So far he is doing better than they expected which is more than we could have hoped for. His lung looks good and is doing its share of the work. They have him on a muscle relaxer to keep him still and to allow the ventilator to do the work with his lungs. The doctors want to keep him quiet and still for a few days to get him used to the new settings. As of right now he is also off of the CVVH machine, which was taking the excess fluid off. They are hoping that his kidneys will take over and begin working within the next day or two so he can start peeing. That will be one of the next hurdles for Gabe to overcome. They may have to put him back on the CVVH if it takes more than a few days for him to start peeing, but only time will tell how much help he needs. Please keep him in your prayers, we appreciate all of the support thats helping Gabe have the strength to fight through this. We will keep you updated as things progress. Love Nate, Corin, and Gabe

December 28, 2006 at 11:39 PM EST

Gabe has been doing exactly what we want him to since he's been off ECMO: not much of anyhting. He's been on paralytics to keep him still, but they'll start taking those off Friday. He's already started peeing a little, which is a very good sign since he's not on CVVH so we need his kidney's to start doing their job again. He's got several new venous and arterial accesses now, in his legs and arm. Still looks much better than those huge cannulas in his neck. He's covered in stitiches now since they took his chest tubes out too. Corin got to hold him for a few minutes yesterday while they changed his bed. He now has one that has a scale so we can monitor his weight gain. Wasn't much of a hold but all she's gotten so far, so still exciting. Now we need him to start breathing on his own, so we can wean the vent. That, getting him eating through his gut, and his kidney's working are our top priorities now. We'll keep you posted...looking forward to coming back to Providence.

January 01, 2007 at 12:15 AM EST

Happy New Year everybody! Gabe finished out 2006 much better than he entered it. He's been peeing almost at his goal rate, he's completely off the paralytic and waking up a bit now, and therefore getting angry at times, but that's okay. No more cannulas in his neck, no more chest tubes in either side, just lots of stictches on his poor little abdomen. Most exciting of all was that he got his first enteral feeds. For all you non dietetians that means into his stomach! Corin and I got to give him his first feed tonight around 6:00. Only 5cc's (1/6th of an ounce), just enough to coat his stomach and get it used to food. he tolerated it beautifully. No puking, and he digested it all. Now he's getting that much every 3 hours. Hopefully it'll be increased to start providing an adequate amount of calories and we can get him off the TPN (IV nutrition). But right now, while he's still a little fluid overloaded, they have to restrict the amount they give him. (Can you tell this is what I do for a living?) Thats about all the news for now, and pretty much all good! Here's hoping for a much better 2007 for Gabe, his parents, and all of you who have been giving us your love and support. Nate, Corin, and Gabe

January 03, 2007 at 04:05 PM EST

Hello everyone. Last night Gabe was "upgraded" to his own private room and out of the ECMO room. Time to let other babies who needed it have the space. Gabe is doing well, holding steady, but unfortunatly not peeing as much as they had hoped he would be. Within the next day or two the surgeons want to go into his left chest and remove the clot thats putting pressure on his lung. They had done this before, while he was still on ECMO but ended up having to let the chest cavity fill back up because they couldn't stop the bleeding. The hope is this time his body will be able to clot where it needs to, creating room in the chest so that the left lung can expand. If Gabes urine output doesn't greatly increase by the time they do this surgery, they may decide to put him on Dialysis at the same time. We are really hoping this will not be necessary, but time will tell. Will update again soon. Love Nate, Corin, and Gabe

January 06, 2007 at 12:11 AM EST

Gabe is resting fairly comfortably after having another surgery yesterday. He had the clot removed from his left chest, with much less profuse bleeding afterwards this time. He also had a dialysis catheter placed for PD (peritoneal dialysis). For this, they basically use the space under the skin on his belly and they pump fluid into it, leave for a little while, then drain out. This fluid is a certain solution designed to pull off toxins and extra fluid over the membrane (wall) of his abdominal cavity. Right now, he's still very positive as far as his fluid, so he is very inflated. Over the next few days we want to make him do some exercises like moving and flexing his arms and legs to start mobilizing the fluid. Tomorrow they plan to start weaning his narcotics a little. This should make it a little easier for him to start using his own muscles and breathing on his own. We still have a long way to go, but this surgery was another big hurdle that Gabe has cleared well. Just gotta keep our heads up for the next one. Keep the prayers and love coming! Gabe says thanks! Love Gabe, Corin, & Nate

January 08, 2007 at 05:35 PM EST

One Step Back. Unfortunately, Gabe didn't respond to the PD Dialysis. Today, they placed a catheter in his femoral artery (upper leg) for CVVH, the same type of dialysis he was on while on ECMO. Only now, they can't draw the blood right off the ECMO circuit, so he gets stuck again. Poor little boy. But we know the CVVH will do its job taking off the fluid, so it's gonna get him headed in the right direction. We're really just waiting on him getting rid of all the fluid and getting a lot less puffy before he can move forward. Hopefully he'll respond fairly quickly to this. We'll keep you posted. Nate, Corin, Gabe

January 09, 2007 at 02:00 PM EST

Rough day for gabe. Yesterday when he started on CVVH there was a problem due to the fluid build-up around his good lung, which caused the heart rate, blood presssure, and O2 Sats to drop really low, to a point where his brain wasn't getting any oxygen. We won't know exactly what this means for him for a few days. Right now he's fairly stable, and about to start CVVH again, this time with a chest tube on the right side to drain the fluid. Hopefully he can tolerate it, get that fluid off in the next few days, and give it another go. Gotta keep prayin'

January 11, 2007 at 09:23 PM EST

He's still fighting. He's using every last bit of energy he has to overcome this fluid problem. After 3 unsuccesful attempts to get him on CVVH since Monday, and things were looking very grim realizing there were no more options after CVVH, Dr. Ryan decided to try using a different catheter, one that would go up closer to his heart to get better blood flow. Well, it worked. He's currently on CVVH, he went on about 12:30 this afternoon. Unfortunately, this does not mean his prognosis looks good. He still has the odds stacked against him, because even if this does get the fluid off, we don't know if his kidneys will be able to recover and what his lung function will look like. One problem at a time though. Corin and I are home now, but we're headed right back. We just called and found out he had some clotting in the machine, but hopefully not enough to force them to take him off. I guess we'll see. One day, one hour at a time. But as long as he has fight in him, we have hope!

January 12, 2007 at 09:39 PM EST

Gabriel's long struggle is finally over, only without the happy homecoming we were all praying for. Most of you have probably heard by now that Gabe is no longer with us. It happened about 2:30 Friday morning. After the clotting in the CVVH circuit started happening, the team tried to use a blood thinner (Heparin) and change the filter, where the clotting was, to prevent having to take him off. By the time we got to the hospital, hoping for a quiet night of advancing the fluid removal, we found a large group of people working on him. He had to be taken off CVVH because of the clotting, and his body reacted by not being able to oxygenate itself on the ventilator settings he had been on. The respiratory therapists were trying to get him on the more powerful Jet Vent, but even with that his SATs were only about 72-74 (we want as close to 100 as possible). At that point we both knew he had no more fight left in him. He was telling us it was time. It was the hardest decision we'll ever have to make, even though we have no doubts it was the right one. We were able to dress him in his going home outfit, take him off all of the tubes and hold him while he passed. Today was a day of thinking about what we should never have to think about at this time in our lives, funeral arrangements. We spent the day holding him and trying to remember the good times, like when he would wake up when Corin and I enetered the room and open his eyes for us. We love our little boy so very much, and know he was loved by so many if even for a short time. We will post the details of his funeral tomorrow after we figure everything out. We love you all and appreciate all the support, god knows we are going to need it. We miss you Gabey. I hope you are as proud of us as we are of you. Love Mommy & Daddy

January 14, 2007 at 04:34 PM EST

Final arrangements for Gabriel have been made, we would appreciate the support of anyone who could make it. There will be a mass for him on Tuesday, January 16th at 1:00pm at St. Joseph's Catholic Church on Rt. 138 in Hope Valley, RI (Off Exit 3B on 95, follow 138 striaght through 1 stoplight, church is on the right just past the Little League Fields). Gabe will be laid to rest following the ceremony at St. Joseph's Cemetary on Rt. 3 in Exeter, RI (procession to follow after mass). There will also be an obituary in the Monday edition of the Providence Journal. We want to thank everyone who has followed Gabe's journey, offered prayers, love, and kind words, and given support in so may other ways. A very special thanks to the staff at Kent, Women & Infants, and Mass General Hospitals who cared for Gabe and gave him every opportunity to make it through his ordeal. It wasn't for lack of trying on his or our part. He will be with us always, as will the spirit of love and sympathy we have felt so strongly over the past 2 months.