Gideon James' Journey

Two weekends ago, we were invited to my brother-in-law's birthday at their home. All the kids were excited to go swimming because the past few weeks since mid-February had been very, very hot.  While his brothers immediately plunged in the pool, we placed James ' stroller near it and let him watch first while we finish his tube-feeding session. (His feeding bag and pump were strapped inside the backpack behind the stroller). See how excited our little boy is!

Here's James, getting used to sitting upright by himself. With the help of the ChildRite Seat , here's praying that his neck and trunk muscles would soon be strong enough to support independent sitting. 

James loves words and letters. He enjoys being read to. He likes it when he hears people singing the alphabet or speaking in rhymes. He particularly gets excited when we show him big, bold letters on flash cards. The other night, Daddy and James played with letters. Our little boy seemed to have enjoyed seeing his name spelled out on the mat.

Just want to share these. James ' story appeared in a few magazines before. The purpose of telling his story is to encourage other parents with special needs' kids to never give up praying for miracles no matter how little nor how far in between they come.

A lot of people, who find out that my son is 100% tube-fed , usually ask me to describe how we feed James . So as not to stretch your imagination too much, here's the step-by-step procedure told in photos :) 1. Prep the G-tube button

... James is also just a normal, happy kid. Daniel was goofing around with the camera a couple of weeks ago and I only recently uploaded the

The past 11 years were filled with ups and downs. But, what matters is that we still have James with us despite all the medical conditions, complications, and procedures he's been through. Here's thanking God for giving us another year of his life ... The boys in my life

Nope, James is not having his hair permed :p He had a seizure episode last August 4 when our pedia-neuro was unfortunately out of the country at the time. Fortunately, we were referred by my sister to my nephew's neuro who advised us to have James undergo an Electro Encephalogram (EEG) to check brain activity. Since it was about 3-4 years since James' last procedure, hubby and I were surprised to see that the graphs are now being done digitally whereas a few years ago, graphs were "written" on pages and pages of large pieces of continuous paper.

One of James ' favorite activities is being in the water. Here are some shots taken in my sister's family's pool in Ayala Alabang ...

After more than 21/2 years, James underwent another procedure to replace his G-tube with a Bard button . No more long tube! (Big sigh of relief).  Contents of a Bard kit  Prepped for the procedure

Finally! After bearing the discomfort of having an NGT for feeding for more than 3 years, James finally got his g-tube on June 26, 2005. The hospital costs and doctors' fees were steep but with the help of family and friends, we were able to pool enough money for James to undergo the surgery. Happy baby who's now NGT-free!

It took us (mom and dad) a month (and thousands of pesos later) of going to and from the hospital to have James' NGT (nasogastric tube) inserted in the ER before we mustered the courage to attempt learning how to insert the scary 24 inch tube into James' nose straight to his stomach.  Notice Daddy and Mommy 's MacGyverisms : -- clipping the hard round core of a roll of electrical tape to the wall so that the 60cc syringe can be hanged instead of tying up hands that are also pouring the formula during feeding

Hi everyone! This site is created to chronicle the life of Gideon James Floresca , born a preemie on September 18, 1997. He has been diagnosed with global psychomotor delay and has the spastic quadriplegic type of cerebral palsy .  Look how small James was when he was born!  He has been "eating" via a feeding tube since he was five due to failure to thrive. From an NGT (naso-gastric tube) that we used for more than 3 years, he underwent surgery in 2005 so a gastrostomy tube can be placed directly in his tummy. In March 2008, we were able to afford a Bard button which made feeding him so much easier. He's currently 100% tube-fed with complete food formula. James at 4 months old It is our hope that his story will serve to inspire and encourage even families with "normal" children. Join us in our continuous journey of hope :)