I hope that you had a blessed Easter weekend. Ours was filled with family and friends, just what we treasure most. We are excited to report to you that Luke has knee caps once again, his legs were so rigid and straight for so long that his knee's actually dimpled, where they should of had a bend and rounded knee cap. As many of you know we've been praying that his legs would begin to bend once again and they have been. We've been faithfully messaging him and doing the new exercises that we were taught and they are working, along with his very expensive leg splints. You never realize just how much medical things cost until you go through the experience of needing them. We are talking over $7,000 for the splints and appts to have them fitted. Once again we are so thankful for the different gifts from people to take the financial stress off us for the cost of Luke's supplies and HBOT treatments. We are so blessed!
Luke is finally getting better after his ear infection and whatever else was bothering him last week. He had a hard week of not sleeping as well because of his oxygen rates dropping, not eating as well as he had been and just not very energetic. We had to cancel quite a few of his PT appts because he just wasn't up to going. I'm so thankful that we have been taught exercises and things to be doing at home with him. We are always asked if we want more activities for Luke or whether he is getting enough stimulation at home. We always just chuckle a bit as we answer yes to these questions and no we don't need anymore services in our home.
We decided to start cutting some of our nursing hours, this was not an easy thing to do, but we are feeling like we need to start since we will lose them after his trach is out. We've decided to go down to 3 nights this week and cut one day, going down to 4 days a week. We told them up front in the hospital and at the nursing agency our goal is to do Luke's full care, after seeing how much help these nurses have been we realized that for a season our nurses have been a huge blessing. Now that Luke sleeps through most nights and his alarms are not going off all the time it is much easier to do his care at night. Please be praying that God will continue to bless him with good sleep and help me with my scheduling during the day to get all this appts and therapies into my schedule. We did finally get back to scheduling our older girls with there school work and this has been helping them and me immensely to get so much more accomplished each day.
Continue to pray that Luke will be able to tolerate the capping process of his trach without much stress or undue coughing. He had been doing awesome, as we reported on not having so much secretions for quite awhile and then this past week when he got sick he had not only major amounts of secretions, but also some blood coming out of his trach. It made me feel so helpless as I watched us take another step back and I'm praying that this week we will make huge strides in this area of Luke's healing process. I'm continually reminding myself to stay thankful for the progress that Luke has made and not to wish that he is farther along in his healing. The scripture from Habakkuk 2:2 & 3 that I've quoted daily for months has and continues to be my greatest comfort as I feel that God has given me this scripture to cling onto tightly.
As Gordy and I were praying today before he left for work, as we do each day, for God's protection and that we will be used of Him. I was praying and you know what I realized? Have you ever heard of the prayer of Jabez? For a while a book by Bruce Wilkinson called the prayer of Jabez was real popular, and I happened to read it, the prayer of Jabez is from the Bible:
I Chronicles 4:10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying. "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested.
Anyway I began to pray this prayer for the Lord to enlarge my territories and to bless me indeed and I realized this morning that is just what the Lord has done. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would reach people around the world with a testimony of how God has blessed me indeed by bringing my son back to life and as He continues the miracle of daily healing his brain to work again. God is faithful and He will hear us as we prayer and He will answer our prayers as so many of you have seen in our journey through this healing process. As you know God doesn't love me more than you and if you have a prayer request just ask Him today, He will listen and answer your prayers. God Bless you today!
Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue
Monday, March 28, 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Thank You for Praying
We took Luke to the Dr and discovered that he had an ear infection and this was the source of the fever. He has been on antibiotics for a couple days and is feeling much better.
Yesterday we received a cap to begin the process of capping his trach. If Luke can tolerate capping for 24 hours that will be a good indication that he should be able to have his trach removed. It is not a guarantee, he still will need to have the bronchoscopy (sp?) go well. So far so good, he seems to tolerate it just fine. We didnt leave it on too long today with Luke still recovering from being sick.
Yesterday I called home on the drive home from work and Sue was feeding Luke a variety of flavors and she began laughing. I asked her what was so funny and she said they had given Luke a taste of lemon and the face he was making was very funny. Then they gave him some chocolate and he really liked that. No big surprise there, his Mom loves chocolate, so it has to be in his genes.
With Easter just around the corner, I hope you and your family experience the joy and peace that comes from knowing the risen savior. He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! Happy Easter from the Searles family.
Yesterday we received a cap to begin the process of capping his trach. If Luke can tolerate capping for 24 hours that will be a good indication that he should be able to have his trach removed. It is not a guarantee, he still will need to have the bronchoscopy (sp?) go well. So far so good, he seems to tolerate it just fine. We didnt leave it on too long today with Luke still recovering from being sick.
Yesterday I called home on the drive home from work and Sue was feeding Luke a variety of flavors and she began laughing. I asked her what was so funny and she said they had given Luke a taste of lemon and the face he was making was very funny. Then they gave him some chocolate and he really liked that. No big surprise there, his Mom loves chocolate, so it has to be in his genes.
With Easter just around the corner, I hope you and your family experience the joy and peace that comes from knowing the risen savior. He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! Happy Easter from the Searles family.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
A busy week and a long night
Well, it has been a long night. Luke is running a fever and this causes his heart and breathing to be elevated. Sue stayed up with Luke for quite a while and now it is my turn.
Many of you are probably wondering how the Neurologist appoinment went. Well, it went okay, the Dr wants to do a 24 hour EEG to make sure Luke doesnt have any seizures before taking him off of the anti-seizure medicine. While this is not what we were hoping for, the good news is the last EEG showed no seizures. It did have a lot of activity on it that was not normal, but it didnt show any seizures. Unfortunately, we wont be able to take Luke off the medicine for a few more months, due to how long it takes to schedule the 24 hour EEG and then wait for the follow up Dr visit.
Needless to say, we were a bit disappointed after the Dr visit and so we decided to take a break from it all and go to the ocean for the afternoon. Daniel's friend Josh was visiting and he had never seen any ocean. It was cool to see Josh's face light up with excitement as he saw the Pacific ocean for the first time. We had a great time and even raced go karts.
The rest of the week has been busy with the usual PT, HBOT, work, taking care of a busy house, etc. Life flies by at 100 miles per hour and when I dont believe it, all I have to do is look at little Lilly. She is not quite so little any longer, in fact she turns 3 months today.
I have two different friends that could use your prayer. I wont go into any details, as I havent asked either one if I could share. I know if you just pray for Gordy's friends, God will know what you mean. In fact He knows better then anyone what they need. Who knows, maybe you will get blessed as you pray for Gordy's friends, because you are one of my friends :)
As always, God bless you and your family.
Many of you are probably wondering how the Neurologist appoinment went. Well, it went okay, the Dr wants to do a 24 hour EEG to make sure Luke doesnt have any seizures before taking him off of the anti-seizure medicine. While this is not what we were hoping for, the good news is the last EEG showed no seizures. It did have a lot of activity on it that was not normal, but it didnt show any seizures. Unfortunately, we wont be able to take Luke off the medicine for a few more months, due to how long it takes to schedule the 24 hour EEG and then wait for the follow up Dr visit.
Needless to say, we were a bit disappointed after the Dr visit and so we decided to take a break from it all and go to the ocean for the afternoon. Daniel's friend Josh was visiting and he had never seen any ocean. It was cool to see Josh's face light up with excitement as he saw the Pacific ocean for the first time. We had a great time and even raced go karts.
The rest of the week has been busy with the usual PT, HBOT, work, taking care of a busy house, etc. Life flies by at 100 miles per hour and when I dont believe it, all I have to do is look at little Lilly. She is not quite so little any longer, in fact she turns 3 months today.
I have two different friends that could use your prayer. I wont go into any details, as I havent asked either one if I could share. I know if you just pray for Gordy's friends, God will know what you mean. In fact He knows better then anyone what they need. Who knows, maybe you will get blessed as you pray for Gordy's friends, because you are one of my friends :)
As always, God bless you and your family.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
A great and busy week to report about
Where do I begin to tell you all the good news of the week. As you know Luke turned 2 on Thursday and had a great day. I took him to the YMCA to see his brothers swim and just spend some fun time with him. He had a great time listening to the kids in there. He loves to be around people and just listen to all the activity going on around him.
As usual it was a busy week, filled with therapies, Dr. appointments and all the other tasks to do for a big family. Tuesday we had a PT appt. that went great Luke is already to a #3 bend on his leg splints, this has surprised both us and his PT we never dreamed he be progressing as fast as he is although a part of me expected it because I told our PT that people all over the world are praying for Luke to bend his knees.
After our PT appt. we went to our Pulmonologist appt. I knew when we went in that Luke had a cough that he needed to get out, this happens rarely, of course it had to happen while we were there. At first when the Dr. listened to his lungs while covering his trach he seemed congested and labored breathing, the second the Dr. took his finger off the trach he let out a big cough. I suctioned him and the Dr. listened once again and said that he sounded much better and was more comfortable having his trach covered. We left there with great hope that we will be getting his trach out next month if all goes well with the capping process, he said we could start covering his trach, as soon as we get the cap. If the bronchial scope looks good and he does okay when they take out his trach then he will leave the Hospital the next day without his trach. Please be praying that he will be able to wear his cap all the time and that the bronchial scope will be in God's perfect timing.
It's interesting that after our appointment I was feeling kind of mixed, because Gordy asked what would happen if he did not do okay during the bronchial scope and the Dr. said that we would have to wait another 6 months to try again, unless there was very visible changes in Luke's neurological status. I began to doubt that all would go smoothly and began to borrow trouble as I worried about what would happen to our trip, etc. etc. When I got home I picked up a little devotional book I read every day and wouldn't you know it the scripture for the day was from Hebrews 11, which happens to be the faith chapter of the Bible. In verse 35 it says Women received their dead raised to life again., this was one of the many verses given to me the day after Luke's accident to give me hope for a future for Luke. Just as I cried out to the Lord the right after Luke drowned and was said to be dead, I began to cry out to the Lord to raise him from the dead just as he raised Lazareth in the Bible from the dead. I know that the policeman that was watching me thought that I was going crazy, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God could do it for me as he had done for Lazareth, because I know that God's Word says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Therefore what He's done in the past can happen again. It was shortly after that that we got the call from Gordy saying that he had come back to life. So I guess I say this to say I knew in my heart that God was giving me a peace to know that He is continuing His healing process, because I have the faith to believe in Him and know that He will finish what was began on that wonderful day that He brought Luke back to life.
Wednesday, was also a great day as we went to have an adjustment done on Luke's leg splints and the man doing the adjustment said that he was amazed at his progress, he never thought Luke would be where he is by now. God is showing himself to be mighty to all that are involved in Luke's care and healing process. We went from there to the Gastronologist, he said that Luke is doing great and looks great and we don't have to go back for another visit for 6 months.
On Friday afternoon I received a call from Luke's pediatrician, he said that he had got the results from a blood panel that Luke had drawn on Tuesday. He said that all of it looks great and that the only thing it showed that we need to adjust is his seizure medicine. I asked him if he had received the results from his EEG and he said that he would look it up. Needless to say he told me that it shows some irregularities, but he did not see any definite seizure activity, I asked him if we could stop his seizure medicine because we have never seen a seizure since the Hospital and I'm tired of assuming he is going to have seizures and he said that would be fine if our Neurologist agree's on Monday. Our last big appointment is on Monday morning early when we will be meeting with his Neurologist for the first time since the Hospital. I'm giving this appt. to the Lord, because to be honest I could be very nervous about it, I'm crying out to the Lord once again that He will allow Luke to be taken off his seizure medicine since it inhibits good brain activity. We are also going to be getting an evaluation at the Speech therapist on Wednesday morning I'm praying that this will go good and that she will help us figure out some ways to really begin to be able to communicate with Luke. He is already letting us know when he is not feeling well, hurt and at time happy, which is great progress.
Well if you've gotten this far in the blog you truly are a faithful friend, because this blog has gone on forever. Sorry there's just so much to report to you. I've already requested specific prayer requests in the blog, therefore I'm going to close this off and get to bed before midnight. Have a blessed Sunday and I pray that you will feel God in a special way in your life today!
Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue
As usual it was a busy week, filled with therapies, Dr. appointments and all the other tasks to do for a big family. Tuesday we had a PT appt. that went great Luke is already to a #3 bend on his leg splints, this has surprised both us and his PT we never dreamed he be progressing as fast as he is although a part of me expected it because I told our PT that people all over the world are praying for Luke to bend his knees.
After our PT appt. we went to our Pulmonologist appt. I knew when we went in that Luke had a cough that he needed to get out, this happens rarely, of course it had to happen while we were there. At first when the Dr. listened to his lungs while covering his trach he seemed congested and labored breathing, the second the Dr. took his finger off the trach he let out a big cough. I suctioned him and the Dr. listened once again and said that he sounded much better and was more comfortable having his trach covered. We left there with great hope that we will be getting his trach out next month if all goes well with the capping process, he said we could start covering his trach, as soon as we get the cap. If the bronchial scope looks good and he does okay when they take out his trach then he will leave the Hospital the next day without his trach. Please be praying that he will be able to wear his cap all the time and that the bronchial scope will be in God's perfect timing.
It's interesting that after our appointment I was feeling kind of mixed, because Gordy asked what would happen if he did not do okay during the bronchial scope and the Dr. said that we would have to wait another 6 months to try again, unless there was very visible changes in Luke's neurological status. I began to doubt that all would go smoothly and began to borrow trouble as I worried about what would happen to our trip, etc. etc. When I got home I picked up a little devotional book I read every day and wouldn't you know it the scripture for the day was from Hebrews 11, which happens to be the faith chapter of the Bible. In verse 35 it says Women received their dead raised to life again., this was one of the many verses given to me the day after Luke's accident to give me hope for a future for Luke. Just as I cried out to the Lord the right after Luke drowned and was said to be dead, I began to cry out to the Lord to raise him from the dead just as he raised Lazareth in the Bible from the dead. I know that the policeman that was watching me thought that I was going crazy, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God could do it for me as he had done for Lazareth, because I know that God's Word says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Therefore what He's done in the past can happen again. It was shortly after that that we got the call from Gordy saying that he had come back to life. So I guess I say this to say I knew in my heart that God was giving me a peace to know that He is continuing His healing process, because I have the faith to believe in Him and know that He will finish what was began on that wonderful day that He brought Luke back to life.
Wednesday, was also a great day as we went to have an adjustment done on Luke's leg splints and the man doing the adjustment said that he was amazed at his progress, he never thought Luke would be where he is by now. God is showing himself to be mighty to all that are involved in Luke's care and healing process. We went from there to the Gastronologist, he said that Luke is doing great and looks great and we don't have to go back for another visit for 6 months.
On Friday afternoon I received a call from Luke's pediatrician, he said that he had got the results from a blood panel that Luke had drawn on Tuesday. He said that all of it looks great and that the only thing it showed that we need to adjust is his seizure medicine. I asked him if he had received the results from his EEG and he said that he would look it up. Needless to say he told me that it shows some irregularities, but he did not see any definite seizure activity, I asked him if we could stop his seizure medicine because we have never seen a seizure since the Hospital and I'm tired of assuming he is going to have seizures and he said that would be fine if our Neurologist agree's on Monday. Our last big appointment is on Monday morning early when we will be meeting with his Neurologist for the first time since the Hospital. I'm giving this appt. to the Lord, because to be honest I could be very nervous about it, I'm crying out to the Lord once again that He will allow Luke to be taken off his seizure medicine since it inhibits good brain activity. We are also going to be getting an evaluation at the Speech therapist on Wednesday morning I'm praying that this will go good and that she will help us figure out some ways to really begin to be able to communicate with Luke. He is already letting us know when he is not feeling well, hurt and at time happy, which is great progress.
Well if you've gotten this far in the blog you truly are a faithful friend, because this blog has gone on forever. Sorry there's just so much to report to you. I've already requested specific prayer requests in the blog, therefore I'm going to close this off and get to bed before midnight. Have a blessed Sunday and I pray that you will feel God in a special way in your life today!
Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Happy Birthday Luke!!!!
There is great joy in the Searles’ house today as we celebrate Luke’s 2nd birthday. I want to take a moment to Thank God for Luke’s life.
“Thank You Lord for giving us Luke 2 years ago today. Thank You Lord for the blessing that Luke has been to our family. And Thank You Lord for giving Luke back to us as you raised him from the dead. May Luke know You and follow after You with all his heart, soul and being. Lord, blessed be Your Holy Name! Amen.”
Thank You for praying for Luke. I continue to be amazed at how many people are praying for Luke and our family on a regular basis. May God bless you with great joy as you follow Him. Blessings from the Searles’ family.
There is great joy in the Searles’ house today as we celebrate Luke’s 2nd birthday. I want to take a moment to Thank God for Luke’s life.
“Thank You Lord for giving us Luke 2 years ago today. Thank You Lord for the blessing that Luke has been to our family. And Thank You Lord for giving Luke back to us as you raised him from the dead. May Luke know You and follow after You with all his heart, soul and being. Lord, blessed be Your Holy Name! Amen.”
Thank You for praying for Luke. I continue to be amazed at how many people are praying for Luke and our family on a regular basis. May God bless you with great joy as you follow Him. Blessings from the Searles’ family.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
We're happy to celebrate Luke's 2nd Birthday this week!
This week has once again been a week of real highs and lows for me. We hit the 6 month anniversary mark since the accident and it was kind of rough for me as I once again thought about how much I miss my little precious Lukie that used to run around and keep us all so busy. I'm so thankful for the Lord sparing his life and at times I feel bad wishing He would do more for us quicker. I have sooo much to be thankful because I know that God is moving in Luke's life and in others as they have shared with us how they grown closer to God in praying for Luke.
We have some good news to report. We met with a Christian neuro developmentalist on Saturday and we're greatly encouraged by her evaluation of Luke. She said that given what Luke has been through he is doing great. She told us that his brain is working better than we think. She saw him respond to a request almost immediately after asking him to look me in the eyes she said that it was very fast, that quite often in brain injuries there is a delay in following directions and that she didn't see this in him. She set us up with an intense program to help Luke with quite a few area's in his development. She said that it would be good to find someone that likes to organize things put together a schedule of people that would like to help us with the different things that we need to do each day to help Luke get better. Over the past months I've had people ask me what they could do to help, well happily I can finally say that we will take any help you can commit to. The only thing that we ask is that you try to make a firm commitment to the time you want to help so that we can all use our time wisely. There are things that we can be doing with Luke that will sometimes take up to 5 people at a time to help with. It felt so good to hear her say that she thought that Gordy and I have done everything right in helping Luke get better. We give all the praise to God for His wisdom in directing our steps in helping Him with Luke's healing.
Luke has had a great week. He got to go to one of his favorite places, Miss Yoli's home on Friday. It was the first time that he has gone to someone's home without me since the accident. He had a great time as did Yoli and her kids. We also took him to the park on Sunday after church. He seemed so alert to all the noises and things going on around him and had such a pleasant face.
This next week will be another busy week of appointments. On Tuesday he has his pulmonologist appointment, we are praying that his lungs will be clear and that his Dr. will say we can schedule his bronchial scope to see if his lungs are okay to have his trach removed. He also has a PT appt that day. Then on Wednesday he has an appt. to get his leg braces adjusted a little. He has been doing great with them he is already at the second notch at keeping a little bend in his knee, you see, you all pray and God answers, isn't He so awesome! After that appt. we have an appt. with the gastronologist, I'm hoping that we can even begin to put more of his food into his G-tube which is his stomach, he has been doing so well at taking his food this past week. No appointments on Thursday since it is his Birthday. Then one more appt. on Friday with the PT. On Saturday we are planning his Birthday party. I get so emotional thinking about how thankful I am to God that we are celebrating his 2nd Birthday. God is so good!
We were once again blessed this week by receiving a package from Australia, thank you to the Gannaway family, they have been praying for Luke along with all of you since they first heard about him. The most wonderful thing in the box was a special pillow case they made with scriptures that we've shared on the blog with you all that have meant so much to us. I cried with joy as I looked at the pillow case, we are so blessed, to have all of you join us in praying for Luke. As the Bible says, The prayers of a righteous man or woman availeth much, we are definitely seeing the answers to your prayers so please don't stop going before our Heavenly Father with your petitions for Luke. Thank you for continuing to pray, may God richly bless you today!
Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue
We have some good news to report. We met with a Christian neuro developmentalist on Saturday and we're greatly encouraged by her evaluation of Luke. She said that given what Luke has been through he is doing great. She told us that his brain is working better than we think. She saw him respond to a request almost immediately after asking him to look me in the eyes she said that it was very fast, that quite often in brain injuries there is a delay in following directions and that she didn't see this in him. She set us up with an intense program to help Luke with quite a few area's in his development. She said that it would be good to find someone that likes to organize things put together a schedule of people that would like to help us with the different things that we need to do each day to help Luke get better. Over the past months I've had people ask me what they could do to help, well happily I can finally say that we will take any help you can commit to. The only thing that we ask is that you try to make a firm commitment to the time you want to help so that we can all use our time wisely. There are things that we can be doing with Luke that will sometimes take up to 5 people at a time to help with. It felt so good to hear her say that she thought that Gordy and I have done everything right in helping Luke get better. We give all the praise to God for His wisdom in directing our steps in helping Him with Luke's healing.
Luke has had a great week. He got to go to one of his favorite places, Miss Yoli's home on Friday. It was the first time that he has gone to someone's home without me since the accident. He had a great time as did Yoli and her kids. We also took him to the park on Sunday after church. He seemed so alert to all the noises and things going on around him and had such a pleasant face.
This next week will be another busy week of appointments. On Tuesday he has his pulmonologist appointment, we are praying that his lungs will be clear and that his Dr. will say we can schedule his bronchial scope to see if his lungs are okay to have his trach removed. He also has a PT appt that day. Then on Wednesday he has an appt. to get his leg braces adjusted a little. He has been doing great with them he is already at the second notch at keeping a little bend in his knee, you see, you all pray and God answers, isn't He so awesome! After that appt. we have an appt. with the gastronologist, I'm hoping that we can even begin to put more of his food into his G-tube which is his stomach, he has been doing so well at taking his food this past week. No appointments on Thursday since it is his Birthday. Then one more appt. on Friday with the PT. On Saturday we are planning his Birthday party. I get so emotional thinking about how thankful I am to God that we are celebrating his 2nd Birthday. God is so good!
We were once again blessed this week by receiving a package from Australia, thank you to the Gannaway family, they have been praying for Luke along with all of you since they first heard about him. The most wonderful thing in the box was a special pillow case they made with scriptures that we've shared on the blog with you all that have meant so much to us. I cried with joy as I looked at the pillow case, we are so blessed, to have all of you join us in praying for Luke. As the Bible says, The prayers of a righteous man or woman availeth much, we are definitely seeing the answers to your prayers so please don't stop going before our Heavenly Father with your petitions for Luke. Thank you for continuing to pray, may God richly bless you today!
Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue
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