Great News about Luke and sad news about our trip across America

Luke is doing amazing things this week. I do believe after struggling with this infection in his lungs for so long, it is finally going away, praise the Lord. Luke has begun to be more vocal these past few days and much more expressive in the facial looks he is giving us. There is something different about his eyes, they are tracking so much better and when you look into them you can see that he is recognizing what he is seeing, instead of the blank look that has haunted him for so long. To say this is exciting is to put it mildly.

Today Luke took a friend with him on a dive in the HBOT. Josiah is 6 ½ years old and had a near drowning accident 4 years ago in June. He has made some great progress, especially after his HBOT sessions. Luke really seemed to enjoy having someone in the chamber with him. He kept lifting up his head to see what was going on. We began putting him on his stomach the last time we were there, because he relaxes so much more when he is on his stomach. It was awesome to see him lift his head up to look around, we’ve seen him lift his head up for a few seconds, but nothing like today where he would pick it up and keep it up for a bit of time and then put it down only to continue to do this off and on through out the entire dive time.

When Mary our nurse put him to bed tonight his heart rate was down in the low 100’s and even has dipped a little lower than that. We haven’t seen his numbers that low in a long time. He is also keeping his oxygen numbers up, which has been wonderful. Gordy came back to bed last night after hearing Luke's alarm go off, it seems he just couldn't get Lukes oxygen rate up above the 80's so he gave him some oxygen he came into bed saying that he didn’t know what was happening. I went into the room and checked his toe, where the sensor is located only to find it half on, I adjusted it and his numbers went back up to 96, we know that we should always check the sensor first, but in the middle of the night you get kind of groggy after numerous times of being woke up to alarms. I was so glad to see his oxygen rate that high during the deep sleep he was in.

Last night as I was sitting in the car waiting for Gordy to go into Lowe’s to buy some Bee killer, we have a nest of bees out in the back yard. I was a bit discouraged and very tired and the Lord ministered to my heart by saying I’m healing Luke from the inside out, you may not always be able to see what I’m doing, just don’t give up hope. I was so thankful for that word and then today when I saw Luke lift up his head over and again, I was reminded of God’s healing touch in Luke’s life.

Part of the reason I was so discouraged is because Gordy and I finally decided after much prayer and thought, not to take our trip across America that we have been looking forward to for years. We’ve decided with Luke’s fragile health situation we just wouldn’t be wise doing it at this time. To say that I was disappointed is to put it mildly. We are hoping that perhaps by next year Luke will be stable enough or perhaps by then healed completely so that we can go on with our plans. Please be praying that we will still be able to spend some awesome time with the kids this summer taking some shorter trips close to home.

God is answering your prayers about Luke’s trach whole closing up again, it seems like hardly anything is coming out of his whole, which is great news. Along with all the other things I’ve mentioned this week has been a huge turn around from the last week in the Hospital. He continues to struggle a bit taking his food into the G-port of his feeding tube, please continue to pray that he will be able to take his full bolus feedings through out the day without gagging and thowing up.

I need to sign off to get some much needed sleep, we are all getting healthy. The only ones with a bit of a cough left in the home are Lily and myself. I pray that you will have a blessed day today

Love in Christ,
Luke’s Mommy Sue