Why or why am I so amazed when God blows my mind away with answers to our prayers??? Luke's surgery far exceeded the surgeons expectations!!!

This is Luke right after his surgery, he looked great all day long

Have you ever said, "All we can do is pray" and then once we pray we are amazed that God heard our prayers and answered those same prayers we prayed. As I mentioned in previous blog posts I was really struggling with this surgery for Luke, knowing that this surgery could mean disaster for Luke's legs, really it boiled down to the fear of the unknown. Just knowing that he's been doing so good lately and not wanting to perhaps mess up his good respiratory system with a surgery was scary.

This was the mural right outside Luke's room we were blessed to be put in the new wing of the med/surg floor

The day before Luke's surgery I received a e-mail from a very dear friend that told me that if I didn't have absolute peace about Luke's surgery I should cancel it. What wise words that was, as I have told myself and my children those same words numerous times. The day before his surgery was a crazy busy day with some running I needed to get done and with my dad in the hospital, to say I was stressed would be a understatement.

Here is part of my beautiful rainbow

.God is so good. He knew that I needed to have a peace in my heart to proceed with the surgery and in His amazing way He blessed me with a rainbow. You see after taking my mom, Gordy and Josh to visit with my dad in the hospital I took a little walk around the hospital and wouldn't you know it there was the most amazing rainbow in the sky. I felt in my spirit God telling me Sue when you see that rainbow what do you think of?, of course I had to say that a rainbow is a reminder of God's promise to His people to never flood the earth again. Well that rainbow that evening was God's reminder that He has promised me certain things about Luke, most importantly that I am to constantly lay Luke in God's Loving Arms and I am to trust that God loves my Lukerman more than I can even comprehend, even more than I love him and I can't imagine anyone loving Luke or any of my children more than I love them. That rainbow was God's way of putting a peace in my heart and spirit that everything was going to be okay with Luke's surgery. I had a great time of prayer and praising God during that walk and I went forward with that night knowing that everything was going to be fine with Luke

This the picture that the surgeon was so excited over, see the 90 degree bend in his legs

God once again answered our prayers!! The surgeon came into give us a report on how the surgery went and she was blown away at how well the surgery went, she was so excited to say that the mechanics of Luke's legs worked great, that his femur was not as bad as the shown on the CT scan, that she was able to get a 90 degree bend in both legs, that the knee caps were able to be moved back to the place that they are supposed to be. She said numerous times that she was surprised and pleased with how everything worked. I told her that I too was pleased with the report and that I was not as surprised as she was because I have a strong faith in God and that many people were praying and I believe that God answered our prayers, PRAISE BE TO GOD!!

This was Luke the next morning, not quite so bright eyed but still looking good

 Luke did amazing throughout the surgery and once he woke up he was alert and did great the entire day of the surgery, that night started out good but got a little rough early in the next morning, his heart rate was high and I knew that meant he either was running a temp or he was in pain, sure enough he had a temp. We kept the Ibuprofen and the tylenol going and they watched the fever closely because they said that if it got above 102 again he might have to spend another night, but thank goodness the fever did not return and we were going home from the hospital by 4 the day after surgery. They orginally told me it would be about 3 day stay and it turned into one night:-)

Here's Luke with his full leg cast that goes all the way up to the top of his legs

Since Luke has come home from the hospital he has been doing good, the first few days his feet were very swollen, but the sweeling has gone down, he's still having some low grade fevers until today it got up to 101.8 they said to take him in if it gets above 102. We are  praying that it will continue to go down. He will get his casts off on June 25th, we hope and pray that once they are off he will continue to keep that 90 degree bend they got during the surgery. The goal over the next few months is to be very aggressive with Physical therapy and Hyperbaric dives.

Father's day lunch with the family, we are so blessed to have such a great Dad

Today is Father's day and we had planned to go out to lunch with my dad, but Luke came down with a fever right before we were to go, thankfully Jonathan Luke's wonderful caregiver was available to watch him while we went. We would appreciate your prayers so that Luke's temperature will go away and stay away, thank you.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS Here's a bonus picture of the kids swimming in our pool, we've been filling up very slowly this year with hot water, hoping it will stay warm this year.

Luke goes in this morning for his 8th surgery, this time it will be on his knee's the goal is for them to bend again.

Today will be Luke's 8th surgery and to be honest it's one of the hardest surgeries I've faced in a very long time. After years and years of hoping and praying that Luke's legs would bend again, he is finally going to have surgery on his knee's to help them bend. The decision to proceed with this surgery has been agonizing at times because you see there is no guarantee that Luke's legs will stay bent or that they will ever go straight again. The Dr. will be cutting him open from the mid thigh down past the knee, cutting tendons in the thigh to release the muscles, moving back the knee caps to the top of the legs and re-shaping his femur in hopes that it will curve again instead of being flat. It's a pretty painful surgery and just the thought of putting Luke through more pain has been incomprehensible to me, causing tears to come to my eyes every time I think about it.

Luke has been going into the hyperbaric chamber at least once a week lately, it's helped with healing his back incision from his last surgery and it's also helped with him being more alert and he's been healthy the last few weeks. We plan to get him back in as soon as possible after his knee surgery to help with healing of his incisions.

The main reason we've decided to do this surgery is because the taller Luke gets the more challenging it is for us to carry him, to put him into his car seat, to find a wheelchair that will fit him and the list goes on and on. I'm just thankful that we found a surgeon that was willing to do this surgery, for many years the only option we were given was having his knee's redone to the point that there would be no way for him to ever walk again and I just can't do that to Luke. I realize that so many people think I'm crazy for thinking that Luke could actually walk again after being the way he's been for so many years, but I can't give up hope that God can do a miracle. I'm not in denial, I realize that without a miracle touch from Jesus there is no way that Luke will be able to walk, talk or do anything physical ever again, but I will not give up hope in a miracle as long as I can pray.

Please pray for things to go smoothly during his 3 hour surgery, for the surgeon to make wise choices as she does the surgery, for Luke to have no pain, for Luke's incisions to heal, one of the dangers of this surgery is that his legs will not heal properly since his legs have not bent for such a long time, for him to come out of the anesthesia okay, for his lungs to stay healthy, for no pneumonia, for a short hospital stay, for strength for Gordy and I to endure another surgery . . .

Thank you once again for your prayers,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS Would you also say a prayer for my dad (Ray) he was hospitalized Monday night for some problems he's been having lately. Thankfully he's doing a lot better and we are hoping he'll be able to go home tomorrow.