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.