I've decided that I just don't like words that begin with the letter "P" this week

After I received a call from Luke's Pediatrician Sunday morning with the news that on top of Luke having Pneumonia, he also has Pseudomonas, I decided at that time I do not like words that begin with "P" this week. Pseudomonas is a nasty bug that grows in the lungs and can be extremely hard to get rid of, it usually requires a very strong antibiotic. I was happy to report to Luke's Pediatrician, when he called that Luke was doing better than he had been when we went to see him the previous Friday and therefore we both agreed that we wouldn't start a stronger antibiotic unless he took a turn for the worse.

Friday was one of those days that both Gordy and I were in a quandary to know what to do, you see Luke's heart rate was high and we just couldn't get it down below the 140's. I took his temperature and realized that he was running a fever. Normally we would probably just give Luke some ibuprofen and wait another day to take him into the Dr. but since it was Friday we didn't want him to get worse and have to take him into the Urgent Care or the hospital. To be honest I was shocked when I heard that Luke's x-ray came back showing that he had a new area in his lungs that looked infected, he just didn't seem like he was pneumonia sick. Usually when he has pneumonia he runs a very high fever and that day the highest it had gotten was 102. He also was not needing a huge amount of extra oxygen which is another factor in the reason why I was so surprised. 

Another reason we decided to take him in on Friday was because we had a very busy weekend planned, therefore the thought of having to take him in on any other day was just overwhelming to think about. You see I had told the kids that they could have some friends over to spend the night and I knew that though my kids would understand if we had to cancel, because that's what they've been used to in their lives, I didn't want to change those plans. Along with the fact that my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie were coming into to town Friday night for the weekend. On Saturday we planned to have a birthday party for my mom at our home, which made it into one very busy weekend filled with lots of cooking and fun stuff happening.

Other "P" words I really don't like lately are puke and poop, how's that for some bald face honesty. Luke continues to throw up at least once a day if not more often, changing his shirts and sometimes his pants to has become something that is normal for us to do lately, sometimes we change his shirt up to 4 or 5 times a day. Yep it makes a lot more laundry for sure. Luke is scheduled to go in next Tuesday morning to have a new type of feeding tube put in that will allow us to bypass his stomach, we are hoping it will be a temporary fix to help him stop throwing up until we get his pump out, which by the way will be very soon. I'm thankful that that he's doing a little better in the constipation problems he'd been having but that too is also a very real challenge for us lately. 

Another "P" word I don't like lately is pain. That is my pain, to be honest some of the muscle spasms I have in my leg because of my bad back are severe and debilitating to the point that I almost scream in pain. Thankfully those spasms are getting more infrequent all the time, in fact I'm back to walking again this week and made it close to 4 miles today, which puts me at 13 miles walked so far this week. I've come to realize that the only way I'm going to get strong again is by making myself walk and it's helping, thanks be to God. 

I'm happy to report one "P" word that I really like is progress, Luke has been needing less oxygen lately, in fact he's gone some days without needing any extra almost all day long, this is a HUGE answer to prayer that we are finally starting to wean him off the extra oxygen he's needed for so many months. Praise be to Jesus that even though he is suffering from pneumonia, pseudomonas, puking and other problems he's still progressing on getting rid of his need for all the extra oxygen. Some days finding things to be thankful for is a challenge but when I dwell on what is good in my life I find that I'm able to handle the things that are so very hard, much easier.

I hope that you all have a very good Easter and that you take the time out of your busy schedules to go to church, you won't be sorry. I hope and pray that Luke will be able to go this Sunday, what a blessing that would be for our family.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

P.S. After writing this post Luke began to alarm and didn't stop alarming all night long, it was a very long tiring night as I did everything I could think of to keep his oxygen numbers up and his heart rate number down. The biggest bummer was that Gordy had gone to bed early not feeling good, so I was unable to rely upon him to give me a break through out the night. I ended up climbing into bed this morning at 7:30 a.m. He continues to alarm today, though not as bad. Prayers would be appreciated for both Gordy and Luke, thank you.