My first smile

Luke gave us his first smile yesterday! And we managed to get one on camera this morning. He's doing great. He is off his oxygen and heart monitors (which means much less dinging and a much happier mommy and daddy ... those things can start to make you crazy!) He still has a bit of fluid in his lungs, but they are trying to flush that out by upping his dose of diuretics. Hopefully in the next few days that will clear. He is still breathing a bit fast, but that is because of the extra fluid in his lungs.

Dr. Cohen, our surgeon, stopped by yesterday and again this morning and was so positive. He feels like Luke is really moving through this process well. He reminded us that this IS a process and we need to remember that Luke's physiology completely changed last week and it takes a little time for everything to balance out.

I can't tell you how much your prayers mean to Rog and me.

Tough cookie - 8 days post surgery

Luke wanted you all to see his "war wound". His incision is looking great. The small incision above his belly button is where his chest tube was. You can see he's still on a tiny amount of oxygen and a few monitors. He still also has an I.V. in his foot, although they aren't using that right now. They just like to have it just in case.

This morning's chest x-ray showed a bit more fluid than yesterday, so they have put Luke back on this formula called Portagen. It's basically a non-fat solution, all protein and carbs, which helps reduce any accumulation of fluid from the lymph system. It supposedly tastes horrible and most kids won't take it, but Luke is eating it like a champ.

Please pray that Luke doesn't need another drainage tube put back in (he would if there's not improvement after switching to the portegen). Please also pray that he would come off the oxygen in the next couple days. Rog and I are doing pretty good, we have our ups and downs, but God is so faithful to comfort us and give us strength. As great as it would be to be home, I've come to realize it doesn't really matter where I am because I'm with Luke! I'm sure he's anxious to get home and have the nurses stop bugging him! =)

Hallelujah!

God is SO good and SO faithful. We had a true miracle today. Last night, the surgeon came in to talk to us about the procedure today. He thought that after looking at the latest echocardiogram that Luke would actually need a more complicated and risky surgery, called the Norwood, instead of the D.K.S. we originally thought he would have. They are very similar, but the Norwood just is a bit more difficult to recover from. Well, Luke went in to surgery about 7:30 this morning and they give you a pager for updates. At around 10:30, we got a page that Dr. Cohen wanted to talk to us. That was an incredibly scary walk downstairs! We had no idea what he needed to talk to us about. It's so incredible ... once Dr. Cohen actually was able to see Luke's heart, he didn't think Luke needed the Norwood or the DKS, but a much simpler procedure called the pulmonary artery band. Basically, he put a gortex band around Luke's pulmonary artery, to restrict the blood flow to Luke's lungs. He said he'd be done within an hour, and Luke would now only need to be on the heart-lung bypass machine for 5 minutes. Plus the recovery time is much shorter. He thought we'd be home within a few days to a week. We are praising the Lord. There were about 8 of us last night praying in Luke's room, around his hospital crib, for a miracle and God answered.

Luke will still need his other surgeries, but this is such a good good thing. I am so thankful today for everyone who has been praying for us and loving us through this. I will keep you posted on any Luke updates. He is so amazing. Here is Luke in a nutshell: Almost as soon as they got him to the I.C.U. post-surgery, he started fighting his way out of anesthesia. They actually had to up his medication so he wouldn't wiggle so much! He is a true fighter with a strong will that we absolutely love!

Thank you again everyone. Please continue to pray for his quick recovery. They are thinking they'll be able to take the chest tube and breathing tube out tomorrow. He's already breathing again on his own, but they are regulating his breath with the breathing tube. His incision also looks really good. He will never have a boring show-and-tell, that's for sure!