Surgery....again.

Yes, Luke is going to surgery again. You may remember, he has his feeding tube removed on August 10th. It was the easiest, quickest procedure ever! They quite literally pull it out and you're on your way!! The lady who did it said, "95% of the time, the hole closes on its own within five days and we never see you again." Luke doesn't seem to like being average. :-) So, here we are almost 4 weeks later and the hole (think earring hole, except in the belly) isn't closed yet. We know it's not closed cause we've had some pretty bad leaking this past week.

They have surgery scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 8th. They will have to surgically stitch it closed. When I spoke to nurse over the phone (the same one who removed the feeding tube...and the same one who treated Luke in the NICU after his big intestinal surgery), she assured me Luke would be in the hospital for 2 days following the procedure even though most kids go home the same day. I asked her why he would have to stay and she said they need to observe him to make sure he is breathing on his own, etc. So, I went on to tell her that Luke just had eye surgery and did fine with the anesthesia and we were home within 2 hours. She was surprised and I think she was basing her expectation on what Luke was like in the NICU (admittedly, very unstable at times!!) I guess we'll have to wait and see, but I really think he'll handle it just fine and be home the same day. Sure am praying that way!! Wouldn't be too bad if the hole just went ahead and closed on its own. I asked her what would happen if it did and she assured me this has never happened. Basically, if it hasn't closed by now, it's not going to. Well, you know us....we're still praying it does. :) We know either way, God is in control. We appreciate every prayer you pray for us.....truly! We'll keep you posted!

Many have asked about his eyes. We're two weeks post-surgery and things seem better. Luke had his post surgery appointment 6 days ago. The doc under-corrected the left eye. He was pleased with this though because you never want to over correct. At this point, the doc sees that both optical nerves are, what he calls "pale in color". He says this is due to the brain bleed at birth. Both of Luke's pupils respond to light though, and this is a good sign that the nerves aren't too badly damaged. He also still suffers from a condition called nystagmus (jittery movement of both eyes). The eye doctor thinks this will improve in time also....and by "in time" he means years...by the time Luke is 5 yrs. old. So, we see some immediate improvements--better tracking, better eye contact, more accurate reaching for toys and faces. In other ways, we can still tell that is vision is impaired. We keep on....praying and waiting ...and praying some more!! Luke's a trooper and has the cutest little smile. He's pure joy to be around! What a blessing!