LA or Bust!

This week we took Luke to see a new doctor. Ironically, when Luke first got hurt my aunt had found this doctor on the internet, he was at the University of Pittsburgh at the time. He has a grant to induce brain injured kids into a state of hypothermia when they are first hurt to minimize damage. I had sent him Luke's scans, but never heard back from him. My guess is Luke was too severe and unstable at the time. Anyway, so a few months ago I am reading the newspaper and there is an article on the new head of Neuro Sciences at PCH, Dr. Adelson. So, I figure well we have nothing to lose so I call and get Luke an appointment with him. The night before our appt, there was a story on the news about him, so I definitely felt we were being led to see this guy. He is a GREAT doctor...FINALLY a positive doctor that we can deal with! He has done a lot of research in plasticity of the brain, and says the brain is "most plastic" between the ages of 5-10 and then the plasticity, or the brain's ability to make new connections and new pathways, goes down gradually throughout life. So he basically said, we are at the perfect time in Luke's life for him to continue to recover and make progress. Praise God for that! He said just intensity, intensity, and repetition repetition. He said the intense therapy in California will be a great thing, and even wanted me to email him the link of the place. I did ask him about stem cell therapy. He said it is something he is very interested in, along with hyperbaric oxygen therapy for pediatric brain injury. So, it sounds like we are for sure on the right track in the things we are doing for Luke. He was a very personable doctor who told me to call or email with any questions, and definitely wants us to follow up with him so he can follow Luke's progress. He is going to schedule Luke for a neuro-psych exam. This is an all day battery of tests that will tell us where he is with his attention span, cognitive level, behavior, etc. So we will be doing that, along with Luke's yearly MRI when we return from the therapy. I have to say, after talking to this doctor, I am excited about what the future holds for Luke. I am grateful for a doctor that is not a Dr. Doom!

We leave tomorrow for California. Please pray for safe travels and for Luke...for stamina, motivation to do what they will be pushing him to do, and for success with the therapy. He has already shown us the Gladiator he is, so I am expecting great things. I found this quote on another site, and thought it says it perfectly, "Impossible happens everyday; when you choose to hope, anything is possible" by Christopher Reeve. Thanks so much for your prayers and for following Luke's journey!

Thank you!

A HUGE Thank you to all of the military folks, whether retired, or current, and also to the family of any that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our great country! May God Bless you all for what you do each and every day for the freedom so many of us tend to take for granted!!

Luke has had a great week! Mike returned Saturday night after being gone to New Zealand for 12 days, and boy was Luke happy to see dad again! He has wanted nothing to do with mom for the last few days. Thanks to my sis, aunts Kelli and Kim, and cousin Ryan for helping out with Luke while Mike was gone. I appreciate it!

This time next week we will be in LA for Luke's therapy. I am getting excited for him to go, although a bit nervous as it is going to be hard work for him. We surely will need lots of prayers for strength, perseverance, and lots of stamina for Luke. Luke's OT continues to be very impressed with good old lefty. This week Luke's PT suggested we have him start trying to walk up and down the stairs to the basement to help build up the strength in his legs.

Short update this week....hope you are all having a great Memorial Day weekend!

Houdini...

There's a song with the verse, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it all!" That is certainly the case with Luke, we are getting the recovery, rebooting, whatever you want to call it slowly but surely! Luke's PT has been working with him on getting out of the wheelchair. Well Luke loves to do it himself! It is sort of a graceful slide out, but we will take it! Now, when he is sick of being in there, he just slides out himself. He continues to be houdini in his standing lite gait. The thing has 7 buckles you have to undo to get out, and they are pretty hard to press....well today Luke undid 6!! He also will now grab the control and move himself up and down. Again...be careful what you wish for. I used to be able to get some cleaning or laundry done, while he was standing, now I feel like I can't leave the room because he might unbuckle himself. Somehow today, when I came in he had pushed himself back about 2 feet, not sure if he walked back or not, it happened so fast!

I am super excited to be heading to LA in two weeks now for his intense therapy. Another boy, whom I have mentioned many times, is there right now, and his mom loves it! Be sure to check out his site and say a prayer for him: http://www.prayforsantana.org/. If anyone has any ideas of things we should do or see while in LA, please let me know. If this 107 degree weather keeps up, I ceratinly will not miss it here, although we are flying home on the weekends.

Thanks your your prayers...be careful what you wish for...you might just get it all!

Great days!

Mother's Day 2009-My Children are my greatest blessings!

Luke in his lite gait...this week he learned to undo all of the buckles himself!

Swimming in the pool...look at that kick!

We had a great Mother's Day weekend...hope you all did too. Thanks to my Aunt Kim and her great time share connections, we were able to spend 2 weekends at a resort poolside. Luke loved being in the pool and did great kicking! Now, we are gearing up for Luke's intense therapy session coming up in only 3 short weeks in LA. We would sure appreciate all your prayers for this trip and the great results we are hoping to get from it! Here's the cute Luke story of the week...Lynsey goes to Luke's church class with him as his "helper." Yesterday when we got back in the car, she told us that during worship time Luke raised both his hands in the air and was trying to sing. Praise God! Even good ole' lefty was in the air! Thanks for your continued prayers!