Luke has completed Chemo and is REMISSION!

Thankful for God's Grace and Mercy! We're moving back to http://whatsupwithtobiandjoyce.blogspot.com/

Trip to Philly - October 2011

We had an opportunity to take a quick trip to Philadelphia. We had a wonderful time, and also had an opportunity to spend time in the Nation's capitol.

Here's Luke outside our house in Philadelphia. This is a special picture, seeing as how his Daddy sat on this very bench about 30+ years ago.

October, 2011 - Physical Therapy?

And the hits keep on coming...
Some of the medications Luke is taking causes foot drop or foot numbness, so we were recommended to visit a physical therapist. Overall, Luke is ok. They did see some weakness in his legs, and may consider futher sessions. For now, however, we will be exercising with Luke to make sure we do our part in helping him in this way. We pray, and ask that you pray, that his legs, feet, ankles, and overall balance is strong and good. He has low arches, so he has an arch support now, and they did mention ankle braces, but we will not know if that is necessary just yet. Those ankle braces are meant to stabilize his ankles so he is more comfortable running around.

Here's a precious boy ready for some therapy.

Here, the therapist is checking out Luke's range of motion, etc.

I guess we never thought much about it, but they expect him to walk up and down stairs like most grownups do...one foot on one step, other foot on next step, etc. What he had been doing is get both feet on one step, then the next, etc.

They timed Luke's running and looked at how he ran. They thought he ran well. He ran straight ahead, full-speed, stop-and-go, stop-pickup-go, etc. We need to do more of that with him.

They asked Luke to tumble forward.

After all of this, the therapist asked "is this normal for him". My response "um...he doesn't usually do any of these things". It was enlightening in that we do have several exercises we can do with him, and we could probably benefit from the exercise too :)

Almost his Halloween Costume

OK... so we are starting to understand the phases Luke goes through and how unpredictable these phases are. We're talking about what he's into. Today, he is into Ben 10 and Transformers. 3 weeks ago, he couldn't get enough of superheros... and before that, he was loving the X-men.

Here's Luke as Woverine... I thought this was the coolest costume I have seen. What he is going to be is cute (it's not going to be Wolverine).

July 2011 - Back to School, Back to the Hospital?

After a year, Luke was finally in a position to get back to Montessori School. He missed it. He was happy to go back. We were concerned, but optimistic. Unfortunately, between school and 2 VBSs, we may have run him ragged. He had cold-like symptoms, fever, and elevated heart rate. We had to take him to the ER, and he had to spend the night at the hospital.

Here's Luke at VBS. He's growing up so fast. Getting tall as well.


Due to his elevated temperature + elevated heart rate, the ER put him under their SHOCK PROTOCOL, which basically included IV fluids and monitoring.


Here's Luke showing off his IV access. By God's Grace, his port has withstood so many punctures without incident. Please pray to continue to preserve that port.



Finally, he could get down to business.


After the hospital stay, they could not determine the cause of his fever and tachycardia (fast heart beat). Within a week, his cold seemed to show itself, and after another week, he seemed entirely better. The ordeal gave us more complexity for a while in that we had to monitor his heart rate at home.

Our poor child...having to go through so much. We pray for his healing. We pray for his strength.

April 10th, 2011 - He's come a long way

Luke continues to do well. We're thankful for that. Here's Luke scaling a very tall wall, without help, and without fear...at least no fear on his part, plenty on ours.

It's been one year!

We can't believe that it has been one year since Luke's diagnosis. We are so thankful for this child that God has blessed us with. We recall one year ago when we hear the horrific news and not knowing what the future holds. Luke has gone through so much that we can't even imagine any 2 1/2 year old going through all that he has in this past year. He is such a courageous child. He has gone through high doses of chemo, loss of hair, being homebound for months, and taking so many medications. Through it all he has given us as parents the strength that we needed this past year. Many people told us God doesn't give you what we can't handle. We feel like God gave Luke the gift to be able to handle more than he could. He is such a sweet and loving boy who is always thankful for God's healing love. We are truly blessed by the amazing support of family, friends, and strangers who have made this year bearable. We look forward to the next 2 years and 3 months and trust that God will answer our cries out to him. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.(Romans 8:28)