"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
--Jeremiah 29:11

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Update on Luke--from his mom's post

Hello everyone,Luke had his surgery on Tuesday here in Michigan with Dr. Bove and when he came out after surgery to talk to us he said it went even better than he expected!! We were of course elated, because when we talked to him that morning before surgery, we were very scared because of the complexity of it. He did the Rastelli procedure and also placed a cow jugular vein (with valve in place) for the missing pulmonary valve. This is the exact same procedure that Dr. Bove did on John and Lisa Dolan's daughter, Kara. In fact, they have been our inspiration through all of this and we greatly appreciate that John and Lisa!!!! Luke is in the ICU and still is on the ventilator, is sedated, and has 4 chest tubes, and he is being externally paced at this time. Not enough time has gone by to determine if he will need a permanent pacemaker. He is doing as well as can be expected after this all-day surgery, but still is not out of the woods yet. And if he does need a pacemaker in the end, it is a relatively minor thing when you look at the whole complex scheme of things. Thankyou so much everyone for all of your thoughts, emails and prayers!! It has meant alot to us during this very nerve-racking time! Hope this finds all of you well. I will keep you updated more as time goes by.