Luke Update

Today was a long and busy day. After several days of ER visits and doctor visits, we had a quiet, relaxing day yesterday (Sunday). Today, after checking with the clinic Friday and ER Saturday, we went to home school co-op...which was followed by a late Valentine's Day party.

The day actually started about an hour earlier than I'd hoped when I heard Susi start whispering "PSSSST! Luke, WAKE UP!" And he did. Right from the bat, though, Susanna was in a terrible mood with a terrible attitude. Nothing was going right for her, and that included a bout in the corner and a spanking from Daddy (although, ironically, that actually did help her attitude....some). She finally pouted to me "This is going to be the most horrible day EVER!" Have I mentioned how dramatic she is??? To her horror, I quickly agreed with her. "Yep, the most horrible day ever. It is awful that you have to wear those really great clothes and go to home school co-op and see all your friends then go to a valentine's party and get all kinds of goodies and cards and play games and have snacks. It's going to be HORRIBLE!" She quickly grumbled to me, "It is NOT going to be horrible! Just a little bit horrible!"

We got out the door early to get to the chiropractor who spent quite a bit of time working on Luke. She reviewed his "almost normal" blood work from the clinic on Friday and noticed something. His numbers on almost everything were almost identical to those from the ER on Tuesday....but the "normal" range given from the clinic blood work was vastly different from the normal range given on the ER blood work. Any ideas why, for those with a medical back ground??? Still some alarming areas, and one of the bad areas that was really off Tuesday was now on the opposite side of the spectrum. His temp was back up today, too, about two degrees off. When the chiropractor asked him, though, what kind of face he felt like today, he told her "smiley smiley" and told me as we left, "I feel gooder than better!" About two hours later, however, he was complaining of a headache. I asked him what kind of face he felt like and he told me "almost all smiley." Now, I knew the kid was in pain, just like I knew he was miserable at the ER when we went in and he told the doctor he was "almost all smiley." So I reworded it and asked, "Luke, what face does the PAIN feel like?" ....and he crumbled and told me "the almost crying all the time, Mama." Good grief! The kid has such a cheerful attitude even through this all that he didn't realize we were talking about how the PAIN felt! I almost started bawling in the middle of the grocery store. And after he rubbed at his head for awhile, he told me the pain was all gone and he was "smiley smiley" again.

Luke has been bringing me to tears and humbling me so much. Through all this, he keeps worrying about how Susanna feels because he doesn't play with her as much and had to postpone her birthday party. He keeps telling me "I love you so much, Mama. You're the best Mama in the world because you keep taking care of me and loving me and helping me and praying with me when I don't feel good." Very rarely is he even complaining about how he feels.... but I can tell he's still not back to normal.

By late afternoon, however, he was at his limit, overly tired, and nothing was going to be right for him. He cried because he only got to "go over" twice during Red Rover at the party. He cried because he didn't win ANYTHING at the party (out of about 100 kids, four kids won prizes for guessing games and best valentine's box). He cried when we got home because he couldn't have candy before supper (we were actually sitting down to eat at the time). He cried because I wouldn't play Connect Four with him and promised he wouldn't cry if I won. We played four games...he won two and I won two...and honestly, the two I won were by accident where I would've won wherever I put my chips...and I HADN'T intentionally set it up that way (btw, he won both his games doing the same thing...intentionally!) -- then cried again because I wouldn't play any more. He cried when I told him to brush his teeth, then cried harder because he couldn't get the lid off the toothpaste. But as soon as he settled down in the recliner, he was fine. Until I told him that tomorrow he could start sleeping in his own bed again...he's decided the recliner makes a better bed.

And...he fell asleep almost as soon as we left the room.

Tomorrow will be another quiet day. We all need it. Please pray that Luke continues to get better, that Susanna will have a joyful day, and that Tony's and my day will be productive and uneventful.

Thank God Tony is feeling better!!!