Update on Luke

We've had two sleep-interupted nights the past two nights. He woke up around 1:00 last night, couldn't speak (wow, unusual for him!), could barely breathe, wheezing terribly. He was quite panicked, very bad sore throat, still a "low grade" fever (100.3). Tony ran around getting the thermometer and medicine, looking up symptoms in the medical book, etc. Got Luke into some steam again, but I couldn't get him to calm down...until we started playing Connect Four. BTW, BEWARE of Luke if he ever asks you if you want to play Connect Four. He really knows his stuff! Without letting him, the little bugger beat me three of six games! By then, he wasn't wheezing as much (I'd also given him Ibuprofen to help the soreness of his throat) and was feeling a bit better, so I settled in with him in the recliner to make sure he slept okay. But then he asked me to sleep on the floor...the hard, non-padded floor. I dozed about an hour before Susanna came to join me....and I lasted about another three hours before stumbling into the comfort of my own bed. Luke was breathing fine and finally felt cool to the touch (enough so that I put my fingers under his nose to make sure he was breathing...seriously! He was.)

He has a pretty full blown case of laryngitis right now...so odd, my boy who loves to chatter non-stop, even when no one is around. Starts a coughing jag every once in awhile, but buckwheat honey has been keeping that in control.

We went first to the clinic yesterday but rescheduled for the afternoon after waiting for half an hour and still having at least four patients in front of us....and headed to his appointment with the chiropractor. She worked quite a bit on his lymph nodes in his neck which were quite swollen and tender to the touch (Luke kept muttering UFF DA! part in pain, part because it sometimes tickled...yeah, he's a Minnesotan!). She was able to get one to drain but only got the other relaxed about half way. He informed her he now felt smiley-smiley on the pain chart. She said it sounded like his lungs were congested and recommend the dr check for strep....so when we went back into the clinic, I gave her recommendation. The on-call doctor said his lungs sounded clear; he did get a strep test even before I mentioned it -- I guess strep is raging thru Park Rapids again, oh goodie, and they swabbed everyone who came in yesterday. She also ran another CBC to check if his numbers had been improving and if the white blood cell count had increased (she, his pediatrician, and the chiro were concerned that the white count was normal when the monos and lymphs are off so much...they should be elevated showing that his body is fighting off an infection.). He cried, but was pretty brave thru it all...wanted to know later why the doctor isn't listening to him and keeps insisting on poking him with needles! Poor guy....he knows he's getting another one next week, too, when his fever is back to normal. They did get enough blood to check for Lyme's, which both the dr and chiro said may easily be the culprit as Lyme's will trick the body and not increase the white blood count when there is an infection. We expect those results back in a week. I never thought I'd hope that he had Lyme's...but that's something minor that can usually be treated quite easily!

Tony is achy today and is sleeping right now...I've already had a brief snooze, and Susanna is pretty tired. I'm hoping and praying it's just because of the sleep-interupted nights we've been having.

The doctor said she doesn't think Luke is contageous...so Susanna is happy that her birthday party on Sunday currently is still on!

Please...continue with the prayers. And whenever I get a comment or note or email from someone that they are praying, I let Luke know. He is so thrilled and excited that you all are praying for him.

His prayer at bed time last night? Dear God, thank You for making me so good. Now please, God, would You heal me so good, too? I know You can do it...and I'll talk to You again when I'm feeling better. And help me to be brave next time the doctors give me a blood test, or You can just make them forget, okay? Remember, please, to make me all better. I don't like feeling like this.

And his first reaction when we got into the steam last night? Please pray for me, Mama. I need prayers. How I love that that is his first reaction! And how I continue to learn from his faith....