So close, we can taste it!

The Dr's just came in this morning (following a "stat" 6:45am xray) and said that things look good. They are waiting for a final report from radiology, and assuming that they concur with his Dr's, we will begin the hospital discharge procedure. There is no visible pneunothorax (collapse) of his lung, although they did say that his left lung remains a bit shy of 100%; due to the stapling that took place near the apex. They did say however that the lung may gain some of that capacity back, as he gets active again and his breathing improves.
If all goes well, we hope to be home this afternoon!

More to follow.

KAAL

No more chest tube!!!

Moving at a slightly quicker pace than we had expected, the Dr's came in this morning and removed Luke's chest tube. Even with a dose of drugs, it was a painful process, but one that we are all very glad that it took place so soon. There was another chest x-ray done today and we expect that there will be another one taken in the morning. Assuming that all goes well, it looks like we will be heading home sometime Wednesday.....finally!!!!!
Stay tuned for more details.

KAAL

More pictures

Alex w/ Ike Holt

Grandparents w/ new helmets for their off-road "Razr"

Grandpa w/ Christmas present

Grandma w/ Christmas present

Luke w/ you know who

Here are some additional pictures from our stay at Stanford.

KAAL

The Home Stretch

The Waters family

Nick, Nick, Emily & Mom

The Herrins & Lisa Cardenas

Allison's new Christmas tray

Grandma & Grandpa

Well, a lot has happened since the last entry, so I will do my best to catch up.
In the previous Christmas Eve post, it left out our evening visitors, who helped to make the evening very special. Our friends, the Herrin family & Lisa Cardenas, came out to see Luke and along with my parents, Owen & Carol, we enjoyed a very wonderful Christmas Eve together.
Luke remained in a fair a mount of pain on Christmas Day, but we could see some improvements and his lung remained leak-free.
Sunday was a fairly quiet day, with a lot of rest, some football watching and more visitors (thanks to Luke's friends Nick, Nick & Emily as well as the Waters family).
At the end of the day, Alex left with my parents to head back to the hotel for a good night's rest, and before they could get to the elevator, she had a seizure. To say the least, it took us all by surprise. But it goes without saying that if you are going to have a seizure and you want immediate medical attention, have one in the hospital. Also, make a note that if you want to be surrounded by a lot of doctors and nurses quickly, just shout Code Blue a few times, late at night in a hospital.....that seemed to work pretty well.
They rushed her down to the ER, where a series of blood & urine tests were done, an xray of her neck (she was in a lot of pain) and once everything checked out and she was stable, they released her. We took her back to our home away from home (room #3525), and she has been resting since.
This morning, grandma & grandpa came back by to check up on the kids, before they headed home to SoCal. We really enjoyed their long visit up here (since last Thursday) and we really appreciate their help in making Christmas in the hospital a special and memorable occasion.
The Dr's finally turned Luke's suction off today and things continue to look good there. We will remain on this course until Wednesday, when they will finally remove the chest tube altogether.

This has been an unbelievable journey for all of us and I know there will come a time when it will all make sense. We are really looking forward to coming home and helping Luke to enjoy the remainder of his Christmas break.

Thank you for all the support!

KAAL

Christmas Miracle!

For the 1st time in 2-1/2 weeks, Luke's lung is not leaking!! Last night, we could see over the course of several hours, that the leak was becoming less noticeable. But when we got up this morning, there were no bubbles and when the surgeons came in, they smiled and said that it was the Christmas miracle they (we) were all hoping for.
We have about 48 more hours on suction to make sure that the leak is gone, then another 48 hours on water seal, then I believe we can think about coming home.
We have enjoyed our "makeshift" Christmas here in the hospital today. We started with hot cocoa and some donuts & pastries. We then opened presents with grandma & grandpa (Owen & Carol); all the while Luke was struggling with his pain. They gave him Oxycontin for the first time today, and he has been able to sleep better than ever; and we are thankful he can get the rest.

Thank you all for the love, support, prayers & visits.

KAAL

Christmas Eve

A little Yuletide cheer

Holiday snack buffett

Carolyn Lewis working her magic on Luke's aching head.

Glen & Carolyn Lewis

Steve & Braiden Young

Matty & Seth's visit yesterday

Today has been a busy day so far, with our main focus being Luke's comfort and pain control. Things are looking up after the surgery and not only is the leak in his lung way less than before surgery, but it looks a tiny bit better now than it did last night.
There have been some wonderful Christmas Eve experiences so far. Earlier today we heard some beautiful Christmas music coming from a harpist and a family musical ensemble, out near the nurse's station. Luke's grandparents (Owen & Carol) have been here since last night, Brad & Quinton Ambridge as well as Glen and Carolyn Lewis came to visit, along with a surprise visit from Steve & Braiden Young (thanks to Susan Miguel).........not to mention the one & only Santa Claus!!!
Luke remains incredibly strong, in spite of his pain & discomfort. We are so happy that things went well last night and we are very hopeful that he will make a full recovery.

Thank you for the continued love & support.

KAAL

Surgery is done!

Finally around 8pm, the surgeon came in and talked to us about the long surgery. She said that she spent the 1st hour looking for the hole in the lung, then a 2nd hour separating the upper part of the lung from where it had stuck to the chest wall after the pleurodesis that was done on the 12/13/10. Finally after those 2 hours, they found the problem; a 3mm to 4mm hole in his lung. They spent another hour or so stapling that area and making sure that they do their best to close things up, but they couldn't get too aggressive because it was getting to close to certain critical parts of the lung. They also found a couple of small blebs on the lower portion of the lung, but their size didn't warrant stapling, so they put some sort of plasma gel (glue) on them. They also put this "glue" on most of the staple points along with any other weak spot on the lung that needed it. Afterwards, they introduced the inflammatory agent (talc) into the lung, to initiate the pleurodesis. She said that it should stick great, because they put a lot in there.
When they were re-inflating the lung after surgery, they said they had a couple of minutes with no leak, but they also observed a small air leak later. We can easily notice that the air leak we see in the water seal device, is greatly reduced from before and we're hoping that it will clear up completely during the healing process.
Best case scenario, Luke will need about 3 more days on suction and if the leak appears to go away, then he will go on a different water seal tube (no suction) for 2 days.

We're very thankful that things went as well as they did, and we can only hope and pray that things will improve from here.

KAAL