Progress, slowly but surely...

So we get asked a lot "When is Luke going to come home?" And to be fair, we've asked the doctors and nurses that several times. The answer we keep getting, and are therefore passing on to you, humble blog reader, is "It depends on him." I know, not much of an answer, so let me explain.

Based on his age and his size, the doctors say that he needs to eat a certain amount each feeding, usually measured in CC's. (That's cubic centemeters, or milliliters, not carbon copy emails, for you techno geeks out there that read this blog. You know who you are...) So, for example, the doctor may order that he needs to eat 50 cc's of breast milk or formula during a feeding, and he may suck and swallow 20 cc's, in which case they WERE making sure he gets the remaining 30cc's through an IV in the form of what amounts to sugar water. Today, however, they removed the IV (HUGE step in a positive direction!!!) and gave him the remaining amount(s) through his feeding tube. They check the tube with a syringe before the next feeding to see if he still has any milk left in his stomach -- a sign that he's not taking the amount the way he should, and the reason he's had an IV. For the last 24 hours or so, they haven't been pulling any significant amounts out of his tummy, meaning his body is digesting and using the full 50 (or whatever) CCs of food. Now, if he'll just EAT the whole 50 ccs, he could COME HOME. The way the nurse was talking today is that it will one day (or at one feeding) all of a sudden *click* on in his head that that's the way it works, and then he'll be home.

Tomorrow, August 6th, we're holding a special fast for him. Anyone who reads this by then, or while fasting through fast Sunday anyway, please include baby Luke in your prayers and your fast this Sunday. I know it will make a difference.

This is how his feedings start... awake, sucking, eating gleefully from the bottle...


... but soon he tuckers out and falls asleep, so he gets the rest of his "ration" pumped right into his tummy by gravity and a tube...