“Luke’s Fight to Breathe & the Power of Prayer”

I wanted to share Luke’s story from my point of view. Some of the terms may not be medically correct, but this is my understanding and perspective of everything that happened during our time in the hospital.

Luke got a fever on February 9th.

On February 11th, we took him to the doctor. They told us it was likely viral and to check back in a week if it hadn’t improved with Tylenol and Motrin.

The rest of that week, Luke was sick off and on. His fever would come and go, and he just wasn’t himself.

On February 16th, we took him to the emergency room because his breathing had become very labored and he hadn’t eaten all day. When they put the pulse ox on him, his oxygen was at 84%. They immediately started him on oxygen while we were sitting there. They attempted to place an IV about four or five times to start fluids but were unable to because of how small he is. Instead, they drew blood from his heel so the lab could begin running tests to see what was going on in his body.

We were then transferred by ambulance to the main emergency room where they were better equipped to treat pediatric patients.

When we arrived, they continued trying to place an IV. Even with ultrasound guidance, they couldn’t get one because he was so dehydrated by that point. They ended up having to drill into his bones twice to get fluids into him. Once he was hydrated enough, they were finally able to place two IVs in his arms. During all of this, he was placed on high-flow oxygen to try to bring his oxygen saturation levels up.

Before we knew it, they told us they needed to take him back to the trauma room because he had stopped breathing.

We were put in a small family room with the loudest air conditioner. But even with all the white noise, my mind was racing.

It was at least half an hour before anyone came to talk to us. When the doctor finally walked in, her face was flushed, and I remember feeling like my heart dropped into my stomach.

They had finally stabilized him. He was now intubated and on a ventilator. They allowed us to go see him in the trauma room while they prepared a bed for him in the pediatric ICU.

The next step was moving him up to the ICU. We were so thankful he was alive that we didn’t even realize just how critical his condition was at the time. They told us he had pneumonia along with three viruses: Adenovirus, Human Metapneumovirus, and Human Rhinovirus.

They showed us his chest x-rays and talked through his lab work. They told us to prepare to be there for at least several weeks. His chest x-ray was filled with infection, and they showed us how little air was actually moving through his lungs.

The next day they performed a bronchoscopy, which is essentially a procedure where they go into the lungs to try to clean out as much infection and mucus as possible. Unfortunately, it didn’t go well because his lungs were so severely clogged. They had to bag him and manually push air into his lungs until they were able to reconnect the ventilator.

During this procedure, they also discovered that his right lung had completely collapsed because it was so filled with infection. Through it all, the doctors and nurses handled everything so calmly and professionally that you couldn’t even tell how scary the situation truly was.

Many of the days after that were a blur. At one point, they told us it was touch and go whether he was going to make it.

The next big step was placing a central line because his regular IVs couldn’t handle the amount of medications and bloodwork he needed. We were allowed to stay in the room for the procedure, which was incredibly nerve-wracking. It took five attempts before they were finally able to place it, and it was a huge relief once it was successfully in.

After that, the days moved slowly. Progress was either very small or nonexistent. There was one day in particular when he took a step backward. I remember thinking that if he was struggling this much, I just wanted to hold him so he wouldn’t be so miserable.

But then, little by little, progress started to come.

First he was taken off the ventilator and placed on high-flow oxygen. Then he moved to wall oxygen. Eventually, he was breathing on room air. Seeing him breathe on his own again was a miracle.

Our final big milestone was eating on his own. For all 21 days he had a feeding tube through his nose. Even after he was breathing on his own, he still needed the feeding tube for nutrition. Luke has always been a big boy, so eating has never been an issue before this. Once he was able to eat well enough on his own, we were finally able to go home.

Throughout our stay, so many people came to pray for him and anoint him. Even more people were praying for him from home. There were many peaks and valleys during those weeks, but feeling the presence of God and knowing that so many people were standing in the gap and praying for us made all the difference. It gave us a peace that is hard to explain.

The doctors say he will likely have some lung damage and that the pneumonia will linger for a while. But we know our God is bigger than all of that.

Our miracle baby is alive and well.