May 28, 2007 Update

Hello everyone, Luke continues to progress since the last update. They gave him a "field trip" home this weekend. He got to come home on Saturday evening, spent the day at home Sunday, and had to be back to the hospital Monday at 8:00am. He was really getting "hospital fever" and it was getting to him mentally and emotionally, so they granted him this trip home to give him a break and help boost his psyche a little. It worked, boy was he glad to be home! First time in 6 weeks since the hemorrhage. It was a truly wonderful day for all of us to be home together after so long in the hospital. It gave Luke and us a feeling of what it will be like when he gets to come home for good 2-3 weeks from now and life can get somewhat back to normal. At that point, he will begin outpatient physical therapy where we will drive him to an outpatient clinic 3-4 days per week. He will also be working on therapy at home as well during that time. It will basically be working hard 7 days a week for as long as it takes to get his functions back. No one can predict how long that will take, we do know from other AVM and stroke patients we've spoken to though that recovery from this type of event is "a marathon, not a sprint". Just depends how long it takes for the motor skills, nerves, etc. to wake up and be retrained.

He has been able to take 8-10 steps at a time with a walker. Very strenuous and difficult steps, but steps just the same. He has no balance, so the therapist has to steady him while he's up. This is just one of the deficits from the hemorrhage, and is probably compounded by his double vision which he still has. He wears clear glasses and they tape off the lens on one side so he is basically seeing with only the untaped side, which helps stop the double vision. The down side to this though is it's very tough to see, stand, and do things with just one eye. Try it and you'll see, no depth perception......The left eye has improved recently and we are hoping the right will too. The right is still turned inward and causing the problems, and won't shut. If this can just get better it will be a great help to him.

We are so proud of Luke. He is so courageous. This is such a hard thing for a young person to go through, and he is giving it everything he has and not complaining a bit. He has a great attitude under the most difficult of circumstances. He truly is our hero.

Thank you to all the therapists at Mercy Rehab, they have been tremendous. Thank you once again to everyone who has been bringing meals to our home. Thank you to CECI for the nice basket of supplies for Luke. Thank you to Marisa for all the days spent at the hospital keeping Luke and Susan company. Thank you to Tom and Julia for all you continue to do -- daily. Thank you Brooke for the time you have spent with Abbie. Thank you Steve and Joanne, Tim and Bonnie, Mike and Brian, Joe and Lynn, John/Tracy/Cory, and many others for the nice gifts for Luke and for your many visits to see him. He really likes the visits from friends and team mates, keep coming everyone! And most of all -- keep the prayers going everyone! That's the best thing we can all do right now. THANKS.

Lastly, there are a couple of fund raising events coming up with proceeds going to Luke for his recovery needs. We feel kinda strange about this, but we realize that people just want to help, and for that we are very thankful and we appreciate it very much. Steve's Pizza in Laguna is donating 3 nights worth of proceeds to Luke's recovery, May 29, 30 and 31. Thank you so much to Steve's Pizza for their generosity! Please patronize this generous business during this event and in the future when you think about pizza. The other event is being put on by the Sacramento Men's Senior Baseball League/Men's Adult Baseball League. It's Saturday June 23rd at Dan McAuliffe Field next to CSUS. They will have an All Star baseball game, BBQ, music, raffle, etc. Hosted bar at 6:00pm, dinner at 7:00pm. Tickets are $35, please contact Ken Chavez at kchavez22@aol.com for tickets. Thank you so much to Ken, Steve Renowden, Dennis Viegas, and all my good friends in the Sacramento MSBL/MABL for organizing this special event to benefit Luke.

Tom and Susan