Faith in Prayers

For Valentine’s Day the playroom here in the hospital had these super cute build your own heart shaped pillows.  We picked one up for Lukas and as I was tying the heart up and stuffing the pillow with the stuffing I was hit with the fact that I wish it were that easy to heal Lukas’ heart!  I wish there was something that I could do to fix him!  I was overwhelmed with this sense of sadness and as I was completing his pillow for him, he fell asleep.  Now I know that our heavenly Father is able to heal Lukas’ heart, and that I can help by praying for Lukas and having faith that he will heal him, but as a mom it is so hard to not be able to help more!

Just as a reminder to all of you, this blog is to keep all of you updated, but it is also like a journal for me and the kids to look back at later.  I am hopeful that this will be something that will encourage Lukas and the other kids later in how the Lord came through in some BIG ways!  That being said I want to share some details on what is going on right now.

Last night was a little tough for Lukas because he spiked yet another fever and was coughing quite a bit.  The coughing actually caused him to throw up, which was pretty upsetting to him, but nothing that reading some Berenstain Bears wasn’t able to cure!  He has had fevers for over three weeks now which has been really miserable for him.  I asked what they think that the fevers are from and they believe that it is due to the heart failure.  When your heart has to work overtime it causes fevers.  We also found out that his potassium levels were low due to the lasix he was taking to help him pee, so they gave him an infusion of that to get him back to normal.  We also found out that he currently has acidosis, which is when your body fluids contain too much acid. Acidosis occurs when your kidneys and lungs can’t keep your body’s pH in balance and this is happening because he is not breathing properly right now.  So, they had to assist him by giving him some bicarbs.  Medicine is amazing!  

His appetite is almost non existent right now, which is a combination of the continual fevers and the heart failure, so we are going to giving him something to assist with that.  Hopefully we can get his body a little stronger before his procedures which are scheduled on Tuesday.  The medicine seems to be helping, because his EKG showed slight improvement, which they were really pleased with!

The heart pillow that I made for Lukas.

Lukas receiving an EKG like a pro!

I learned that they may want to do a bone marrow aspiration in addition to the Cardiac Catheter and the MRI on Tuesday to make sure that the leukemia isn’t back.  His oncologist doesn’t believe that it is, but they just want to be very thorough.  We will know after the procedures if this is definitely myocarditis or not and if it is, which they think it is, the outcomes are not great, but they are hopeful that since he is as strong as he is he will have the best outcome.  The fact is that 1/3 of patients with it are totally fine, 1/3 need a heart transplant and 1/3 don’t make it.  Not great odds, but all we can do is PRAY PRAY and PRAY some more and have faith that our prayers will be answered, which is the hardest part!  

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.  Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.  This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones.” Proverbs 3:5-8

“Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.” Mark 5:34

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.” John 15:7

I am holding tight to John 15:7!  Jesus said this himself!  Ask whatever you want and it will be done for you!  That is powerful words!!  Now of course I have to remain in Him and His words, so I ask that all of you boldly ask that Lukas is healed and abide in the word and with Him yourself as you do so.  

Also, attitude is HUGE in health improvement and Lukas’ is not the best right now (rightly so) so I want to do something that I think will lift his spirits!  

I was hoping that we could all, in honor of Lukas, wear our shirts backwards for him this Monday, February 18th! He chose this because Lukas ALWAYS wears his clothes backwards, because it is super cool and he says that it is like the front of the shirt then becomes a cape!

If you want to join in on this, take a picture or video of yourself with your shirt on backwards and share it on facebook with me and Joel tagged also make sure to #prayforlukas as well so that we can easily track all of the activity!

Then throughout the day if people tell you that your shirt is on backwards or if they ask you why your shirt is backwards it will be an opportunity for you to share Lukas’ story and be reminded to pray!  So who’s in?!  

“Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just also as you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Also, if you want to send cards, letters of encouragement, books or small gifts to Lukas’ bedside you can send them here:

Lurie Children’s Hospital

Attn: Lukas Settecase RM 2211

225 E. Chicago Ave.

Chicago, Illinois 60611

 

Thank you so much for your continued help with this!!