A little fun the night before
Did you know that Luke's Chinese name means "Hero?". That's what he is alright! I will try to describe what the last three days have been like with the "Amazing Lucas!" I don't believe I've ever met anyone as brave as our boy. Not only is he brave, he's very trustworthy. He never appeared to question my love for him, or show resentment toward me. What an amazing boy!
Sunday: Luke had a blast hanging out with me, Aunt Jill, and cousin Bethany. We palyed, we ate, and we moved Beth into her college dorm. We stayed at the Tiverton House, a wonderful hotel run by UCLA and directly across the street from the hospital.
Luke's new friend! 
Monday at 5:00am we are heading to the hospital. Of course, there was lots of waiting, signing papers, and yawning as we anxioulsy await our name to be called. I'm the only one allowed in pre-op with Luke. He's decided, after 15 mins. that he's had enough and starts waving "bye-bye" to everybody. Next comes the "God Moment." His anesthesiologist is Chinese! He speaks Mandarin!! The team member they send from plastics is Chinese!! She speaks Mandarin!!! They tell Luke everything that is about to happen. In the meantime, they're totally falling in love with "Mr. Personality" It couldn't have been an easier transition from my arms to the Dr's. arms. AMAZING! GOD IS SOOO GOOD!
The surgery(s) lasted 3 hours. Every Dr. was quite happy with how their job went, and said Luke did great. I was able to be with him in recovery at about 11am. Of course the first day was very rough. Luke's biggest complaint seemd to be the stitch they put in his tongue. They explained to me that it was there as a precaution in case he ran into respiratory distress, they could pull on his tongue and clear his airway. Luke found it most annoying and painful. We managed to get a lot of liquids in him Monday night and Tuesday morning so the staff was quite pleased!
As you can see by the photos on this post and the next, his transformation was miraculous. I give credit to our mighty God and the prayers of His people. THANK YOU!!
About 1 hour post-op.
Thanks be to God!!! Luke got an outstanding report from all doctors yesterday. The urologist says he's "perfect" and there is no need to return. (Yay!) Dr. Kawamoto, at UCLA, is head of the plastics team that did Luke's surgery. He was darn proud of his work and "showed it off" to the entire team.
