Update on Baby Luke.....

I haven't updated my readers (all four of you - thank you for your loyalty!) lately about Baby Luke, mainly out of respect for his parents and not wanting to violate their privacy.

As many of you know, Luke is the son of one of my co-workers, born prematurely on October 23rd. His due date wasn't until January 4th. He weighed 1 pound 15 ounces and was able to breathe on his own from the very beginning.

Luke progressed very well and went home almost two weeks ago, much earlier than anticipated. His dad came back to work and reported on Luke's status every day. Luke gained weight steadily and was weighing in at almost five pounds when school dismissed for Christmas Break.

We got word on Monday of this week that Luke was back in the hospital and had been transferred to Scottish Rite in Atlanta. He has an infection of some sort and while he is responding well to antibiotics, doctors are having trouble finding the source of the infection. Cancer has been ruled out, much to everyone's relief, but in the meantime Luke has developed an upper respiratory infection on top of what he was already battling. In addition, doctors have known for about a week that he has a hernia that will require surgery in the next few months.

Luke was moved out of ICU this afternoon and into a regular room, but he will remain hospitalized at least through the weekend. Fortunately he won't remember that he spent his very first Christmas in such a sucky place. I mean being in the hospital in general, not the specific one where he is being treated. If I had a sick baby I could wish for no better place for him or her to be than Scottish Rite.

Please keep Luke and his mama and daddy in your thoughts. I'm sure the parents and grandparents are exhausted and frustrated with the uncertainty. This is probably not how they envisioned spending Christmas this year, or any year.

Suddenly my problems aren't so bad.