Luke Schmitz Survived Iraq

A breath of fresh air was given to us today. Although his fevers are still up and his heart rate is steady at 120ish, we heard some decent news today. Doctors were in and out all day today, pretty hard to keep the names straight! We heard a bit of future talk today, which is refreshing to hear. One of the doctors came and said they will take his knee tomorrow because of the icky infection they found n the knee. The knee is damaged, no cartilige behind the knee cap and missing a crucial muscle or ligament on the lateral side of his knee. They are going to cut his bone back but keep the tissue there, so it will look like a fish mouth essentially. This way, when they can close the wound, they have tissue and skin to wrap around. Again on Friday his wounds will be cleaned and check for infection. Then they are hoping on monday TO CLOSE THE WOUND! Which is a big step! The shrapnal they first thought was in the abdoman is actually in his rear end. which is a good thing, imagine that. they are not going to remove it, because it was cause more injury. It looks like his thumb will fuse without further surgery but will not have normal use of it. where the joint meets the palm may not be able to sway back and forth (thats hard to explain actually!) but he will be able to touch thumb to pinky. Some questions have come up. No, luke is not unconscious. He is awake, but just drug induced sleeping on and off. He does eat normal food, his cravings have included poptarts, fruit, cranberry juice, lemonade, bread, fruit loops. he loves his juice right now!
the purple heart has appeared! for a while we thought it was missing or stolen but he appeared along with some generals coins (they give when visiting) its nice to have some of his things back from iraq including his star wars blanket, some clothes, pictures and other misc. things. i cant think of anymore at this time. he has a cat scan yet today with dye. they want to see the contrast to be sure there is no damage to kidneys, liver, bladder and all the good stuff in the stomach and pelvis area. Luke said although he is scared, he is happy to hear the future!
we met his case worker today, she seems nice, she will help luke and the family to deal with the leg, rehab and so on. she will be with luke for the duration of his stay down here.
good day!