Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting the Luepke family at Lambeau field for family photos. They have endured a lot in the past three years. Brad's recollection of the day that changed their lives is written below. His words will take you to that unreachable place Lori and Brad were living. I am THANKFUL to write that through a lot of prayers, love and strength from their faith, family, friends and community the Luepke's have a happy ending. Reed is a strong healthy boy and a hero to many. GO REED! GO LUEPKE'S! Thank you for allowing me to share Reed's happy ending.
************************************
over 103... we walked in the office, and Dr Bonnie's face, usually very smiley, turned very serious... He is really pale g
uys .. she said... we told what was going on and she immediately did chest xrays and blood tests.. after a few moments she walked into the room and said, his lungs are half full and looks like Pneumonia.. so she called in an antibiotic and stated she wanted to send the blood work in ..this was roughly 245pm.. We dropped Reed at Mom And Dads and headed back to our jobs.. I ran to WalMart to pick up his med and returned to my.office at 3:55... At 4 pm. My office phone rang... Dr Bonnie was on the other end.. and told me, blood work came back and something is very wrong, Where's Reed?? ..After telling her at my parents... She said, you need to pick him up now, and get him to St. Vs 10th floor.. they are waiting for you.. I asked a few times, what's going on.. She finally told me, your Son, blood results shows signs of possible Leukemia.. I will call Lori, you need to get Reed now.... I drove into the Hospital, making calls on our Cells to family members, not really knowing what was going to happen.. we got off the elevator to see a group of Doctors and Nurses waiting for us... I remember looking at Lori and said.. this isn't good.... I remember the room was dark and cold. Our cellphones were going off constently. they immediately went to work on Reed, Nurses everywhere, .. Official Diagnosis wasn't going to be til the next day,but Dr. Hill told us, they are 95% sure Reed has Leukemia , we just don't know what type, He told us, Reed could be here 2 weeks or 6 months, we just don't know til we get all the tests back.... Lori and I sat there emtions in that room at that time I cannot put into words... By this time, our Pastor had made his way to my Parents house to sit with, Mom, Dad, And Sydney waiting for news from us... The worse always comes to mind and truly We weren't sure if in the year 2012,our son would still be with us. After we settled into the room, Lori and I began making a plan, We had no clothes, We had to make a plan for Sydney, our jobs etc etc.. There was a lot to do, yet our minds were far from making those decisions.. Throughout the night Nurses came in what seemed to be every 5 minutes taking vitals... I looked through the room, in the darkness, asking why this was happening to Hi
m.. Lori crawled into bed with Reed, as He told us He didn't want us to leave, and wanted us to lay by Him, He was scared.. I pulled the recliner up next to the bed and laid in that, so Reed was between us.. I text Shawn Fredenberg throughout that night to keep some sort of Sanity..I left before the Sun came up, and went home to pack up clothes, Toys for Reed, our Laptop, and anything else we might need.. I ran to my parents to give Syd a hug, and try and explain to her what was happening, Gave Mom and Dad a hug, and headed back.. The morning rolled around, and things started picking up again.. Dr. Brandt walk in and told us the plan.. Reed was going to get a bone marrow test, more blood work, and a spinal tap.. then He will go into surgery to put a port in, Blood Transfusions and Platelet transfusions... Our Pastor called that morning and talked to Lori for a bit... They came in to do the spinal and Bone marrow test...This is where we discovered what has turned into what would be Reed's lifeline and Comfort zone, Child Life Services, who came in and played with Reed while they put Reed to sleep, then we were asked to leave the room.. Lori and I walked down to the parents room, the first alone time we had.. We talked almost in disbelief this was really happening.. We went back into the room to see Reed really pale but smiling... Transfusions were up next, by this time his blood counts, platelets and ANC counts were all pretty much Zero.. Soon after Dr. Brandt walked into the Room and sat down... He looked at us and said, For a 3 year old, that is one tough kid... He continued on to tell us, your Son has Acute Lymphblastic Luekemia, its the most common type, Its Stage B, which means we caught it early... This is good.. ALL has an 85% cure rate on the first try and a 92% cure the second try... Later today, He will go into Surgery to get a port put in.. after a few questions, Dr. Brandt left.. Lori and I walked over by Reed, in tears, laid in bed with Him and just laid there... Later that day a port was put in, We made a lot of phone calls during this time to catch everyone up.. We were told this news had sent shockwaves through our small community and school.. Everyone wanted to help, do something... Our freezer started stocking up with food dropped off by my parents.. People were offering the clean our house, mow our lawn... After Reed got out of surgery, I think is when Reality began to set it, we were now a Cancer Family.. We fired up the Laptop and listened to one of Reed's favorite Drivers AJ Diemel run Nationals as Doc Lovecalled the action.. It was a the sense of Normalcy we felt... Blood work, transfusions came through the night .. Texts continued coming in on my phone of support.. We were drained, None of us had anything left.. Reed slept, Lori and I didn't... Around Midnight a nurse came in, turned all the light on to check Reed vitals and take blood... Reed awoke, and began crying... It was at this moment, our attitude changed.. Lori was upset, tears in her eyes, saying, why can't they leave our son sleep, He just wants to sleep.... Silence followed, I looked up and Lori Pagel Luepke and said.. Lori, its time to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, it's time we are here for Reed... No more feeling sorry, reality is, we have a child with Cancer ... and Now we have a job to do, because without us, He can't do it... We went forward, living our lives to get better, to make sure that by December 29, 2012 our child is just a kid... We are alomst there... That our first 36 hours through our eyes, but we couldn't do it alone, our Faith, our Church and School. Our Family and Friends ... together you have made a difference in our lives..
*********************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment