At the request of many, condolences can be sent to:

Mr. & Mrs. J. Thomas

3448 W. Naomi Lane

Queen Creek, AZ 85242

Lucas James Thomas May 10, 2009 to June 8, 2009

Beloved Son of Amber Marie and Joshua David has gone home to be with our Heavenly Father.

May he rest in the arms of our loved ones.

Final Hours

During the past 48 hours daddy, mommy, and grandma have met with several doctors as Lucas continues to deteriorate. The lastest ultrasound scan has shown a development of a severe (and for Lucas) terminal condition called Periventricular Leukomalacia or PVL's for short.



All of us who have been with Lucas during the past 72 hours have watch the little guy begin to weaken. He has continued to show signs that the brain bleed and PVL's are severe. He is unable to digest his food and is losing weight. Everyone was hopeful that this was only a bad day, but throughout days of observation, it has become apparent it is not just a bad day, but the beginning interference from the brain bleeds. Lucas has become too tired to wake up and can no longer breath well on his own.



Amber and Josh have been told Lucas will most likely not make it much longer. They have had to face the awful news that the brain bleed was too severe; words no one wants to hear and no one wants to live through.


Please pray for their family as they spend the final hours with Lucas as our Heavenly Father comes to take Lucas home.


The family has asked for privacy during this difficult time.

A Sleepy Day

Today grandma snuck in to sit for a while right at the end of 3pm cares just in time to see everything go crazy in Lucas's pod. 3 babies came in all at once and two of them were twins and the other was a 24 weeker. It was nuts in there for hours as everyone worked on the 24weeker and the new twins. They called for extra nurses and one would peek around the corner and check on Lucas and I every few minutes, but left us alone for the most part. Because he was just finishing up on cares the nurse left his hatch open so I could see him off to sleep. It became apparent that Lucas was not sleeping soundly. He hates noise! And that 24weeker was causing some commotion, so grandma asked a nurse to come close the pod so he could rest better, and she did. Grandma sat around for several hours watching over Lucas while the hectic events were happening. Lucas was asleep but he was restless, it was clear he was not liking the noise, so when the nurse came back in, I let her know he was not sleeping as well as he normally can. By time 6pm cares rolled around the nurses were still very busy with the 24 next door and a charge nurse came in and had Lucas's cares done in 10 minutes; most of the time we take our time and participate, but not today, it was a zzzoooo. Lucas was rolled on his tummy (his favorite position) and quickly went right into a deep sleep. I can always tell because he forgets to breath once in a while in a deep sleep. Overall he is doing great and last night he was back up on the weight at 2lbs 11oz.

June 4th, Day 25, A Conference; The First of Many

Today we all met with the head pediatrician, Dr R and the neurologist, Dr C, we discussed the future outcomes possible with Lucas and what and when we could expect. His brain bleed is greater on the left side, but still present on the right. It is starting to reabsorb, but it will be a slow process over an approximate 8 week period; just the same if you or I got a large deep bruise. It is in the Parietal Lobe of the brain, what cell are affected we and the doctors won't know for a while. What we do know is the cell that are damaged will not work, some cells in the brain are in reserve, so to speak, but if they are able to "Fill in" they won't function at the same level or rate that the original ones were programed for. We just won't know until he was suppose to be able to do something and he can not. The thing with preemies is they are behind in achievements anyways so we don't really know what the calendar dates will be.

We did get to do his 6pm cares and right on cue he woke up and began to play. The pictures are of him waking up. Also Amber got a syringe with milk in it tonight and was able to put some in his mouth. Lucas loved it! To watch him was funny. He just sat there waiting for more. He loved it in his mouth. This will be the first big test after he comes off the ventilator. Dr R says it will most likely be Saturday when she comes back from her days off. She wants to be there when Lucas comes off. Of course Lucas can change the plans. If you look at the pictures you will see he loves to grab hold of his tube and has been known to put it out himself. The doctor says if he does it again they will leave it out. After getting back on the CPAP they will start to introduce him to more breast milk orally and move towards bottle feedings. The suck, swallow, and breath condition will be the first major hurdle coming up. So far the neurological pathways at this level are intact. We pray for the next level too!

Monday Blur...Tuesday's Watch

Daddy spent the morning with Lucas on Monday, while mommy went off to work with her old boss. He was nice and gave Amber her job back after the other clinic replace her while out on maternity leave.

Anyways while Josh was at the hospital two doctors approached him and told him they had set up a meeting for Thursday with the whole team and parents; I was invited too. Apparently, the two doctors told Josh that Lucas most likely will have a serious disability in addition to Ceribal Palsy. They told him this was from the brain bleed and that occurred from contracting the haemophilus bateria. They continued to tell daddy all the nasty things that occur with this type of illness for preemies. Needless to say, daddy was devastated. Grandma had to meet him on the way home and buy him a drink. Amber didn't take the news well either.

For me, I am well aware of all the risks and probabilities and closely watching Lucas. He still shows no signs of the severity the doctors spoke of and yet the doctors say he has a 90% chance of experiencing these disabilities. I have questions so I guess we will see what they say on Thursday. Of course there is the chance Lucas could be in the 10% range, I don't know, but I am watching.

I spent the day with Lucas, he had his diaper changed 2 times by grandma, and now that he is being fed by a timed-released method, the dcells have diminished to almost nil. Lucas spent 40 minutes awake watching me watch him. He sucked on his binky for about 15 minutes just before he went back to sleep.

Tonight mommy and daddy showed up after Amber got off work. I could see that they were still upset by the doctor's report and it showed. Neither Amber or Josh have slept much from hearing the possible outcome on Lucas. Prayer's are needed and reassurance that Lucas has the hand of the Lord upon him. Let's pray Lucas is in the 10% range and the Lord won't give the kids anything they can't handle.