Tyler - 17 year old fighting cancer!

Tyler - 17 year old fighting cancer!
Ready for Battle!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

46 Days

Today marks 46 days of Tyler being in the hospital. He was diagnosed on Sept 24th. How crazy these last few weeks have been! We knew we had at least a 4 month battle on our hands, but none of us would have ever guessed it would have been this critical, this quickly. We're so happy with the progress that Tyler has made and we praise God for every good thing that is happening.

Michelle was told today not to get her hopes up on being home for Christmas. I told her to remind them that her entire family will be in the waiting room celebrating...and we'll probably bring our own Christmas tree. That should motivate them to get them out of there! But really, we're thankful for the care he is getting. The hospital has been so kind to us and Tyler is in good hands there.

Admittedly, there have been some moments of frustration between us loved ones these last few weeks. I mean, we're all at our exhaustion points of stress and emotions, so it's to be expected. Knowing we have a few more weeks or even months ahead, I'm encouraged by what Romans 12 says about love.  I think our family has shown much of this to one another these last few weeks:

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

We will continue to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer for Tyler. Thank you for joining us in these prayers!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

CT Results are in

The CT results show that the tumor has shrunk!!! We don't know by how much, but it has shrunk some. We're moving in the right direction at least. Praise the Lord!!

That's my short and sweet update for today :)

Monday, November 12, 2012

The latest

Sorry for the delay in updates...I had a crazy busy weekend, but here is the latest:

Tyler started throwing up last week. They are not sure if that's a reaction to chemo or part of the stomach infection, but they are watching that. He had some chest pains last night, but after an EKG this morning, it was determined that he was ok. He will be getting a CT scan tomorrow to see if the chemo was able to affect the tumor at all. His magnesium is low in his kidneys and they are not sure why. They are keeping an eye on that too. His white blood count is also really low and they don't want that to get any lower.

His friends came in for a visit yesterday, which was so great of them. It did, however, make him really sad and emotional afterwards. He cried for about a 1/2 hour after they left. So tough for everyone! On the bright side, he is allowed to have suckers now and that is very exciting. Sounds so silly, but it has been over a month since he was put on the ventilator and couldn't have anything until now.

Thank you all for your willingness to give blood directly to Tyler. We found out last week that doing the direct to donor blood donations is 3x the cost as taking from the general pool. So, we are going to hold off on any more donations. We would still like you to donate, if you are eligible, to help the overall blood supply. This will indirectly help Tyler, and others that are in need.

Please keep Tyler's physical and emotional needs in your prayers. We appreciate you!