Blessings and Challenges

Simply put, Tyler is not doing well. His health has declined significantly over the last month and his energy level is nonexistent. He gets winded when he needs to get up to walk into another room, so you can imagine how he feels after climbing the stairs to our bedroom. It often takes him 15 minutes or more to recover from that exertion.

With that said, we are amazed at the goodness and generosity that we see in our friends and family. After I posted the message about getting a matched donor for Tyler, many of you have asked me if you could do that for Tyler. Thank you for being willing to help. The easiest way to see if your platelets would be a match for Ty is to donate at the Puget Sound Blood Bank. The doctors have submitted the paperwork to have the blood bank search for a community member who matches Tyler. I don't know all of the details about the matching process, but I do know that we have asked about a friend or family member donating directly to him and were told that having a loved one do that would significantly increase the cost because of the testing involved.

On the good side, Tyler has started a new medication designed to stop/slow internal bleeding. We have been having lots of trouble keeping platelets in him, but his black eye and bruised hand finally convinced a nurse to bring a doctor in to see Ty and they prescribed Amicar to help his body slow any bleeding down. the nurse that day was in shock because Tyler had dropped from 31 platelets (right after his transfusion) to 1 platelet when he was checked two hours later. I actually wasn't surprised because I had noticed that Tyler was always spitting up blood again by dinner time.

With the addition of the new medicine, his mouth sores have begun to heal and his bleeding has appeared to stop. Although he looks like a victim of spousal abuse, his eye actually looked better to me today too. It has taken on the really vivid purple that bruises get at their peak.

Many of our loved ones have been sick, so we just want to remind you to wash your hands often so that you can stay healthy yourself! We will need to avoid you until you are healthy, but please don't take it personally.

We wish each of you a happy and HEALTHY new year.