April 12, 2014 - A Short Stay at Home

We were hoping for a longer stay at home this time but we weren't so lucky.  Tye started getting a fever and complaining of ear pain.  After not moving from the bed all morning and his fever not getting any better we brought him back to the hospital. So 4 days in the hospital, 4 days home and then back to the hospital.  No wonder everybody says the doctors and nurses become like family.  I think we see them more than our family at times.

Tye was not feeling well at all but as long as his brother and sister were right by his side he would relax.

Once again he liked the movie more than dad!

Tye didn't really get off of the bed at all for the whole weekend.  He still had an ear infection and mouth sores that hurt pretty bad.

After not feeling well for 3 days a new set of Legos donated to the hospital made his day.

Tye is finally feeling better.  Day 3 at the hospital waiting to make sure his fever doesn't come back.  With his immune system not able to fight anything on its own a fever is a good indication that he has some sort of infection in his body. 

The next step in our journey are scans.  We haven't checked how he is doing since he was diagnosed.  We are optimistic that he is doing great.  He looks better so we hope he is doing better.  We will keep everybody posted.  

April 4, 2014 - Chemo Round 4

This round of Chemo we were in the hospital 4 days.  Tye did great.  No nausea and still eating a little bit through the whole stay.  We feel so blessed that he has been doing so well.  We know for sure it comes from all of the prayers, fasting and thoughts that we are getting in his behalf.  The days and nights are long at the hospital but Tye does a great job.  He gets frustrated at times but overall he is really good.  One funny thing Tye has learned is that when he wants to get our attention he bends his IV cords so that they quit working and the monitors start beeping (Downstream Inclusion to be exact.)  He knows that we will stop what we are doing and come to him to look at why they are not working.  He will then kind of smile at us and let go of the cords.  It is cute that even with everything he is going through he just goes with the flow and has fun while doing it.  He is a great example to all of us.

Tye eating french fries and fry sauce.  I think he likes the dip more than the fries!

He likes feeling big and eating at his table on wheels.  He think the table is pretty cool.

Dinner and a movie.  How could things get any better.

 Zoe got to come to hospital after being gone all week to St. George for spring break with her cousins.  Tye was so excited that he would not let her leave his side.  Such a cute relationship they have.

Dad giving Tye medicine.  He takes it pretty well but always puts up a fight for a few seconds.

March 14, 2014 - Chemo Round Three

This round of Chemo we were inpatient for the full five days.  The Chemo that was given this round usually makes you very sick.  Tye was a champ!  He never threw up the whole time.  He actually was eating on and off.  None of the nurses could believe that he was eating.

Having some Oatmeal. 

After lots of night without any sleep... nap time.

Tye is always up for a visit from the dogs...  (As long as they don't get to close.  He is still a little bit afraid of them but is getting better.)   The people that take time out of their busy schedule and come up to the hospital are amazing.  I am so grateful that they do that for the kids.

Tye getting a visit from one of the therapy dogs.

March 5, 2014 - Stem Cell Harvest

Today we went to the hospital for Tye's Stem Cell Harvest.  This is where they run his blood through a machine and strip off the stem cells.  They will freeze the stem cells and then down the road he will get them back in order to recover from Chemotherapy.  He was such a champ.  He sat perfectly still for 6 and a half hours with only a couple of complaints towards the end.  They called him the dream patient.  They said they have to hold most of the kids down because they won't sit still.

Glad that day is behind us.  Now on to more adventures....

He was done with the process at this point and wanted to go home

February 21, 2014 - Second Chemo Treatment

Today we found ourselves back at the hospital for the next 5 days of Chemo.  Once again Tye did really well and we only had to stay one night in the hospital and then the next 4 days were out patient Chemo.  One of the days was a Sunday and so Zoe got to come with us to the hospital to be with her brother.  It was a great experience for both of them to get to be together for this.

Eating Some Lunch Together

Watching TV Together

Nap Time Together

February 14, 2014

Happy Valentines Day.......

We woke up to lots of Tye's hair all over his bed and all over his pajamas.  Not a very exciting Valentines present.  It was a hard day around our house.  I guess it hits hard because losing his hair was the outward sign that he is sick.

After only being able to take one day of big piles of hair all over our house we went to get his hair cut the next day.  Zoe let me know that when we shaved Tye's hair she wanted to cut her hair at the same time and donate it to locks of love for somebody else suffering from Cancer.  What a special big sister Tye has!  He loves her to pieces.  They are best friends.

Before Haircuts

After Haircuts

Best Friends with their new haircuts

Right after Zoe's haircut she was off to her soccer game

January 31, 2014 - First Chemo Treatment

Not only was this our four year old sons birthday, it was Tye's first round of Chemotherapy.  Overall he did very well.  Other than not wanting to eat much he was still running around the hospital room playing basketball with anybody that would play with him.

Now that the treatment plan was underway we realized that this was going to be our new normal for a while.  The treatments go from 1 year to 18 months.  It will consist of Chemotherapy, Surgery, Stem Cell Transplants, Radiation, and then 6 months of antibody therapy.  Each Chemotherapy round is 5 days in the hospital and then two weeks at home and then back to the hospital for the next round.