Tyler's Update

I haven't finished Tyler's story that started back in December. I had good intentions. But between the everyday responsibilities and taking care of my little sickies, I just haven't done it. Also, it's long. I want to document everything (mostly) so we have this reminder of God's grace in our lives. I struggled at first with how lengthy it was getting. I  kept trying to figure out how to make it shorter because people might not care to read it if it were super long. But I realized that ultimately, I want it for us. So we can look back years from now and be thankful for all the he overcame. Not to be bitter because it happened, but thankful that he made it through.  

My main reason for not completing it yet though? It's painful. Every time I rethink the details, I get a hollowness in my chest. When I repeat the circumstances, my eyes fill with tears. My sweet baby went through quite the ordeal. (And it's still not over, as you will see.) Yes, I praise God for protecting him, for healing him, for caring for him. But it's not easy seeing your child suffer. It's not easy feeling helpless, knowing there is nothing you can do to fix it. It's not easy going through the trials. 

So, even though I haven't written the first few segments of his story, I know that I need to pick up here. If I don't do it now, it will most likely never get written.

Tyler spent the first 9 months of his life completely healthy. No fevers. No cough. No anything except two days with a sniffly nose at 7½ months. 

Then came the shock.

Since finding out about his mastoiditis around Christmas, he's had some sort of illness the majority of the time. We kept him at home the entire month of January while his PICC line was in. Four weeks of antibiotics killed all the bacteria in his body, including all the good flora. We began trying to rebuild his immune system as soon as we returned home from the hospital. Yogurt. Probiotics. Colloidal silver. Echinacea. Vitamin C. 

Every time we'd head to the hospital, he'd come home with something. When we started taking him to church again, he'd catch anything that was floating around. 

He'd get sick. We'd keep him home. He'd get better. We'd take him out. He'd get sick.

It's been a vicious cycle.

The other day, my mom noticed that his incision from his surgery - his surgery from 2 months ago - his surgery from 2 months ago that should have been healed by now - was infected. We hadn't noticed it before. The doctor did such a great job with the placement of the incision. And Tyler's ear returned to its normal placement after he healed. You can't even see it without pulling his ear out from the side of his head. After everything he's been through, he does not like his ears touched, so we try not to bother it. Besides, the doctors were all impressed by how well he was healing.

I called his ENT doctor and explained the situation. Deep red. Slightly swollen. Some pus. Low fever.     

That was last Monday. The soonest they could get us in to see the doctor was today, 8 days later.

I began putting colloidal silver directly on the infection. After 1 day, it looked better. After 3-4, it was completely healed.

We kept the appointment though. We wanted to be sure that everything was healed inside. Also, I was afraid he had another infection. In his other ear.

Sure enough, his ear is filled with wax and pus. His doctor noted that it was a good thing that we put tubes in both of his ears. Otherwise, we may never have detected this infection. Instead of draining out of the ear, it may have drained behind it into the mastoid bone. Just like the first time that caused this entire affliction. She believes that he's probably had ear infections for a long time, but because his pain threshold is so high, we never knew. He never complained. He never had any symptoms. His doctor thinks that the past 2 months of illness - fevers, flu, cold, coughing, runny nose, vomiting, ear infection - all stem to that first infection. Even with 4 weeks of IV antiobiotics, his body just can't fight it off completely. 

She gave us some ear drops and wants to see him again in 2 weeks. Hopefully between those, the weather warming up, and our natural remedies, he can kill this infection once and for all. He deserves it.

Though he never even complains.