TURKEY WADDLE!!!!

The whole Tyler Family that came out to run.

Check out Nate Braunhut's shirt. Is he awesome or what?
Getting ready to start.
Chris and Troy after the run.
My sister Holly stopped to pose for a picture. Check out her sweet headphones.
My dad running. What a great grandpa.


I finally got around to these pictures and I just had to post them because this was truly an amazing Thanksgiving morning. Once again, our friends the Packer’s put this all together and we had such a great time. The Dad’s club and PTSO at Abby’s school sponsored the event and sent out flyers to every student in the whole school. We so much appreciate all the time and effort that went into organizing, and running this event. Harmon Hawks rock!!!! A great big thank you to everyone that came out to run, we hope you enjoyed it. Start training for the London’s Run in February.

Future Doctor???

These days Troy likes to give himself his own medicine and chemo all by himself. It is just too funny and I’m glad he is so great at taking his medicine. The other night I was taking him to bed and he said, "Mom you forgot my medicine." Good thing the 3 year old is on top of things when I'm not. Almost every time we go to the clinic Troy has to get his finger poked and he just watches the blood go into the little tube. For every spinal tap Troy is put to sleep with anesthesia and this last spinal tap the anesthesiologist let him push the medicine into his port that puts him to sleep. He loves to watch the magic white stuff go through his tube. All these things are a little strange to me, for a 3 year, old but hey this his how he is dealing with all this. Anything that makes him feel more comfortable with all this change is just fine with me. He goes back to the clinic on Christmas Eve to check counts and then not again for 2 more weeks. Yea!!!!

Maintenance Here We Come!!!!!

We have finally made it to the maintenance phase and we are sooooo excited. Last week Troy’s numbers were back up and they approved him to start maintenance on Tuesday. He had a spinal tap and chemo through his port along with the steroid for 5 days. We started another oral chemo that he will take everyday for the remaining 2 ½ years. What a champ this dude has been and we are so proud of how tough he is. I know we still have a long way to go but I am just grateful to have come this far. We will go to the clinic every 2 weeks to check his numbers for the first few months and then just once a month!!! Thanks again to all our family and friends for your love and support. We could not have made it this far without all of you.

Gift Basket at PapaRazzinis

Christine and I with the check from the Penne a la Troy meal!!!

I did want to let everyone know that our friends down at PapaRazinnis are raffling off a gift basket full of great stuff as another fund raiser for Troy. Is this family awesome or what? Take a moment from this crazy time of year and have a nice dinner at their restaurant. You will not be disappointed. Here is a list of the items in the gift basket and the breakdown of the ticket prices. ENJOY!!!

Ticket prices:
1 ticket: $5.00
5 tickets: $14.00
8 tickets: $20.00

That's $2.50/ticket when you buy 8! It's like half off :)

Raffle Tickets available at:
PapaRazzini's Italian Eatery
1825 E Guadalupe
Tempe, AZ 85283
for reservations call 480.345.6560
Closed Mondays :)

Gift Basket Goodies!

Gift Certificates:
Jamba Juice
Starbucks
Bikram Yoga of Tempe
Salon Va Bella
Route 66 Salon
Frys Food and Drug
Changing Hands Book Store
All Night Auto
Mac's Broiler
Papa Razzini's

Wine Vendors:
Southern
Republic of Arizona
Action Wine
Valley of the Sun
Alliance Beverage

Gift Basket valued at over $500.
Raffle tickets available through 12/24
Drawing will be held on Christmas day

Weekend over!!!

Well we seem to have almost made it through this weekend without any fevers or issues. (Knock on wood.) I took Abby to the Polar Express and she had a blast while Chris stayed home with the boys. I was super sad that Troy could not come with us but hey there is always next year. Troy will go to the clinic tomorrow to check his counts and I am so curious to see what they are. I am hoping he will not be severely neutropenic, at least. If he is still neutropenic that’s ok as long as his numbers are improving. He is just bouncing off the walls still running around like crazy. I would think when his counts are low he should fatigued or tired but that is not the case at all. (Knock on wood again). Although, I still have a ton of Christmas things to get done, I truly think what does it matter. Chris and I realize what does mean the most to us and that is all that matters.

Homeward Bound

Well Troy had another clinic visit yesterday and we found out he is severely neutropenic. That means his ANC # is below 500 and he is very susceptible to bacteria. If he were to get sick he doesn’t have much of what your body needs to fight it off. We are washing our hands like mad and I have decided not to take him anywhere till his numbers are back up. The doctors told me last week that he was probably on his way to being neutropenic so I didn’t take him anywhere last week either. We have played Candy Land, made Christmas ornaments, looked at Christmas lights and played cars. Any other suggestions for stay at home fun would be great. Really, it is not bad and I am grateful that we have gone this long without him being neutropenic. The only real bummer is that we had a couple of fun events this weekend that we will not be able to do. We had tickets for the whole family to go on the Polar Express train ride this weekend and Troy was suppose to ride on the London’s Run float at the Queen Creek Christmas parade. I am just heartsick about him missing both events but Chris and I decided it is just not worth it. If Troy was to spike a fever up north we would have no hospital near by and that would just be stressful. I would love to have him ride on the London’s Run float but with all those people around that is also just too big of a worry. So home we will stay until his numbers come back up. They think that could take a few weeks so I am a hand washing Nazi. I know we have been so lucky thus far to have Troy do so well with all his chemo. We recognize our blessings daily and thank everyone for your support.

Poker Night and 45 days down!!!!

Abby, Troy and I, Kelly Bray (Dean of Students), Chris Lineberry (Principal), Nate Braunhut (5th Grade Teacher and member of the awesome Dad's club) You guys are amazing!!!

We have made it through 45 of the 56 days and we are thrilled to be almost done with this phase. I thought this phase was 60 days but, yeah, it is only 56. Monday Troy went to the clinic for chemo and we found out his numbers were pretty low. Tuesday he had a blood and platelet transfusion that took about 6 hours. Luckily, at the pediatric outpatient treatment center (POTC) they have a portable DVD player so he just watched movies and colored on cars paper of course. The blood transfusion will help him get more energy and give him a little color back. I didn’t even think he looked pale but the doctor could see it right away. The platelet transfusion helps his body with clotting. He seemed to be doing fine until last night. Troy was up coughing and gagging in the middle of the night. We had a bowl in his bed thinking he was going to throw up but he never did, thank goodness. Abby and Wyatt are sick with a cold and Troy has gotten it also. Luckily, no fever so he is doing pretty good. The doctors expect his numbers to drop even more, so this is the critical stay home and go nowhere time. Once his numbers come back up we could be in the maintenance phase as early as December 10th. Maintenance will consist of spinal taps once every three months, an oral chemo at home every day, the steroid drug 5 days a month, another oral chemo once a week at home, and visiting the clinic for chemo once every 4 weeks. It sounds like a lot but it is certainly less than what we are doing now. Yes, his hair has fallen out and there is something strange about washing your child’s head and feeling only skin. Although, I don’t like it because now he looks like a cancer patient, I still think he looks darn handsome.

A couple of weeks ago Abby’s school (Jack Harmon) sponsored a “poker night” to help pay for Troy's medical bills and prescriptions. The PTSO and Dad’s club put it on and it was a great success. Chris didn’t even know how to play poker but still had such a great time. Abby’s principal & faculty has truly embraced our family. They have taken on so much just to help support us. What remarkable people we are surrounded by. We are so grateful that people still want to help and we are touched daily by their generosity.

If anyone out there is looking for a way to help we ask if possible to donate blood or platelets. Donating blood does not take very long while donating platelets does take about a hour. How grateful we are that people out there take the time to donate. This week Troy has benefited from their small sacrifice of time. Next week it might be another child battling cancer who will benefit from your time. I truly never thought about donating blood or platelets until all this happened back in June. What an easy way to help out. Go out on a date and make it a “blood and dinner” date. Just kidding but I thought it was pretty funny. Once I get pictures of the Turkey Waddle I will post those but that was awesome also. Thanks to everyone, we love and appreciate all you do.