Tyler's Story

2009-02-11T13:34:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. We checked back into the hospital yesterday for Tyler's 4th round of chemo. So far, so good. This time he's hooked up to chemo the whole time we're here. Poor guy. He doesn't get to be unhooked at all until Friday. I don't think he realizes he's connected all the time though. He's constantly getting tangled in his line because he moves around so much.
Last night was a late night! Tyler usually goes to bed around 8:30 and has at least one long nap a day. Yesterday, he only had a 45 minute nap. I layed him down for bed at 8:00...at 10:00 he was still very much wide awake and the most hyper I've ever seen him that late at night! He was standing up in his crib, stomping his feet, shaking his head back and forth and yelling! After a nice little dose of Benadryl, he went right to sleep. He was definitely feeling the effects of a late night because he already took almost a two hour nap around 10:45 today.
They're scheduling surgery to remove his tumor around March 19th or 20th. Looks like we're heading to Seattle around the end of April and his transplant will be the beginning of May. So far, that's all the info we have. The hospital gave us a list of extended stay apartments, hotels, condos, etc to look through. Now we just have to decide which one is best for us. I wish I could see the neighborhoods they're in before we make a choice! I went online and looked at some of the places. They seemed pretty nice. Rent in Seattle is a lot more expensive than I'm used to seeing! I think it'll be a really fun adventure though...once we get through the tough parts.
Well, we're hoping to be out of here on Friday if all goes well. Keep your fingers crossed! Actually, that's never been of much luck to me. :)
Kristine

2009-01-22T11:30:00.001-08:00

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2009 11:14 AM, CST
And the good news keeps coming!
Dr. Trobaugh said Tyler's MIBG scan results show that the only tumor left is the one in his abdomen which means the two that were in his leg are gone! The spots in his leg that were showing on the bone scan is just scar tissue left from the tumors. This is just so amazing! The dr. was saying that his results are incredible. We will get the bone marrow results back in about a week. They saw a cluster of cells under the microscope but she said that could just be normal cells. Even if there are still cancer cells in his bone marrow, she said it's nothing like it was. We knew God could do a miracle and He definitley has!
Kristine

2009-01-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2009 02:04 PM, CST
GOOD NEWS!!
So the Dr. just visited and was showing us the results of the bone and CT scan from yesterday. She was comparing the difference between the very first scan done when he first was diagnosed and the ones completed yesterday. She cautioned not to be disappointed if there is no difference between the two, she said that is not unusual so.........
Here are the results
1. Remember there were two spots in his head? Well they have completely resolved.
2. The two spots that were on his legs have decreased in size. They will know exactly how much when he completes his MRBG scan tomorrow.
3. The main tumor on his kidney has decreased in size by more then half,
4. Oh....and the spot on his chest wall? Its gone to!
Can you believe that?
They should know more tomorrow so stay tuned.
Thanks so much for all the prayers and thank you God!

2009-01-19T08:56:00.000-08:00

I think Tyler likes his new haircut.
Mom isn't brushing his hair constantly anymore!

2009-01-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

2009-01-14T16:12:00.002-08:00

Tyler is showing off the hat one of the mom's at the hospital made him. Of course, his best friend is in tow! He loves his puppy!

2009-01-14T16:12:00.001-08:00

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009 09:31 PM, CST
More great news! His stem cell harvest went so well today that the nurse said they got enough for a couple transplants! Originally they only needed a count of 10. Yesterday they got 7.7 and today they got 20! This is great because if we decide to participate in the transplant study, Tyler will have at least 2 transplants. Of course the sedative didn't work again today. He was a lot more figity than yesterday which interferes with the amount of stem cells they're able to collect so I was very surprised to hear the number they got.
Now we don't have to go back until Monday January 19th so we'll have about 5 days at home. Aaaahhhh...how nice.
This Saturday is Tyler's benefit at the Bonner County Fairgrounds. I can't take Tyler and so far everyone we know will be at the benefit :) Tyler took several steps today while I held his hands. He protested a little but at least he did it! That was encouraging.
Talk to you later!
Kristine

2009-01-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2009 07:58 PM, CST
I forgot to let everyone know that soon, I will graduate from medical school! :) Not only have I drawn blood from his line, flushed his line and changed the dressing but now we're giving him Neupagen shots twice a day to boost his ANC. That is definitely not fun. Tyler has gotten pretty used to it now. He cries when he feels the poke but then as soon as you take the needle out he pretty much stops fussing. He starts clapping because he knows he does such a good job. :)
Kristine

2009-01-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2009 07:42 PM, CST
Well I'm finally back at a computer so I can update you on what's been going on. It's been a very busy 5 days or so. Last Thursday and Friday I took Tyler to Kootenai Medical Center for routine blood work. Saturday and Sunday I took him to Sacred Heart for more blood work but each day we got to leave so thats good!
Today they started his stem cell collection. The blood work leading up to today has been to figure out when they could start it. One of the tests is to look for a "cell marker" called CD34. They needed the count to be at least 10 before they could start. The test Saturday showed it was at 5.9. The nurse from the blood bank said by yesterday it should be at 10 but instead it was at 34! The higher the number the better but they have to grab the stem cells before that number starts going back down which can be anytime. That's why as soon as it got to 10 they wanted to harvest it. Praise God it was so high! The harvest took about 3 1/2 hours. Tyler did very well. They were able to take it from his central line instead of putting a catheter in his groin. I'm sure Tyler was pretty happy about that. :) They gave him sedation but of course it didn't work. He is very stubborn when it comes to being put under! It did seem to calm him down a little so they just had me hold him on my lap until they were done. They didn't get enough of what they need today so we have to go back again tomorrow morning for one more harvest. When it's done, they'll check his blood counts like they did today to see if he needs a red blood cell transfusion. The stem cell harvest destroys a lot of red blood cells. His ANC is really good though. It went from 20 to 2640 in about 4 days.
He starts his next round of chemo on January 19th. They will do a scan and bone marrow testing on the 19th and 20th to see if the chemo is working. I am very, very nervous for those results but I'm trying to trust God. He knows what He's doing.
Tyler climbed a couple stairs at my aunt's house and was able to put his hands on the 2nd step to stand up. I was shocked! I haven't seen him stand up by himself since early to mid November. I hope that's a sign that the chemo is working!
Please pray for his results on the 19th and 20th. Also, please continue to pray for the other kids on the floor. A few of them are having several side effects and complications from the chemo. I hope not as much time passes between this entry and my next one. I'll try to be more on top of it!
Kristine

2009-01-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

Well we got checked back into the hospital on Tuesday and things have gone very well the last couple of days. Tyler's only gotten sick once from the chemo. With the way he's been acting, you'd never know what he's going through. He's going on with life as usual.
Things have been fairly quiet today. Tyler has gotten out in the halls quite a bit. I took him in one of the little ride on cars and then when Grammy and Papa got here, they took him out too. He had been in a really good mood but decided to change that when they got here. He was super tired but wouldn't go to sleep! He was too excited to see them. :) Grampy and Grams are here visiting right now so of course he fell asleep! Little stinker.The dr. talked to us earlier. She said because he's starting this round of chemo with better levels than he did with the last round, we might be able to leave on the day of his last dose of chemo which would be Saturday. That would be nice! His counts have come down since we've been here but they're still good. We'll just have to keep an eye on them and hope he doesn't get that rash again! In a little under 2 weeks, they will be collecting his stem cells to see if they can "clean" it and re-use it when it comes time for his bone marrow transplant. It's been explained to us that a bone marrow transplant is also known as a stem cell transplant. They put a catheter in his groin area then take the blood and put it in a centrifuge which separates the cells they need from other blood components and plasma. The things they don't need will be returned back to him through the catheter. This process may need to be repeated over several days so they can get enough of what they need.
A few days ago the dr. gave me a "map" of Tyler's treatment process which showed the stem cell harvest being sometime between next week and the 19th. It also showed the surgery to remove the main tumor being scheduled for the middle of March. Of course, they will need to do a scan and some testing first to make sure the chemo is actually working and shrinking the tumors. That testing will probably be around the same time as the stem cell harvesting. I am so scared for the results of those tests. I am still praying for a miracle. Praying that all the tumors will be completely gone and his bone marrow will be clean! The scan will also determine if the surgeons feel confident in doing the surgery here or if it'll have to be done in Seattle. If it is done in Seattle, we will be coming home afterwards to complete his chemo here in Spokane then heading back around May for the transplant if all goes according to plan. I'm not totally sure how long he'll be in Seattle. Some of it depends on if we want to take part in a bone marrow transplant study. In the study, he would have 2 or 3 transplants instead of 1 which would extend our stay. We haven't gone over all the specifics of the study yet to know which direction to take.
As things change I will keep you all updated.

Kristine

2008-12-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

Hello again!
We have been out of the hospital since Saturday December 20th but Tyler and I didn't come home we are staying at my aunt's house in Hayden Lake. Jason has been sick so Ty have only seen him for about 1 1/2 hours in the last week. We have to go back to the hospital on Tuesday. That's when Tyler starts his next treatment. It will last 5 days then we just have to wait for his blood levels to stabablize again before we can come back home.
Tyler has been doing very well since we left the hospital. He's very happy and plays all the time. He's also crawling around a lot more which is nice to see. He hasn't regained all the strength in his legs yet but he will with time.
Thank you again for all your continued prayers and support. God bless you.

Kristine

2008-12-28T18:04:00.000-08:00

Tyler is just waiting to open all his presents!

2008-12-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I'm sorry I haven't updated you in a while. I have a website at http://www.caringbridge.org/ that I update at least once a day so I've been kind of busy with that. Some good news to report! Tyler started crawling again yesterday! He hadn't crawled since before we came here. He doesn't quite have all his strength back so crawling is slow and a little labored but at least he's doing it. I was very relieved! Also, the dr. is going to try and get us home on Saturday! If his blood levels and platelets stabalize, we should be able to leave. Tyler hasn't had much of an appetite so they may have to send us home with some TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) to put through the central line in his chest. He's only been meeting 25-30% of his required daily caloric intake. :( I pray that his appetite will return before we leave so we don't have to give him food through a tube. His ANC, which is basically his white blood count, went from 105 yesterday to 740 today! He only needed to be at 500 in order to go home. His platelet count is holding steady at 18. It needs to be at 50 before we can leave. Lastly, his red blood count was at 29.7 after his blood transfusion yesterday but is down to 27 today. The dr. would also like to see that count stabalize before going home. Even if we just get to go home before Christmas Eve I'll be happy.
Tyler has been in very good spirits. He cracks everyone up! He is such a flirt with the nurses! He blows them kisses all the time which of course they love. It's pretty adorable. I love when he blows me kisses out of the blue without being prompted. He is such a sweet boy. He's had one nurse named Joe that Tyler likes to take jabs at...or maybe Jason just likes to take jabs at. Joe is a big San Diego Chargers fan and, of course, Tyler is a huge Denver Broncos fan! One day Tyler (aka Jason) put Tyler's Champ Bailey jersey on one of his stuffed dogs and put it on Joe's computer. Needless to say, Joe took that as Tyler throwing the first punch so it was on from there! :)
I will update you as Tyler's treatment continues. If you'd like to visit the caringbridge website, you just need to put tylercordle where it says Enter Website Name. Thank you all so, so much for your prayers. We appreciate every single one of them and we are praying for a miracle.

Kristine

Dance, Dance, Dance!!!

2008-12-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

The Happy Boy!!

2008-12-14T18:46:00.001-08:00

2008-12-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this picture of Tyler! His babysitter Peggy sent it to me one day when she was watching him. He is such a happy boy.

2008-12-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

Tyler in his cool new Christmas jammies! He looks so handsome. His face is pretty puffy and you can see part of his rash across his forehead but he is definitely not camera shy!

2008-12-12T10:57:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I am Tyler's mom Kristine. I thought I would give everyone an update on how he's been doing.
Tyler had his last dose of chemo for this round yesterday at 11:30 pm. He has been handling it very well. He's only gotten sick 3 or 4 times which isn't bad at all. He hasn't been eating much though which is a concern. The dr. may have to give him some TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) through his central line so he can get the nutrition he needs.
He came down with a fever last night of 100.6 which required him to be put on antibiotics and have his blood cultured in order to see if the fever was caused by an infection. They gave him Tylenol, along with antibiotics, and his fever went down to 99.1 last night. This morning, it was down to 98.9! We will hopefully find out today if he has an infection or not. Hopefully it's a good sign that the Tylenol knocked down his fever so fast.
Depending on his blood counts and if he starts eating, we may be able to leave within the next couple of days. The dr. said we may have to stay within 30-45 minutes from the hospital because his blood counts have been pretty unstable. He has already had 3 blood transfusions and may have another one today. Let's pray he doesn't!
We have taken him out of the room a few times. Either for a wagon ride down the hall or we've just carried him. We don't get much reaction from him when we do that. Maybe it's more for Jason and I. :) Yesterday he sat up by himself for the first time since his surgery last Thursday! It was awesome. He sat in his crib playing with his blocks. After one block fell out of his crib, he discovered it would be a ton of fun to throw his blocks out of the crib! He was cracking himself up watching me pick up his blocks all over the floor! I loved hearing his laugh again. :)
We just talked with someone from Integrated Health Professionals which could be a good sign. They are the people who teach you how to care for his central line dressing, how to administer fluids and how to draw blood at home.
I will try to update everyone as often as possible. Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate it so much! Everyone has been so incredible. It is truly humbling.

Kristine Cordle

Meet the Cordle Family

2008-12-10T20:59:00.000-08:00

These are the proud grandparents. Pictures of Jason and Kristine to come.

Tyler's a real trooper!!

2008-12-09T18:55:00.000-08:00

Tyler is on his second day of chemo. We are so happy that Tyty was able to start chemo on Monday because that means the doctors thought he was well enough. He has thrown up twice, once yesterday,once today and he underwent another transfusion tonight, but over-all he is handling things as best as can be expected. It is so wonderful that Kristine has been able to hold and comfort him during this difficult time.

We Love Our Prayer Warriors

2008-12-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

These are some words from the Prayer Warriors. They were informed about Tyler from a fellow member who works for the Coeur d' Alene City Hall.

"What a darling little boy and such a terrible and terrifying disease to have to deal with. Tyler will certainly be in prayers as will his family. It just blows me away when little babies have to deal with such sickness. Ihope they can help him and give him a full life."

"Prayers being said for Tyler and his family. What a sweet little guy, and it breaks my heart that he and his family has to deal with this. Praying hard for a miracle."

"I certainly will be gald to send up prayers to the Master Healer for little Tyler and his family. This is very scary-may GOD comfort the parents."

"He is SOO precious and it breaks my heart. My prayers are with Tyler and his family. I pray God can surround this little guy and make him better.:

"Prayers are being sent right now."

"Let's hope for a Christmas miracle."

Thank you ladies and keep the prayers coming. If you want to let the family know you are thinking about them, please feel free to post a comment. Tyler's mom checks the blog regularly.

Tyler's resting....

2008-12-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

On Friday, December 5, 2008 Tyler underwent a transfusion in the evening. The doctors are waiting for him to feel better before he can start his chemo-therapy; they want him to be well for 24 hours before they get started. Kristine is going to go on a walk with him outside the room. Hopefully this will lift his spirits so he can start fighting this cancer. Again, thank you for your prayers.

Update.....

2008-12-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at 12:00 Tyler underwent his first biopsy; this was a two hour surgery. This morning he had a transfusion, and right now he is very tired. We will update you regularly, and we are still working on our donation account. Thanks to all of our followers.

2008-12-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

On Monday December 1, 2008 we received some news that turned our world upside down. My bestfriend, Kristine Cordle, took her baby boy to the doctor because he was no longer pulling himself up and he was in pain when they changed his diapers. The doctors took some x-rays and performed some tests, and baby Tyler was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. This cancer develops from the nerve cells in several areas of the body. Tyler has tumors in several areas of his body including his abdomen, kidneys, legs and head. Because these tumors have spread througout his entire body, he is a high risk patient and his cancer is already at a stage four. We do however have high hopes for Tyler because he is only 13 months old and children under the age of 18 months have a high success rates. The Cordle Family certainly has a long road ahead of them. They will be in the hospital at Sacred Heart Medical Center for the next month, and he will continue with Chemo-Therapy for the next year and a half.

How can you help?

We recognize that our nation is in a recession and these are difficult times economically for a majority of us as Americans. If you can donate anything to help the Cordle family pay for these Medical Bills, we would greatly appreciate all of the support. Other ways to help are:

1. Prayers. We need your prayers. Tyler has his first biopsy today at 12:00 pacific time.

2. Link your blogs to this site. Please help us increase awareness

3. If you have any suggestions on how we can raise money please comment.