I know it’s been way too long without an update, but most of the day I haven’t known which end is up. We have had a series of back-to-back meetings and discussions with doctors today. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same.
The same: Tyler still needs complete healing of his entire GI tract. He still needs to stop bleeding. He is still obstructed.
The change: There is a new plan in place to treat Tyler. His attending doctor from the last few days rotated out. This doctor had been encouraging us to stop giving blood products since Tyler was “unrecoverable.” Ron and I requested that Tyler keep receiving blood products until we had a chance to discuss Tyler’s care with the on-coming attending. As it turned out, he needed less blood – only one unit as opposed to the four units he usually needed overnight.
The morning heartbreakingly started out with palliative care only – no suctioning, no assessments, no taking his temp, etc. But after we spoke with the new attending and a pediatric surgeon who happened to stop by to see Tyler, we asked his nurses to resume all Tyler’s normal care until we finished meeting and learning more.
Whereas yesterday we were told all medical interventions had been exhausted and Tyler was unrecoverable, today his new attending had some different thoughts about Tyler’s care and was backed up by the pediatric surgeon. This surgeon, unlike the ones in the meeting yesterday, is familiar with Ty and his amazing strength and tendency to beat the odds.
The new plan is that Tyler will continue to receive blood, but fewer units, and will start a second clotting factor medication(yesterday we were told absolutely not). His new medical team believes that Tyler’s GI tissue can indeed heal on its own if given enough time.
We have ridden another extreme emotional roller coaster between the past few days and today. We are thrilled that the Lord kept Ty going until these doctors were available to give input. We are thrilled that today they’re no longer saying Ty is out of options! We of course are also mindful that he’s still very sick and needs HEALING! Please also pray that Ty is protected from forming blood clots as a result of the clotting medication.