Update on Tyler

Instead of trying to call everyone with news, I thought I would leave it here.  For about the last 6 months, we have been back and forth between Children's Mercy South and Downtown trying to figure out what is going on and how to best treat it.  For those of you who don't know, the last couple of years has been physically difficult for Tyler. Tyler is just shy of 17, just under 6 feet tall, weighs about 125, and wears size 11 shoe.  This boy should be ruling every aspect of athletics, but he cannot pass a physical.  He physically cannot pass.  Not even a squat.  We thought at first he had just grown super fast in just a short amount of time.  No such luck.

It's skipping ahead a little, but I will just cover the basics.  We did some blood work, had a CT scan, had an EMG, which tests the muscles and nerves in his legs, back and feet to see if they are working, had an MRI of his spinal region, from top to bottom, had another EMG, the first was giving false positives from the physical examination that was taken.  Basically, the tests should that his muscles and nerves were working, but when asked to do a physical task, he cannot.

We are dealing with the neurology department at CM (Children's Mercy); they have ordered another series of blood work plus a urine sample.  Yeah, Tyler is so very excited about this part.  I don't understand all this medical jargon and what the testing will show, but the doctor mentioned amino acids, ammonia and something about metabolic.  I really don't know, except for what I Googled. :)

Basically, Tyler is a guinea pig of sorts.  Of the 1500 or so cases they have done genetic testing for, 9 of these cases have attributes similar to Tyler.  Bad news, these cases have still not had final answers to their origin or complete success.

Please continue to pray for Tyler.  Pray for wisdom with the doctors that they can quickly and successfully find a solution to the problem.

Thanks for all your continued love and support.