The Valiant Knight

Friday Ryker turned 18 months old! Wow, time flies. Our hero had another good week. He is still staying inside and trying not to fall or bump into things. He was thrilled to see lots of family this week. First, he got a surprise call from Great Aunt Judy inviting us to dinner at Cousin Marcy's house. Though he didn't do much eating, he had an awesome time playing with everyone, including little Shnooky the dog. Later that week, he got to see Uncle Tyler, Aunt Genessa, Cadence, and Brannen. They, along with Marcy, met us for dinner at Abuelos. Rykerman spent a good portion of the evening flirting with all the girls in his line of vision...and none of them minded one bit. It was great to see everyone!
This past weekend was low key. Ryker played quite a bit with Daddy. He is enjoying pretending and mimicking what we do. Jevon hurt his shoulder playing with Ryker and rolled around grimacing and moaning for a few seconds. Ryker, not missing a beat, did his best impression and has since gone back to the same spot to moan and groan and roll around a couple of times. He is really into shoes right now, too. He picks them up and carries them around. He tried on Dad's shoes and walked through the house this week. Too cute! He is becoming pretty vocal about what he wants and what he doesn't want. He is learning more words, like "veggies", "fruit", and "cheerios" so that he can tell us what he is in the mood to snack on. He is such a fantastic kid! We just sit back in awe of how quickly he learns new things, and we can't help but laugh when he dances and sings. We are so grateful to be called his parents.
Ryker continues to fight the ITP. He hasn't had any more bruises, which is a huge praise! He has really been a trooper at the blood tests. Today was our most recent. His levels had dropped slightly (out of the "normal" range and back into the "low" category) to 135k. The doctor assured us it was nothing to be alarmed about. This was the week that the medicine would start to wear off and his own body would begin working on its own to stop making the antibodies that are eating its own platelets. The tests do need to continue weekly and he still can't play normally or be in the nursery at church. Like a brave and courageous knight, he will continue to battle until he has defeated his foe. God has blessed us in so many ways; though he is still facing this challenge, He has provided lots of family and friends to support us, plenty of activities indoors to keep Ryker busy, and lots of energy and patience for Mommy and Daddy to get through each day. Please continue to pray that his levels rise with next Tuesday's blood test and that he would get through the blood draw without too much pain. They take quite a bit out of him (as you can see below). He really has been amazing, handling multiple sticks the last two weeks in order to get a suitable sample from his veins. My precious little knight is so strong! Have a great week!

Ryker Update

Ryker had two doctor's appts and a blood draw today. We had great news back from the hematologist. Ryker's platelet count is up to 195k already. We are all very optimistic that he will continue to stay in the normal level. The doctor said sometimes the medicine shortly after the treatment can, in essence, be working on its own without the body really being fixed, so we shouldn't get discouraged if his levels drop in the next week. We have to continue to monitor him closely and keep him bump free. He has another blood draw next Tues. If his levels are still normal then we will just continue to have the draws each week until they are normal counts for a month. If they dip down (because the medicine has run its course) then we will discuss further treatment at that time. We are just going to trust that he is on the recovery and look forward to another good result next week. His other doc appt was with the ENT. He needs tubes in both ears, but they can't put those in until his ITP has been stable for several weeks. So, for now, we're praying that he doesn't get another ear infection in the next month and that his platelet levels stay up.

Thanks again for your care and concern for our little man! We'll update the blog next week with his most recent health news.

What a difference a day makes...

Message from Mommy-
This has been a crazy week for our family. Ryker started off the week playing and enjoying the 80+ degree temps outside, going for walks, and hitting the playground as usual. We had his 18 month check up on Tuesday. He was in great health and other than his chronic ear infections, was looking good. We had to schedule an appointment for next week with an ENT for his ear tubes. As the week went on we started noticing extensive bruising on Ryker's legs. By Friday I had called the doctor because he had developed little dots of blood under the skin, bruises on his ear lobe, abdomen, and arms. Ryker was feeling fine, just looking beat up, and we thought it could possibly be something antibiotic related...no big deal, right? As Ryker and I finished up our Friday at the park with Lauren and Emerson, the doctor's office called to ask us to stop in for a visit. An hour and a half later I was realizing how wrong I was. We were talking immediate blood tests at the children's hospital and possibilities from viral infections to leukemia--That's one word you never want to hear from your pediatrician. Ryker was such a trooper at the blood draw. He cried and fought it a lot, but he rebounded quickly. We headed home to meet Grandma Brenneman (as she had come down for the weekend to see Ryker, since she didn't get much time with him last week), just in time to get the phone call from the doctor that Ryker needed to be admitted to the hospital immediately. His blood platelet levels were rock bottom. Normal is 150-400k in a sample. Ryker's was 13k. In short, this means that his blood won't clot, so any little bump was resulting in a giant bruise. We were checked in very quickly and once in his room Ryker received an IV and had additional blood tests. Shortly afterward, the doctors informed us that Ryker had a very rare blood disorder called idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura, or ITP for short. It means that there's no known cause, that his platelets are low, and it results in big purple bruises. As you can imagine, it was a little scary learning that our son had a blood disorder, but relieving that it wasn't cancer. It was tough to hear that he would need to receive an IV treatment to try and boost his platelets. There's a lot of info that I'll spare you, but since he's a toddler and his blood won't clot it is a pretty dangerous situation. He falls, he could bleed internally; he bumps his head he could have a stroke. The hematologist said sometimes this can resolve on its own, and in 80% of kids it is gone in 4-6 months. However, Ryker's levels warranted intervention and fast. Friday night he got his first treatment. He fell asleep while the medicine was being given in his IV. About an hour after the treatment he awoke with convulsions and chills. As I was rocking him his temperature started climbing. We called the nurse...it was 105! Scary. He was covered in ice packs. He started vomiting and then a half hour later he was back to sleep and his fever was back at 102. All of this was to be expected as it was a possible side effect of the IV treatment. Saturday, he had another blood draw and his levels were at 33k. That was great news! It was back on the rebound. The bad news is it is still at a level that is nowhere near normal. The improvement was good enough to let us go home though.
In 24 hours we had gone from a beautiful day in the park to a rare blood disorder in the hospital and back home to manage it all. We are so thankful that Ryker is doing better, and we hope that he continues to improve. We are blessed to have such awesome friends and family to help us through, visit us at the hospital with food and spoil Ryker with toys and a balloon, and support us. We will just take things one day at a time from here. God won't give us more than we can handle each day. Ryker will need blood tests and depending on what those tests say he may or may not need more IV treatments. The hematologist was encouraged by his platelet jump overnight in the hospital. We find out Tuesday at his next blood test if that is continuing. We pray it is. In the mean time, no climbing, no parks, no sliding, no running through the house, no rough housing with papa...and that is probably the hardest part, that this super active boy is so restricted in his activity and he can't understand why. Ryker feels just fine, but his blood is sick. He wants to play and climb like he normally does, but he can't because he could fall or tumble or bump something. Right now he needs a bump free environment. We are trying our best to provide that for Ryker, but it is not easy.
We are overly thankful that God has pulled us through this ordeal and that Ryker's condition is temporary and manageable. We trust He will bring Ryker back to 100%, and we look forward to the day when he is healthy, really healthy, again. Ryker will be back next week, hopefully with good news to share with you. Until then, thanks for your prayers and for following along with Ryker's adventures!

Our Easter Week

I hope you had an amazing Easter! No matter how you spent your day, I hope you were refreshed and renewed by the message of Christ dying for our sins and rising again, giving us new life!
We had a fantastic week of activities here. Thursday, my buddy Emerson and I went to the Children's Museum. We explored, played, and ran around the entire building. What an awesome place. There was so much to see and touch and do...here are a few pictures of our time there.



Friday, my parents went to church and then we all headed out to have dinner with the Spillmans. It was a lot of fun, but next time my best bud will have to join us. Saturday it rained, so we spent the day indoors, playing and watching basketball. We took the opportunity to color some Easter eggs, too. Those things look just like a ball to me, so I "shot" them into the coloring cups and also slammed them against the table, resulting in lots of cracked eggs. Mom and Dad thought it was funny; I like to think it gives the eggs some personality.
Sunday was the big day! We got up early and headed to church to celebrate. After service, we came home and had an egg hunt in the front yard. Daddy hid some eggs and I diligently hunted them out and put them in my bucket. Then we snapped a few pictures (how could we not with Daddy and I matching perfectly?). Next we played outside and made our lunch. It was beautiful outside and our dinner was tasty. Then we went for a walk and just spent time together. I could not have imagined a better day.


This week has been full of family time. Grandma Brenneman came to visit Tuesday through Thursday. We had a great time with yet another egg hunt and just spending time together. I got to see my Great Aunt Connie and my second cousins on Wednesday, and then Grandma and Grandpa Luttrell visited me on Thursday. I am one blessed boy to have so many people that love me and want to visit with me!


Enjoy your weekend and we'll see you next week!