Another Quick Update from Mom

William came home this morning! Round 5 - Complete!

He is doing pretty good, just a little fussy. He is having a CT scan, on Thursday, to see how much the tumor has shrunk and how difficult/simple the surgery will be. Then Aaron will take him into the clinic on Friday to check blood counts and discuss the scans with the doctor. Hopefully the resection will be in a week or two.

Please pray that the tumor has shrunk significantly, is easy to remove and for no complications.

Love, Angela

SCORE -- COUNTS ARE GOOD!!!

I just talked to Aaron, William's counts are finally good enough to start round 5! He was just admitted to Oncology and should start chemo sometime today. This is his last round of chemo before surgery. Please pray that the cisplatin he will be receiving will only attack the cancer and leave the rest of him in working condition (this is the one that ruins hearing). We are one step closer to cancer free!

After his counts bounce back, he will have another round of scans and then we will head to Houston for the resection (tumor removal - surgery). The last round of chemo, round 6, is scheduled for three weeks from now, followed by stem cell transplant.

Thank you for continuing to pray for our little boy and our family!

Love,
Angela
"Will & Reilly's Mom"

I'm Ba-ack...

...home that is. Got to go home last night and sleep in my own bed. My counts are looking much better but not quite good enough to start the next round of chemo on Thursday. I got a bag of red stuff and yellow stuff connected to my cyborg port, on Sunday; and now I'm moving at warp speed again! I have to go back to the blue castle on Friday for a quick scan and blood counts to see if I get some more chemo (round 5) or if my body needs a few more days of rest and rebuilding.

Thank you all for the prayers and best wishes; I can feel the love from all over the world.

Love,
Will

P.S. For the record, I never had an infection. I just wanted to hang out in the blue castle with all the pretty nurses. ;-P

Infection?

Here is the quick and dirty from the last couple of days...went to the ER on Sunday, feeling crummy, counts were low and low-grade fever. Received blood and platelets, did a blood culture to check for infection and spent the night in Oncology. Temperature never broke the 101 threshold and the culture came back negative so we went home Monday afternoon. The fever flirted for a couple of days but never went away, while drooling and chewing on fingers (teething? mouth sores from chemo? who knows?!?)...woke up from a nap yesterday with 101.6 fever -- off to the ER, again! Joy! Wait 3 hours for nurse to access port...take some Tylenol...wait some more...draw blood for blood counts and culture for infection...wait even longer...take some more Tylenol and antibiotics...by 10:30pm (six hours later), told blood counts are too low, will be admitted to Oncology floor "soon".

Here's where I digress...Ever heard the term "football time"? I remember as a kid asking my Dad for something (a ride to the mall, dinner, etc.) and told that there was only 2 minutes left before the football game would be over. Those 2 minutes left on the clock, for the football game, translated to 30 minutes of reality. I have come to realize that Football Time = Hospital Time. Soon ~= 2 hours...maybe 4 - 6 hours. I've learned to pack a peanut butter sandwich, multiple diapers (for each kid) and at least two bottles for Reilly, every time we need to go to the hospital. Okay, I'll quit whining. Thank you Lord that my child is still with us. I look forward to his future birthday parties, senior prom and watching him get married one day. Praise God that we are still on track with this protocol and experiencing only our second potential infection (some have had much worse).

With all that being said, William was admitted to Oncology last night, continuing with antibiotics and Tylenol, still feels pretty crummy (even after a three hour nap) and we haven't found out if there is an infection brewing or if he is just a regular, teething two-year old.

Prayer Requests: No infections, kick fever quickly, blood counts bounce back quickly to remain on protocol schedule (meaning starting next round of chemo May 15th)...start to feel better, in general. The antibiotics are kicking his butt; he just wants to sit in Daddy's lap instead of running around like his regular "Wild Man" self. :) Also pray that Reilly kicks his cold (a nasty stuffy/snorty nose for over a week) and thrush (been taking drops to take care of the infection in his mouth).

Thanks for continuing to pray.

Love,
Will & Reilly's Mom