Update

William is doing well and I am happy to report that we are currently at home in northern California, we will be here for about two weeks thus allowing William's body to recover and prep for the bone marrow transplant scheduled to start on the 7th.

As you can imagine, William is eager to see some of his friends and scout buddies, ufortunately my laptop crashed and I no longer have anyone's contact info.....so, I ask that if you/your kids want to set up a play date with William - please give us a call at home 530-621-4864.

Thanks
Loiss and Randell!

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The following notes and points are from several discussions with doctors today

1-perforation in large intestine
2-cause of perforation? = that part of intestine got inflamed and stretched so thin that it caused the perforation- think of it as a deep stretch mark- the original shape, elasticity and muscle function was pushed beyond it's capabilities.
3-cause of intestinal inflammation?= unknown but possibilities are stool, pills, gas build up from c-diff fungal activity, could be something that had been there for a long time but chemo and indigestion caused area to be more damage- No one knows for certain-
4-high possibility that surgery would be required to cut out the "weakened " section of intestine before bone marrow transplant.
5-surgery not guaranteed, will need to wait for most of air and fluid to clear before firm decision made
6-possible surgery plan to be discussed as soon as tomorrow
7-won't be coming home this week
8-William won't go to camp the following week
9-bone marrow transplant postponed (yet again) until this is all completely fixed and healed.

Back in the hospital….

I have found that sometimes writing the blog updates are therapeutic, then at other times like today, it seems

like such a heavy burden on my emotions...reliving everything that we have experienced during the past four days and typing down all the events is extremely taxing - in my heart it feels like if I had to think back and remember what happened then it meant that this was not all just a bad dream, it was our reality.

On Saturday afternoon William was admitted with a high fever, increased heart rate, and decreased blood pressure.

On Sunday after a rough night filled with constant fever, chills, voting, and diarrhea he had extreme pain in his belly, and while giving him a belly rub I noticed what looked like a hernia. The doctor ordered an ultra sound-results revealed a lot of air and fluid build up around his intestines, William had a perforated large intestines.... Immediate actions were taken to prevent toxic/septic shock, relieve pressure and fix

issues at had.

On Monday was placed, William was put on a continuous infusion of Albumin (hormone/protein that enables the blood/intestines to absorb fluid) William was also put on an extremely strict diet restriction - he is not allowed to eat or drink anything- his intestines needed to rest and the doctors had to ensure that Williams body was passing gas and processing what it needed to.

Last night was a miserable ordeal. Several times during the night William woke up in a panic and unable to breath, the pressure in his abdomen caused his lungs to have some expanding restrictions. Extreme pain and anxiety lead to a lot if vomiting and that lead to migraines- domino

effecting everything in his body....

Right now, he is peacefully sleeping- we have continuous scans and ultra sounds scheduled throughout the day. A lot of doctors are watching him closely and paying attention to even the smallest of changes and blood metabolic panel adjustments.

This is William's journey and we will Keep on Keepin on' and Live Strong with God in our hearts and courage in our soul!

Overdue Update

Hi all, my apologies for the overdue update….

After a 5 day stay at City of Hope for William’s 18th round of chemotherapy, William was released early yesterday – Just in time to spend some time with Grandpa and watch the fireworks from Long Beach.

William is doing well. His weight is finally picking back up, and holding steady at 57 pounds (10 pounds more than what he was 6 months ago) The weight gain is crucial for his bone marrow transplant as he will have very little appetite after the BMT and will therefore most likely be receiving nutrition via IV.

This week will hopefully be a calm and boring one… I sincerely hope that we can avoid any infections, fevers and complications. If we are fortunate enough to avoid any complications and further hospital admits,  then next week William and I will be returning home to Randell for 5 days. Upon our return from Nor. Cal.  William will be off to a much anticipated Camp Ronald McDonald http://www.campronaldmcdonald.org/ for seven days of fun, laughter, friends, activities and mischievous behavior.

I will try to update again later this week.

This is William's journey and we will Keep on Keepin on' and Live Strong with God in our hearts and courage in our soul!