Just a quick update... Mom was discharged from the hospital on Friday. We had a great weekend and she was able to go to the Humphrey race party! Mom visits the clinic twice a week now to get bloodwork done--if she needs blood or platelets then she gets those too. We are still looking for a match for her! Please consider joining the marrow registry!! Bethematch.org!
Dad went to University of Chicago last week as well. They gave him some options to consider while he waits to be rescanned in a month. Dad will leave today for University of Michigan and meet with their team tomorrow. Please pray that they have viable options and that there are no significant changes in the scans through this process!
Thanks for all of your support and prayers! God hears us!!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
5/20 Update
There hasn't been much to update in the world of the Williams Family. Mom continues to deal with post-chemo side effects--including loss of appetite, fatigue, spending lots of time in the bathroom, and hair loss. Mom decided she was tired of dealing with the hair falling out, so she had Amanda (and Andrew) shave her hair....it just so happened to be Mother's Day:(
Her counts are still pretty low, so she'll wait all of this out in the hospital. In the meantime, there were no sibling matches for a bone marrow donor, so we are praying that there will be a donor in the National Marrow registry. Several people have asked if they can be tested to see if they are a match for Mom, and the answer is no. However, you can register to be in the registry by going to http://bethematch.org. This means that you would be willing to donate to anyone(someone else's brother, mom, or child) that needs it and matches with you (for perspective Steven's been in the registry over a year and hasn't been called to be a donor for anyone).
On Dad's news, he will be heading to Chicago to meet with with some doctor's for a second opinion. Joe and Jerry will be travelling with him, so please keep them all in your prayers for safe travels this week. Also pray that the doctor's have some promising news!!
Thanks for all your care and concern!
Her counts are still pretty low, so she'll wait all of this out in the hospital. In the meantime, there were no sibling matches for a bone marrow donor, so we are praying that there will be a donor in the National Marrow registry. Several people have asked if they can be tested to see if they are a match for Mom, and the answer is no. However, you can register to be in the registry by going to http://bethematch.org. This means that you would be willing to donate to anyone(someone else's brother, mom, or child) that needs it and matches with you (for perspective Steven's been in the registry over a year and hasn't been called to be a donor for anyone).
On Dad's news, he will be heading to Chicago to meet with with some doctor's for a second opinion. Joe and Jerry will be travelling with him, so please keep them all in your prayers for safe travels this week. Also pray that the doctor's have some promising news!!
Thanks for all your care and concern!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Terrible Tuesday...
Mom continues her hospital stay with chemo that ran last weekend and this weekend. Her counts have dropped (which is what the doctors predicted and we hoped for)...so she'll continue to be in the hospital until her counts recover which will probably be a few more weeks. And just when all of our focus was on Mom and her treatment, we got a bombshell from Dad's doctor.
At his last appointment (April 25th), his doctor wanted to get a stat MRI because dad's last scan showed that his cancer might have spread. After the MRI, dad's doctor said that the scan may have not been right, so he was sending the MRI and other scans to another team of doctors. On Tuesday evening, May 1st, Dad was sitting in Mom's hospital room when his doctor called to say that the cancer had indeed spread into the portal vein. What his doctor said is that he will never be a candidate for a liver transplant...and because of his high bilirubin, he can't have the radiation. His doctor has said he didn't have any other treatment options and gave us the grim news that Dad has 6-12 months. While that news is utterly devastating, we aren't giving up hope and we will continue to pray that God's timing continues long past these 12 months. Please pray. Have your friends and your church pray. We hope that God will be glorified in all of this struggle!
It is indescribable how the staff that are caring for Mom right now have responded. When they heard the news, they were crying along with us, offering support, and being wonderful. They took especially good care of Mom that night so that Dad could go home and get some sleep. The other amazing part is that Mom's doctor made some calls and got Dad an appointment with another oncologist for a second opinion. We'll see how that goes, but even with the second opinion, there is not a guarantee that there will be treatment options.
For those friends and family we've told, thank you for your support and your prayers. That's all we know that we need right now!
At his last appointment (April 25th), his doctor wanted to get a stat MRI because dad's last scan showed that his cancer might have spread. After the MRI, dad's doctor said that the scan may have not been right, so he was sending the MRI and other scans to another team of doctors. On Tuesday evening, May 1st, Dad was sitting in Mom's hospital room when his doctor called to say that the cancer had indeed spread into the portal vein. What his doctor said is that he will never be a candidate for a liver transplant...and because of his high bilirubin, he can't have the radiation. His doctor has said he didn't have any other treatment options and gave us the grim news that Dad has 6-12 months. While that news is utterly devastating, we aren't giving up hope and we will continue to pray that God's timing continues long past these 12 months. Please pray. Have your friends and your church pray. We hope that God will be glorified in all of this struggle!
It is indescribable how the staff that are caring for Mom right now have responded. When they heard the news, they were crying along with us, offering support, and being wonderful. They took especially good care of Mom that night so that Dad could go home and get some sleep. The other amazing part is that Mom's doctor made some calls and got Dad an appointment with another oncologist for a second opinion. We'll see how that goes, but even with the second opinion, there is not a guarantee that there will be treatment options.
For those friends and family we've told, thank you for your support and your prayers. That's all we know that we need right now!
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