Good morning! Just wanted to let you know that we have changed to a different website. For whatever reason, some people were having difficutly accessing this site and we were not receiving any of the messages you left. The information regarding the new website is as follows:

1. www.caringbridge.org/visit/billfromhold

or,

2. www.caringbridge.org , then enter the name "billfromhold" on the home page

Hope this isn't an inconvenience. We've heard from other cancer patients that this site works well.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Bill and Marcia

As each day passes we get more information about Bill's cancer. Today the Mayo Clinic diagnosis was confirmed. The cancer is a very nasty and aggressive clone of cells.

Bill had a rough go of it last evening as the course of steroids he has been on ended. The original symptoms, most notably very swollen and painful lymph nodes, have returned. We saw the oncologist in Olympia today and in consultation with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) doc we saw yesterday they agreed to put him back on steroids for a few days so he would remain reasonably healthy going into the chemotherapy. We'll be doing appointments with docs each day early next week. Then we will go back up to SCCA for one more consult on Wednesday, see the oncologist in Olympia early on Thursday morning, and then Bill will be admitted to the hospital (St. Peter in Olympia) on Thursday for a two to three week period during which he will receive the chemotherapy and begin to recover from it. In the meantime they will begin working on identifying a donor for the stem cell transplant that will occur sometime (we're not sure yet how long) after the chemo. A number of people have asked and we are not yet certain about the process for identifying donors but know that there is a national registry. We will learn more about that on Wednesday

We remain positive and know you will send good thoughts Bill's way.

Well, today was the day. We received some good news and some not so good news.

The good news: Marcia will not need to have chemo. Taking medication for the next five years will provide results very close to those yielded from a course of chemo. Obviously, taking the medication is our choice. There are a few side effects but it sounds like there is nothing we can't deal with.

The not so good news: Dr. Linenberger, at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, saw Bill today. He affirmed the preliminary diagnosis from the Mayo Clinic; dendritic cell malignancy. This is a very rare cancer with just a few cases to refer to for guidance. Dr. Linenberger and his colleagues have not seen a case previously. He did an additional bone marrow biopsy in each hip today. The purpose was to reaffirm the diagnosis and to gain more tissue to further refine the diagnosis for the purpose of identifying the appropriate drug(s) for chemotherapy. We will see him again on Monday or Tuesday to get those results.

In any case, the first step in treatment is likely to be immediate and aggressive chemotherapy. The treatment would require Bill to be in the hospital for 2-3 weeks; 1 week with the chemo. and several more to recover sufficiently to come home. The goal is to minimize the number of cancer cells but it is unlikely to be a cure. This would also allow time for a stem cell donor to be identified with a stem cell transplant being the best shot at a "cure".

Obviously, this wasn't what we'd hoped for but we are strong, have each other, have loving and supportive families and we'll deal with whatever comes. The other thing we know that will help us to meet this challenge is you, our caring friends whose support means everything to us.

It's been a few days since we've blogged. We continue to wait for April 1 to see what the future holds for us. In the meantime we are sticking pretty close to home to avoid infection, eating well, walking each day, getting back to work and continuing to enjoy time with each other.

Bill had several Dr. appointments last week (dermatologist, pulmonologist). The pulmonologist released him with the understanding that the pulmonary edema he suffered was likely related to the extremely low blood platelet count (a symptom of the cancer.) The dermatologist felt that Bill's symptoms were/are related to the cancer but will do another biopsy this week. He will go in for his weekly blood test tomorrow so we'll know later in the week what his blood counts look like.

We've had several wonderful meals during this past week. (We've been told that at least one person reads this blog just to salivate over the menus!) Last Thursday we had stuffed peppers, a Morrocan stew and homemade foccacia bread. Tonight we had the most wonderful chicken enchiladas we've ever had along with a Mexican flavored coleslaw. (Somebody told Linda, our caterer, that Bill loved coleslaw - thanks for doing that!)

Saturday we had the best day. Marcia's two nephews, Ben and Stan Ross came to visit. Ben runs the family printing business in Spokane and Stan is the dinner chef at the Metropolitan Grill in Seattle. The boys (OK, they're successful young men) were so thoughtful to take their weekend time to spend with us. Stan just returned from a trip to Egypt and brought us the most thoughtful gift - framed pictures of the symbols for love and strength. Couldn't have been more perfect for the challenges we face!

This coming weekend we are looking forward to the arrival of Bill's daughter, Kristie Williams, from Boise. We're looking forward to seeing her!

We're hanging in there!

Well, these are the "dog" days - waiting for a diagnosis. We are both doing pretty well at the waiting but we do have our moments.

This does provide time for some of those things that don't seem to get done otherwise. We (both of us) spent over 2 hours on the phone this morning with Comcast just trying to cancel our account at the lake. Do you know where your pin number, all email addresses, account numbers, answer to the secret question (do you even know your secret question?) and passwords are? Hopefully you are better organized than we are!

The good news is that Bill's platelet count was up on the last blood test - not quite normal but much better than it was. The bad news is that his white count is very low making the danger of infection very high. So - now that we've invested in Mrs. Dash, we can also invest in antibacterial soap for every room and lots of hand sanitizer.

We had our first catered dinner last night and it was excellent - a mediterranean chicken dish with figs, wild rice casserole, roasted asparagus and a wonderful salad with mangos. How lucky are we to have such good friends? We can hardly wait for Thursday and our next gourmet adventure. Linda, the caterer, also listened very carefully to Bill and delivered a plate of his favorite oatmeal/raisin cookies. This is all really helpful as Bill has a good appetite but continues to lose weight. Not so good for Marcia who eats the food and does not lose weight.

We are off to the doctor this afternoon - our new way of life! We are fortunate in that our whole series of docs seem to have taken a real personal interest in us and our predicament. They email and call within moments of any important information. Health care is a problem in this country but we surely have only kudos for those involved in our care.

Saturday was a busy day for us. When we first moved into our new house we had some updates done by a truly talented contractor, Steve Ackelson. Steve's attention to detail and thoughtful planning has made each change just perfect for us and the house. This week he delivered the cabinets that complete our dining room. They are a thing of beauty and we are so pleased with how they turned out. Steve's wife (and Marcia's longtime friend), Danise, came over on Saturday and unpacked the remaining boxes to fill these cabinets with many of our favorite things. Some of these things have been packed away for nearly 2 years so it was fun to see them and talk about their stories again.

We had visitors too. Ken and Mary Kanikeberg came over to have lunch and spend some time. We also had a visit from our friends Steve and Georgia Conway from Tacoma. Bill served in the legislature with Steve. He and Georgia were here in Olympia for a special exhibit at the museum on women's suffrage. Steve has an extensive collection of posters, banners, postcards and jewelry that he loaned to the museum for this exhibit.

Today is a bit quieter as we do our regular reporting to clients. Generally we are both feeling better but wish we had a little more get up and go. We are trying to plan for things we can do between now and April 1 so we'll feel productive and the waiting won't feel so long. We want to lengthen our walks each day and take on a few doable tasks around the house in addition to our work with clients.

Here's hoping for a really short special session!

Just a quick post this evening. Tonight we had the last of a series of wonderful dinners that our friend, Danise, prepared for us this week. Every one was delicious and couldn't have been more appreciated.

The Cancer Care Alliance called today and scheduled Bill for April 1 - the same day as Marcia's appointment to find out about chemo. Well, at least we'll get it all done in one day! We continue to think good thoughts and know that you are doing the same for us.