Latest News About Bill Richard

Dear Followers of Bill's Blog,
A note from Joy, Bill's Wife,
It was confirmed that there is a recurrence of Hodgkin's Lymphoma for Bill. Thankfully he has already had two rounds of new chemo and perhaps one more before his care will be transferred to the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati. There he will under go some prep work to collect his very own bone marrow/stem cells, the hospital will save his cells in the deep freezer for later, Once the collection is complete he will be checked in for approximatly a 3 week stay as they give him strong chemo therapy for about 5 days and then, when the time is right, re introduce his own stem cells back into his body. Our guess is that this more intensive healing adventure will begin sometime in late Oct.
I will do my best to keep you up to date with accurate information. With special days, times and intentions on what to pray for.
The back story
Something was not feeling right to Bill in late July so he when in for a Dr. check up and had a PET scan scheduled for the next week.
It was about the middle of August that Bill starting feeling more tired and having night sweats. The PET scan info came back with some "hot spots", On the first day of school for the kids Bill stayed home and told me he was not feeling well. After that things moved quickly a Dr. appt at WPAFB with instructions to go to Miami Valley Hospital Emergency Room to prepare for fluid removal from Bill's heart (about a liter) as well as lung(about 5 liters). No wonder he was not feeling well. From that moment every thing was in high gear to confirm that it was Hodgkins so that he could start chemo.. to get the show on the road Bill underwent a biopsy near his color bone with only a local pain killer!! I was so PROUD he got that completed before the Labor Day weekend! That way the lab was able confirm that it was Hodgkin's again and Bill's Dr. was able to get chemo started a.s.a.p. Phew...

For our 20th anniversary experience Bill waited for his chemo port to be installed... unfortunately.. the port thing did not go as planned and a few days later a PIC line was installed in his left arm. That seems to be working just fine. Bill has had two round of chemo. Tuesday for about an hour Wed for a full 24 hours where he is checked in to the hospital for and over night and then one more hour on Thursday and then he is home. The first time over night he ended up in the ICU because of low Oxygen levels and they took more fluid from his chest caviaty. While there they also found a blood clot so now I get to give him shots in his belly everyday. His second round of chemo was easy and he seems to be doing very well. Plus he recieved a blood transfusion and that has helped with his energy levels and well as his skin color.

We have as a family gone thru a wide rage of emotions from shock , deep sadness, to time to pull yourself up by your boots straps and get on with it... Mostly we talk about how it SUCKS that he needs to go thru this experiance again and we come up with ways to make it suck less. (inspired from a quit smoking add) Mostly practicing the power of being in the now. Praying and Giving Thanks for all of the helpful people who are are providing right action and support.

Once the paper work is complete I will provide more detailed information.

Thanks for caring.

Peace and Blessings,
Joy