A Quick Update

Hello.  Friend Lisa here.  Julie asked me to post an update for her tonight as she and Ryan are with William in the hospital.  Julie has been a blog-slacker lately due to a wonderful few weeks of small miracles.  A week or two ago she told me a great story about how William was feeling great after an especially good transfusion and he rode the scooter down to the park to hang out.  And, um, yes, we all remember the orders about about no weight bearing on the leg.  Last week William went on his much anticipated fourth grade trip to Coloma.  He had a wonderful time and we are all so thankful for that special trip.  But with barely time to unpack and repack, William and family all hit a Giants game on Friday and Alcatraz on Saturday to complete William's bucket list.  These last few weeks have been so full of great memories for the Murdock family and we are all grateful for this.  And we are all amazed that Julie can pull off all these trips along with scheduling many clinic visits and tending to the needs of 5 other boys (I can't forget Ryan).  Amazing.

Julie and William took a detour to the hospital on the way home from San Francisco on Saturday night for much needed transfusions.  William was feeling pretty crummy.  His oxygen saturation was also low and his heart rate was up.  He had fluid in his lungs and he was working hard.

Today Julie and Ryan met with their doctors and William was admitted for more blood.  They took a detour from getting more blood and quickly inserted two chest tubes to drain the fluid in William's lungs.  The fluid build-up was the top priority but William had said before that he didn't want a chest tube.  But William has a bigger concern; he wants to be at his dear friend William Klopper's funeral on Saturday.  It seems unimaginable but William decided to have chest tubes put in today to get the fluid out so that he could honor his friend who he met in treatment.  The Kloppers became very dear friends to the Murdock family and they all felt the loss when William passed last week.  Chest tubes were placed and at 9 pm tonight, Julie reported that William was starting to wake up, his breathing was much less labored, and he had drained almost two liters from the two tubes, combined.  Wow!

We are glad that William is much more comfortable.  The results of the scans from last week are not good.  The cancer is progressing.  I know Julie and Ryan will provide a much more accurate blog when they have a spare minute, but there are more tumors around the liver and in and around the lungs.  They aren't sure why, but his hemoglobin is not staying high with transfusions.  Julie expected that he would get another transfusion tonight.  Sadly, I am sure I was told more but it all seems a bit blurry; my emotions were perhaps running a bit high today, too.

I may not have the clinical details all correct but I can tell you some other important stuff.  William has asked, in addition to attending William K's funeral, to see Millie, his favorite therapy dog, and to go to San Francisco to the Academy of Sciences and Exploratorium.  Millie has been unable to come to the hospital for the last two months as she contracted a non-contagious parasite.  Her handler made a special call to the vet to get clearance to come in tomorrow and be with Will.  Everyone who knows Will feels the same way about him; he is a special boy.

Julie and Ryan will continue to figure out what is best for William.  At this point they are really calling all the shots and they are so smart and compassionate about every decision.  I know the Murdocks know how much they are loved by all of us.  I know they feel your prayers for William and the entire family.