wtpmedicalupdates-blog

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MRI this Friday 3-29-19

It's been awhile since our last post. So, I wanted to update everyone. William's first follow-up MRI, in January, was clear. He has had 2 rounds of chemo. The second round was an increased dosage from the first month, and was a little bit rougher to get through. For the most part, he did well.

He is residing in Richardson at his apartment recording podcasts and managing two YouTube channels, in between doctor appointments. The first link is his GBM4 story (The Shape Game channel) and the second link is reviewing electronic gadgets (GMapper14).

William's 2nd follow up MRI is this Friday, March 29 at 2:45 pm in Dallas. Please pray for another clear scan. We are grateful for your continued prayers.

As always, William has continued to be positive and has an excellent attitude towards all that is going on.

Many Blessings,

Angie/Mom

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Hi From Dad

William's last radiation treatment was yesterday! 6 long weeks that he and my wife stayed in Houston for m-f treatments. He has been on chemo daily simultaneously and now is taking a break until February.

During his treatments he lost some hair, became easily fatigued, became shortly nauseated and never once complained! I am proud of him and so grateful Angie was able to be with him.

William is back in Richardson and has an appointment to see a new oncologist to oversee his continued chemo regimen. The chemo will only be given by pill and only be taken the first 5 days of each month. An MRI is scheduled at the beginning of Feb and then every 2 months thereafter to rule out further tumor growth.

Pray hard and pray often for continued good outcomes. Thank the Lord for minimal discomfort and great medical care. A very special thanks to those that have kept our son in your constant prayers! Love, the Pomeroy family!

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3 Days Left!

Wow! Only 3 more radiation treatments and Lil William will be finished with this round. I'm beyond proud of our brave son enduring the radiation and chemo treatments. He is such an inspiration to me.

During our weeks together in Houston, we have explored different parts of this huge city: Uptown, Midtown, Downtown, Rice Village, Post Oak, The Heights, Montrose, Upper Kirby and much more. You could consider our family foodies, so we have eaten at different types of restaurants: Local Foods, JINYA ramen noodle bar, almost all of the Papa's (Papa's Steak House is still on the list to try), Sweet Cup Gelato & Sorbet, Fluff Bake Bar (best S'mores ever!), Caffe' Di Firenze (Italian roasted coffee and sweets), Common Bond bakery and cafe, Retrospect coffee (best crepes and coffee), and many more. We have also filled our time, between treatments and doctor appointments, watching clips from The Simpsons (I love seeing my son laugh 😊) and Frasier episodes, which I join in on the laughter. Games, like Clue and Battleship, have helped pass the time away. Friends and family visiting us, as well as traveling home to New Braunfels for a few weekends, have also made the time pass.

Even though Lil William has had minimal side effects, including fatigue, hair loss and nausea, he continues to have a smile on his face and brings sunshine wherever he goes.

What happens after Wednesday? Well, we travel again (the triangle I've heard it called when driving between Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas) to Dallas for a few weeks with more doctor appointments, then back to Houston at MD Anderson on Jan. 30 for a follow-up MRI to see how the treatments worked. Continuing chemo (a pill taken the first 5 days of the month for a year) will be his new regime. He will take the Spring semester off and hopefully return in the Fall to UTD. We will continue to update everyone. We appreciate your many prayers, texts, calls, and cards.

Love,

Angie/Mom

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Week 5 (and 2018) Completed!

Hello everyone! I am officially done with week 5 of radiation. The first week of January (and half of the 2nd week) will be my last leg of treatments! All in all, it has gone well. With only the occasional rough day of nausea. I am lucky to have such an incredible group of family and friends standing beside me throughout all this craziness. 

Happy New Year!

William Jr. 

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Week 4: Completed!

Hey everyone! First off I would like to apologise for the lack of frequent updates. Just know that silence on this blog means all is well. If anything got worse or significantly better, I would definitely post about it! That being said, I feel like I want to post more regardless of that haha.

Week 3 and 4 went well! I still have the same side effects. Slight nausea, slight loss of appetite, and slight loss of hair. The hair was not even noticable to me! Mainly because it had been forever since my last haircut, so the hair I had just brushed over the small baldish area. It's really not noticable! I did have my first nausea related wake up. It was my own fault really, I have medicine for it. But I was out and thought the refill was with my parents. It was not. So I took my chemo pill and did not worry! Of course 5 hours later and thankfully made it to the sink. I'm glad that was my only really bad side effect. And hopefully the last!

In case I do not post before next week, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I will be with my amazing family for the holidays, and I am looking forward to the fun and relaxation.

William Jr.

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Are your Chemo week’s back to back? How does Christmas affect the schedule? Our friends are praying & we are too! “Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.” Psalm 36:10

Thank you for the verse and kind words! Yes, my radiation is Monday through Friday every week for six weeks. I take a chemo pill every day though. My last radiation treatment is this Friday, then I'm free until Wednesday after Christmas! So that's a nice break. :)

William Jr.

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Radiation: Week 2 Completed!

Just a short update! Week 2 of radiation and chemotherapy just ended this Friday. Still, no major side effects arising, and I have been pretty happy! The only not so fun part of week 2 would be the fact that my mom and I had some really early treatment appointments. One was 7:30 AM! Thankfully we are fairly close to MD Anderson, so the drive is quick. But the early appointments are still kind of annoying. 

Although the technicians really help make it a nice experience. One of them even started his schooling in journalism before switching to the medical field! So he and I have fun conversations, regardless of the appointment time.

Thank you all again for caring so much. All the kind messages and words mean so much to me and my family. Here is to a successful week 3!

William Jr. 

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One week down...Five more to go!

Today, Nov. 30, ends William's first week of radiation and chemo at MD Anderson.  We were blessed to have someone donate 2 weeks at an apartment which is only 10 minutes from the clinic.  I will be heading back to NB today and Angie will stay here with Lil William through next week.  There may be affordable housing available through a church ministry we were referred to for William's remaining treatments.  God has certainly answered many prayers thus far and we know there will be more answers to follow. Total radiation therapy is 6 weeks.  I will plan to visit lil William and Angie when follow-up oncology visits occur.

William has tolerated his treatments thus far with only minimal appetite loss.  His radiation doctor, that we met with yesterday, solidified what she referred to as his "plan" as solid, and approved by the "committee."  She showed us his most recent MRI outlined with different colored areas indicating where direct targeted and global radiation treatments would be performed.  Many family and friends have questioned why we would do these treatments at MD Anderson since it is only a daily 15 minute process once checked in.  Lil William chose this plan when he learned that there were 9 individuals that would oversee this treatment and specifically for his tumor type.  When we inquired what several Dallas and San Antonio clinics had, those numbers did not come close; plus they were providing radiation on multiple types of cancer treatments and not only brain tumors, like MDA.  Hearing the overall experience and specific focus, made us all feel good about his choice.  Please continue to pray for further excellent outcomes with no bad side effects, as well as suitable housing ongoing.  Please include thanking God for the doors that He has opened and closed, which gives us better direction.   We appreciate all that is being done in our son's behalf.  God is good and our family and friends are amazing!  We love you all.

In Christ,

The Pomeroy Family

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Just a small post to show what the medical device for my radiation looks like. It is used for 15 minutes every weekday, and works using “Varian Radiotherapy”. Which essentially is just another form of radiation, but with a fancy moving machine haha. Also, I am not blue like the guy in the picture :P 

William Jr. 

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The Night AFTER Radiation Treatment

The longest part of today was the drive from Dallas to Houston! Once at MD Anderson, it was as simple as checking into the Radiation department and getting called back to the treatment area. The whole treatment process only took around 15 minutes! 

There was this strange mask (Pictured below) that was made for me last week. It keeps my head from accidentally moving while I laid on the stretcher. I also am stuck with a very annoying mouth guard. Overall, having the mask and mouth guard feels a little claustrophobic. But not terrible, since it is only for 15 minutes. Then comes the big spinning laser! This part was pretty weird. This large circular item (which I assume is the laser/radiation part of the machine) rotates around the stretcher about 4 feet above my head, which goes on for the whole 15 minutes.

And that is it! I did not feel anything during the whole process, and the therapists who managed my treatment were friendly and kind. :) Overall it went quite well.

William Jr.

(Not me lol but this is what the radiation mask looks like)

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The Night Before Radiation Treatment

I just thought I would make a short post about how I am feeling about radiation and chemo treatment. Tomorrow (11-27-2018) will mark day one of my 6 week radiation treatment. Monday through Friday every week I will have a 15 minute window of treatment time. I am not worried at all! Well, I may be slightly worried. Only because I wonder what it will feel like. I have been told by all the doctors and nurses that I should not really feel anything during the laser portion of the process. But I have learned that when a medical professional says something won't hurt, it will. And when they say it will hurt, it never does. But this is MD Anderson, and so far they have been incredibly skilled and accurate. So I have no doubt that whatever happens tomorrow, these 6 weeks will end with me much healthier and much safer.

I will post an update detailing how it all went after the treatment tomorrow! Thank you all for your constant help and kindness. 😊

William Jr.

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Radiation and Chemo (Update)

Just met with the radiation doctor, who will oversee William's treatments. She treats both adults and children, and was able to get William in for radiation simulation. This is the process that fits him with a mask that will be marked and worn during treatments Monday through Friday for 6 weeks. The treatments will tentatively start the week after Thanksgiving. Monday, we had our oncology consult that included discussing chemotherapy schedule that would start simultaneously with radiation. After radiation, chemo would continue intermittently up to one year. Both radiation and oncologist physicians discussed 2 different clinical trials that William is considering. Another blessing was our housing prayers being answered. We stayed with a couple(many thanks to the Buehlers) who opened up their home to total strangers both times we needed a place to spend nights while attending appointments at MD Anderson. They also connected us with their church ministry that assists those needing housing while receiving treatments. The website is http://www.churchapartmentministry.org/apartment/index.php Please share! Please continue to pray for God to continue opening doors and William receiving great care.

In Christ,

William Sr. and Angie

11-14-18

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Just another Update

Hello everyone! This post is just kind of an update to let everyone know how I've been doing. As you know, surgery was a success! The neurosurgeon was able to remove 99% of the GBM located on my front left lobe. Now all I have to do is wait for the scar and wound area to heal up over the next few weeks. So probably starting around December I will go in for chemo and radiation. Until then I'm just relaxing and living life like I normally would. I'm on a few medications right now that are not super fun, but the side effects are nothing really. Just getting hungry a lot, which is not fun haha. Besides that, I've been having a great time with my family and friends. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, as well as the many messages I have received. They all mean so much to me. If you have any questions or just want to say hi, feel free to message me!

William Jr.

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Home at last!

William was discharged early Friday and we took advantage of the great food in Houston by getting a burger at Pappa's Burgers. We made it home around 7pm and finally got a great night's rest. Please continue to pray for healing as William recovers. Next step: healing until follow up with Dr. Sawaya and first appointment with Dr. De Groot, oncologist. Both happen back at MDA on 11/12.

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The night before surgery, enjoying family time. Which is so important to William.

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Days before Like. William's surgery, enjoying coffee. Looking forward to more good times!

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Day after Surgery

William is doing well. We are blessed to be conversing with our son as if it was just another day. Late last night after the anesthesia wore off he asked about the surgery and what his surgeon shared with us after it was all done. If William does well through the night they may discharge him tomorrow! We can not express our family's gratitude for all of the prayers and kind actions along with the beautiful words and scriptures that many have shared with us! God bless all of you wonderful friends and family. In Christ, the Pomeroy family.