Thursday: No chemo this week.

Bill got his blood testing done, and while they've now got his white cells under control, his platelets are now messed up, so next week, he might have to get a platelet transfusion or something.

But now that he'll have time off from any chemo, he can probably start the next round next week. That will be round 3 of the recommended 4 to 6 rounds.

And he feels pretty good, considering!

The oncologist said, though, that if he doesn't stabilize a little better, they're going to have to cut back his dose. He was worried that that might give the cancer an advantage, but the doctor said that it's normal to vary the dosage by up to 15%, as they don't want the chemo, itself, to do him in, (as the amount he's getting this time is kind of violently high, as I've said before.)

So next week, he also gets his "port" installed into his upper chest (Tuesday, in the hospital), and tubes will be run down into his veins, and from then on, no more needle pokes, because everything going in or coming out will just go through the port, which gets numbed, so no more pain, either, at injection sites. (Thank you to those of you who wrote us encouraging notes about how you love having your ports! It gave him the courage! Bless you!)

In closing, we note with great sadness the passing of a man named Hugh, whose son we are friends with and love very much. The man, about Bill's age, was diagnosed on the same day Bill was diagnosed, and even at the same hour as Bill was diagnosed. (We got a cell call in 2009 while we were in the actual doctor's office first being told that Bill had cancer, and the call was to tell us that our young friend's dad had just gotten his first cancer diagnosis. Uncanny timing.) But this wonderful man, a father, a lawyer, an avid golfer and surfer, just lost his battle. His diagnosis began with stage 4--same stage as Bill's--only Hugh had mouth and throat cancer, not bladder cancer.

So if you're the praying kind, or whatever you offer for suffering brothers and sisters out there, maybe you can add one in for Hugh and his family.

"God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, and accepting hardship as a pathway to peace. Taking...this world as it is, not as we would have it...trusting that You will make all things right..." --part of the extended Serenity prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr