November 30

Hello to everyone. We are getting back to normal after the long trip. It was a lot of fun, but tiring. We drove back Friday night and made the trip in about 12 1/2 hours. It usually takes closer to 14 during the day. I drove the entire time since Mark wasn't feeling well. I was quite exhausted when we arrived Saturday morning, but amazingly I didn't lay down and sleep, I unpackaged the bags and did laundry all day. I took a 1 hour nap and somehow made it through the day. Mark was tired and slept a lot. The trip really wore him out. We picked up Belle, our lab, and got Leppy the guinea pig today. We are once again complete. haha

We were able to watch the Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State football game which was exciting. Emily even got out the pom poms and did some cheers for us. I think that really helped the team. I know a lot of people are upset that Texas didn't make it to the championship game, but we are quite excited about going. The strength of our schedule combined with a 3 way tie for the lead in the South makes us quite deserving we feel (and the computers apparently agreed).

Mark is gearing up for chemo again tomorrow. These last 2 rounds have definitely not been easy on him. We hope and pray that the next one will be better tolerated. The antinausea medicine has been helpful, so we will see how this round goes. Mark is hoping to feel well enough after the infusion tomorrow to make it to Calen's basketball game which is at 4. We will see. This is the last week he will have to teach for a while since finals are coming up. That will be helpful.

Thanks again to everyone who has been so supportive of Mark and all of us during this battle with cancer. We really appreciate all of the love and support. God bless!!!!

Nov 23

Hello to all. It's been a few days since I've posted. We made the trip back to Oklahoma. It wasn't too bad. We stayed in Olive Branch, MS overnight Thursday and finished the drive Friday morning. We were tired from the drive. Usually Mark does most of the driving, but I did most of it this trip. He is starting to rebound and feel more like himself which is good.

We went to the Oklahoma vs Texas Tech game Saturday night. It was a great game!!!! There was a lot of excitement and energy from the fans and we feel we helped the team to their impressive victory. Now we hope they can win with authority over OSU. They will be tough!!! The kids enjoyed the game and we took a lot of pictures.

We had a quiet day today and plan more activites this week. We will be going to Norman to visit campus tomorrow and to an Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game Tuesday night. It should be fun even though they aren't playing well, I think they are playing a good opponent.

It has been nice visiting with family and friends. We are really enjoying the trip. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

God bless!!!

November 18

Hello everyone. It was quite the day. Mark felt pretty ill, but managed to drag himself in for class today. He took his chemo pump with him and taught. He came home and totally crashed. He ate some soup which later came back up. He felt pretty nauseated tonight and was getting annoyed with me trying to encourage him to eat some crackers. You can just imagine this picture, right??? He finally ate a few (probably so I'd be quiet and leave him alone). The antinausea pills finally kicked in around 9:30 this evening and after the kids were in bed and I was finally getting everything picked up and finished in the house, Mark asks me to go get him a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. That certainly doesn't sound like anything I'd crave during a time of nausea, but I figure the pills must be working. I ran out at 10pm and got the food and so far it's stayed down. We will see.... It was just nice to see him requesting something to eat. (I would have prefered something we had in the kitchen, but oh well.....)

Mark should get unhooked from the chemo tomorrow around noon. Hopefully by Thursday or Friday he is starting his rebound. We plan to travel this weekend and it would be nice if he felt good during the drive.

Colton found out his basketball team this evening and they will have their first practice Thursday night. Calen has been practicing hard each night and will finally get a night to rest tomorrow as their practice was cancelled.

Thanks again for all of the prayers and support for Mark and the family during this cancer battle. Continue to pray for all of those battling this awful disease. God bless!!!!!

November 17-Round #2

Hello to everyone. Mark started round #2 of this chemo cycle today. He got nauseated just thinking of it this morning. He had an appointment with Dr. Farmer before his chemo started and we talked with her about how he reacted last round. She has a great plan for this time and future chemos to help prevent the nausea and anxiety associated with it. Hopefully it will work. Frank came and sat with us for most of the morning and visited with Mark. Mark really enjoyed that and we both really appreciate your friendship. It really means a lot. Mark started getting sick by mid treatment and pretty much passed out in the chair (not literally, but fell into a deep sleep). He was freezing with goose bumps all over him, so I put a warm blanket on him and he seemed to rest well. Colton had his team's end of the year football party tonight and of course Mark insisted on going even though he felt like total crap. He made it through the party and after we got home, he was able to take one of the pills Dr. Farmer prescribed and he really relaxed and seems so much more comfortable. I think this will really help get him through these awful days.

Miki and Scott Parker brought over some chicken soup for Mark yesterday to help get him through the nausea. It is a homemade recipe from Miki's mom. They also brought food for the rest of us which was awfully nice. Thanks so much guys!!!! It was great!!!!

We are gearing up for our long trip back to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. We will have to break up the trip and Mark is supposed to get out and stretch often as chemo patients are at higher risk for forming blood clots. It may be our longest trip on record. Good thing we have a portable DVD player and now an adapted for the playstation2 for the car. haha. We may need them to keep our sanity.

God bless!!!

November 12

Mark is doing well this week. He remains a little dehydrated and is constantly fighting that. The nausea seems to have left and we are thankful. He has been busy catching up with his grading. His students are anxious to get their projects back. He is working diligently tonight trying to get them all finished.

Colton's football team played in the championship game last night at the High School stadium. He was so excited. Their team won and had an undefeated season this year. The kids were so excited as well as the coaches. They all worked so hard this year. Mark got to enjoy the game from the sideline.

Calen is busy practicing basketball every day after school. He comes home exhausted from all the running and conditioning they do. The season will be starting up soon and will be very busy. Most of their games start at 4 or 4:30.

The kids all got their picture taken tonight at the mall with Aubie dressed up as Santa. We didn't realize they were doing the pictures tonight, but happened to be there shopping. Emily was psyched and had to get hers done, so we talked the boys into it, too. I think it will be cute. The pictures will be mailed to the house later. Of course, they weren't dressed up or anything, but still it will be a great keepsake for later.

Mark is excited to have his twin brother, Matt, coming in this weekend for the Auburn/Georgia game and tailgate. It should be fun (the tailgate anyway-unless you are a Georgia fan). After the weekend of fun, he will gear up for his next round of chemo on Monday. Pray that it is easier on him this time. God bless!!

November 10

Hello everyone. Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. Mark starting feeling quite a big better on Friday and turned the corner on Saturday. He continues to have A LOT of output from the ileostomy and dehydration will be our biggest hurdle to overcome now. We were hoping so badly to have gotten that reversed before the chemo started. Hopefully he won't require IV fluids this week, but he is having trouble keeping the fluids in a positive balance. We are glad to see Mark feeling better and hope that he has a great week before we go back to chemo next Monday.

Colton's football team will be playing for the league championship at the High School stadium on Tuesday night. He is excited about that. Calen is practicing basketball every night now and is definitely getting into good shape. They run a lot!!!!

We are so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family supporting us. Continue to pray for Mark's strength through this battle. God bless!!!!

Nov 6

Well, we had hoped Mark would be better today, but he still felt pretty lousy. He has had more nausea and vomiting with this round of chemo than he ever has in the past. I am not sure why, but we certainly don't like it. He got some IV medicine for the nausea on Wednesday and is taking some oral antinausea medicine today. It has really been the worst treatment yet. I hope the next one is easier on him. He tried to go in and teach his class today, but had to leave because of the nausea and vomiting and spent the rest of the day in bed.

I managed to pick up all 3 kids after work and make it to Calen's basketball team's parent meeting. We didn't get home until late, so we just grabbed some fast food. YUK!!!! We finished homework and showers and got everyone off to bed.

Please keep Mark in your prayers. He needs to get through these chemo treatments and hopefully get the next surgery done in February. Also remember Paulo in your prayers as he will be starting chemo soon for newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer. God bless!!!

November 5

Hello everyone. Mark isn't feeling so great with this chemo. In fact, I think this is his worst treatment yet. He started out Monday doing fair, but has rapidly declined. He was dehydrated today and got some IV fluids this afternoon at the infusion center. He hasn't been able to get up today at all. He had hoped to take Colton to basketball tryouts and to football practice, but couldn't get up. He really didn't eat all day and finally managed a little soup this evening. He is really grumpy and mostly just grunts at me when I check on him and ask him how he's doing. (Who can blame him???) It's so hard to see him feeling this bad. I certainly hope that all of his future treatments won't be like this. He had some that were better than others his last go round with the chemo.

I was extremely busy this evening running to get all 3 kids picked up on time and dropped off to practices on time. I was late picking Calen up from basketball practice and felt really bad. It was nonstop, though. Glad that's over!!!

I hope that Mark bounces back quickly from this round. Maybe he will wake up feeling much better. We can hope. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. God bless!!!

November 3-Chemo restarted

Hello to all. Mark and I went in to the Cancer Center this morning around 8am. He got his blood drawn and the chemo started. He knew without looking at what was hanging when the oxaliplatin was infusing by the tingling he got in his fingers, toes and tongue. The chemo memories quickly came flooding back. He got the exact same regimen as before without the Avastin added. He came home with the 5FU infusion that will last until Wednesday morning. He is feeling extremely fatigued now. He did make it to Colton's football game tonight and sat in a chair on the sidelines. He was much less animated than usual. Colton's team won and will play in the championship game next week. Mark should be feeling better for that game.

Mark's CEA number was higher this time at 25 (from 16) which confirms that we made the right decision in not waiting any longer on restarting the chemo. This is starting to show it's ugly face again and I think we are hitting it where it counts. The PET/CT was totally clean which gives us great hope that there isn't any metastasis anywhere.

Calen made the 7th grade basketball team. We are very proud of him. There were about 56 kids trying out for 15 positions and he made the team. They started workouts today and he will definitely be in shape with these workouts.

We are hoping to make a trip back home to Oklahoma soon for Thanksgiving. We may also make it to the Texas Tech/Oklahoma football game. The kids are excited about that. Mark will have one more chemo before that.

Thanks to all of you who continually show us support and love through this battle. Pray hard that Mark's body tolerates the chemo and fights the cancer. God bless!!!!!