Sept 6

Good morning to all. Mark had a good night. We stayed and watched the OU game and were disappointed to see Bradford get hurt and the Sooners lose. Mark was able to stay awake for the entire game. He rested well after the game. Matt, Angie and I stayed in the room until midnight and Matt decided to stay the night with Mark. Angie and I headed back to the Family House for some rest.

The recliner in the room is not much to rest in, so it makes for a long night. I think Matt was ready to go get some real sleep this morning when I arrived. He stayed until the doctors rounded and then headed off for some sleep.

Mark has a urinary tract infection and they've started some antibiotics. They haven't tried to pull the catheter out yet. He still has the PCA pump for pain control as well as the spinal pumps on each side infusing pain medicines as nerve blocks to his abdomen. They are keeping him comfortable for the most part. The pain team rounded and sounded like they weren't ready to pull the spinal catheters yet, so they will be in all day today. They can't pull the PCA yet since Mark isn't eating yet, so that should remain today. They decided to feed Mark just a few liquids. He doesn't have an appetite yet at all. He has only drank a little bit of water. His abdomen is really distended and hurting.

He got out of bed this morning and we went for a SLOW walk. He did well. He was pretty weak and leaned a lot on me and the IV pole. I washed him up and gave him a shave and he smells like a rose now. He immediately fell asleep when I got him back in bed.

We pray for a good day and lots of healing and pain relief. They say it may be 6 weeks before he can start chemo again. We are really hoping he can start it sooner as we feel this is valuable time we are losing now. Mark seems strong and knows what he needs to do. Continue to pray that the Erbitux will kill this cancer and pray that new therapies continue to emerge. God bless!!!!