Hello everyone. Today has been a long day. Mark had a very rough night last night with a lot of pain and suffering. It took quite a bit of pain medication to get him comfortable and he refused to turn the light off last night for us to sleep, so we slept with the bedroom light on. I don't know why he insisited the light be on, but he did. He was moaning and groaning and just miserable. He ended up taking quite a bit of medication and then finally used some of the morphine this morning. He eventually got comfortable and it was good to see him rest and look peaceful. We thought for a while it may be his last day with us. His lips looked white and he was pale and mottled a bit. He was pretty out of it all day and not very responsive and had very shallow breathing at times. Matt went and checked the kids out of school just to be safe. Luckily Mark seems to be a little better now. He has a very weak voice, but is talking some. He is still using quite a bit of pain medication. I, of course, didn't go in to work today.
Dr. Farmer emailed me this morning just to check on Mark, so I informed her of what was going on here. She offered to put Mark in the Bethany House to get a better handle on his pain, but he wants to stay here. His hospice nurse, Julia, came by today and checked on him. His blood pressure was actually good. She is going to make sure he has enough pain medications to get us through the weekend. If he gets bad, the Bethany House is always an option, but we want to do everything we can to keep Mark at home. Mark hasn't eaten anything at all in 2 days now. He is drinking a little water and had a very tiny bit of orange juice yesterday and a small glass of fruit punch today, so not much in the way of calories.
Kathy, Matt, Eugenie, Brent and I spent most of the day sitting with Mark. It made for a long day today. Matt and Brent decided to take Calen to baseball tryouts this afternoon as Mark seemed to be doing a bit better and then Eugenie and Matt took the kids out to eat dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger.
Mark has been somewhat grumpy which is hard. I just want to hold his hand or lay with him and he hurts so bad and feels so bad, he just wants to be left alone and not be touched. We all just have to sit and watch him from a distance. I think that is the hardest part for me. I really miss his humor, hearing his laughter and just joking with him or having him tease me about something. I would really love it if he feels good enough to do that again.
I have to say Thank You to Tia. Your letter was so wonderful and touching. I would never have thought about doing a Build-A-Bear for Emily with Mark's voice message, so Thank You!!!! You are so kind and that will be something that Emily will cherish forever. God bless you!!! Thanks to so many of you for all of your wonderful support. Mark got a phone call from Gene Chizik-I don't know who asked him to call Mark, but thank you. My mother had Billy Sims, the former Oklahoma great and Heismann winner call Mark a few weeks ago which was a neat surprise. Thanks mom!!! Oh yeah, Scott we got your letter from New Zealand. Thanks!! It was great hearing from you and your letter was wonderful.
Please continue to pray for Mark. Pray that he will not suffer with pain. It would be nice to see him in a pain free state so that he could enjoy some more time with us and create some more memories. Pray for all of those suffering with cancer out there. God bless!!!
7 comments:
Ronda, I am thinking of your family every day. I am so sorry that you are all having to endure this heartbreak. I watched Calen at tryouts yesterday. He looks great! He has so much of his Dad in him, you can really see it when he plays sports, so competitive! We love all of you very much!
Ronda, we have continued to pray for Mark and you guys throughout the year from the frozen North. Our thoughts are with you.
Michaël, Heidi and Alizée (born 10/18/2009)
Think about and pray for your wonderful family each and every day. I continue to pray for Mark to be free from pain and for Gods presence to be felt around all of you bringing you peace and comfort.
Kathi Correia
I am praying for Mark and you and your whole family. I hope he is willing to use the pain medicine as often as prescribed and you can keep him at home as he wishes. God bless you all.
We continue to pray for Mark and for your family.
God Bless you all. Our prayers are for you during this trial. You are a grace to others, but sometimes it is very difficult to follow Christ. But He is with you.
rb from st mike's
We are praying for you all. God's ways are so hard to understand sometimes. We pray that God will be your strength and comfort and carry you all through this time.
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