Mark update

Most of you know that Mark's last round of chemo was this month. Right now we are in the third week. He had his blood drawn last Wednesday and we knew that he was neutropenic and his red blood and platelets were down. His next appointment with the doctor was on Monday. On Saturday we knew he was in desperate need of a transfusion but were hoping to make it through the weekend. Sunday evening rolled around and we realized that wasn't going to happen. He was short of breath, terribly weak and shivering. So we brought him into ER, got admitted relatively quickly and they started pumping blood into him. We were here overnight and then discharged at 315ish on Monday. We went home and I took the kids to swimming lessons and at 630ish Mark called me and said he'd spiked a fever. So I rushed home with the kids, dropped them off with my mom and brought Mark BACK to the hospital. Luckily the doc on call didn't make us go through ER again and we were directly admitted and they started anti-biotics. Woot, a whole 3 hours home!

Last night his temp got up to 104. SO scary. This morning Dr. Caton said he believes Mark has a blood infection. He is getting "riggors" which are tremor like shakes that wreck his body. His muscles and back are extremely sore now from having the riggors for the last three days. Doc said they should subside once his white blood cell counts come back and his body can take over healing itself. They are giving him booster shots to help kick start the white cells, but they haven't worked thus far.

He's pretty sick. We would appreciate all you prayers directed at this infection and the quick recovery of his blood counts so he can not only be/feel better, but also so we can go home where he is more comfortable. We love you all. Thanks so much!