Recent pics

Over the fourth of July weekend one of my very best friends in this world and her family came down from Washington to stay with us. She and I decided to start a new tradition of getting our pictures done with our kids! It was SO much fun to get together with them, the kids got along great, the hubby's got along great and of course my ShouldaBeenSister and I had a FABULOUS time! I just wish every weekend could be so amazing!

Here's the shots we had done. Amazingly enough all but one of these were the first try! It was an easy session! Of course we had to be patriotic and did the red, white and blue theme!

Yep, it was....

The last post from the hospital cuz WE ARE HOME!!! Thank GOD!

Mark's heart test did in fact show no infection or fungus. He basically got a clean bill of health along with a shrug as to why he's been so sick. Let's see...about 30 blood draws, 3 xrays, FOUR spinal taps, an echo cardiogram, 5 nights of 104 fever, 9 days in the hospital...and they found NOTHING. Welcome to the world of cancer.

He's still weak and has horrible muscle aches and still having headaches. But we are home, and trust me, not only does it FEEL better to heal at home but it happens faster! It's all in the mental attitude!!

Thanks all for your prayers and keeping us in your thoughts! We feel EVERY one!!!

God Bless

Last post from the hospital???

I sure hope so!!

Mark's echocardiogram thingy went fine. He said it wasn't as scary as he thought it would be. Annnd of course, it showed no infection or fungus or bacteria. All clean and pretty. *shocker*

He's feeling great. Still having some headaches but not as bad. Enjoyed Joey's pizza tonight for dinner, his favorite! (thanks Kathy!)

We are ready to go home. We miss our kids. We miss our bed. We miss....being home. Ugh...I'm whining again!

Night all, hopefully tomorrow brings you a post from...well....HOME.

The Saga continues

Sooo here we were thinking that Mark makes it 24 hours and we get to go home! Cuz...ya know...that's what Dr. Caton SAID. Well, he forgot to mention that the 24 hours had to be antibiotic FREE. So our countdown begins again.

Currently Mark is off getting yet another test that will show nothing...an echo cardiogram. They put a scope down his throat to check the heart's valves to make sure there is no infection. Sounds fun huh? Ya, so not excited on this one. He's been off antibiotics now since this morning 5ish...so HOPEFULLY tomorrow we will get to leave. I'm tired of saying that. I want to say "Yay we're home and tanning on the patio!" Figures the hottest week of the summer and we're stuck in the hospital! LOL Well, at least it's air conditioned right?

We are both all sorts of grumpy at this point. So ready to be done. So ready for the roller coaster ride to stop now so we can get off! It's not fun anymore and we are screaming for our Father to get us OOOOFFFFF!!!!

Ok...done whining.

WOW!

Mark: "I feel.....better."

Me: *blink blink*

Mark: *chuckles* "Weird huh?"

Me: "Ya! That's great to hear!"

God is good.

Sunday update

Yesterday's tests were a pain. They wouldn't let him eat or drink until he had them, then didn't come to get him about 330! MEAN! They tried twice to get spinal fluid and the doctor on duty was either a complete idiot or inept. Have you ever heard of someone trying to pull spinal fluid out with the patient laying flat on their stomach??? Crazy. Anyway, they couldn't get any so he gets to go try again today! yeehaw. The CT scan did show sinus issues though which Dr. Cho said definitely could be the cause of the fevers and no doubt is the cause of his headaches and discomfort.

He slept most of the day yesterday (boring for Becky) as the nurses kept him pretty drugged up to keep those headaches at bay. Much nicer to hear him snore than groan. While he was gone for the tests yesterday I went exploring and found a back door down some long corridor (think Halloween 2 here) which led directly to the paths in the back of the hospital. I found myself sitting on a bench under a tree overlooking the river. What a wonderful and spiritual place to have a little talk with God! I have every faith that we are about done here. A day or two more I would think at the most. Hopefully I don't lose what's left of my sanity before then.

Mark is now on two antibiotics (yay) one of which targets the sinuses specifically so Dr. Cho said that IF that is the problem Mark should be feeling a lot of relief within 48 hours. We are currently on hour 12 roughly and his headaches do seem to be subsiding a bit. (although that COULD be the drugs too...)

So please keep praying my warriors! It's definitely working. We know there's a reason we didn't go home yesterday, we know there's a reason he's still getting fevers. We are trying to get our hearts and emotions to be in the same place as our brain....it's tougher than you might think.

God Bless

Saturday news

Morning all. The oncologist that is on call this weekend came in to see Mark this morning. Stayed and talked to us for a good 20 minutes to get the gist of Mark's history. He is concerned about the headaches that Mark has had for the last week. First thing he did was order an IV...lol looks like the groshong came out a day too early! Gonna give him some platelets as that count is at 33 and to perform more tests it needs to be at least 50. Next is a CT scan on his sinuses to rule out or confirm infection there. At that time they are also going to do a spinal tap to check for infection and worst case scenario, a return of the leukemia starting in the spine.

We should have results of these tests this afternoon. Until then please pray that it's a simple infection that can be taken care of with a heavy dose of the correct anti biotic and please keep praying that the fevers stop. He hasn't had one yet this morning so I still take that as a good sign!

God Bless