Updates.

First of all, a few housekeeping items before I forget. Big thanks to Brian for opening your house once again. We enjoyed the visit and are so thankful for a relaxing comfortable place to be. The fact that you are 5-10 minutes from the hospital is a huge bonus as well.

Secondly, I am once again asking for extra prayers. My grandma has broken her leg and is spending some time at Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital. She is really missing her home and my heart just breaks for her. I pray for peace and healing for her.

And now for a little Q and A.

Q. Do you have an appointment yet?
A. We are scheduled to see Dr. Jeffrey Lamont at Baylor Dallas on September 2, at 0900.

Q. Where will he have surgery?
A. Baylor Health Care, Dallas, TX

Q. Do you need your liver?
A. Your liver serves many functions in the body. Yes, you need your liver. However, you can function with only 1/3 of a liver. The liver has the ability to regenerate and resume normal liver function.

Q. What about the lymph nodes?
A. Dr. Mccollum assured us that the lymph nodes will be monitored very closely. He said that the lymph nodes were not very "hot" on the PET scan. He is not convinced that they have cancer in them. He says that lymph nodes can be enlarged for so many reasons. We will not assume it is cancer unless it acts like cancer. They will be monitored closely for growth with scans. He says he has another patient with the enlarged lymph nodes that have been there for 10 years with no change.

Q. How long will he be in the hospital?
A. Because we have not seen the surgeon, we do not have a good idea yet. Broadly speaking it will be 5-10 days?

Q. If the tumors shrunk with the chemo, then why not just keep doing that so they will shrink some more?
A. Chemotherapy is primarily used to shrink tumors and slow progression of cancer. The resection is utilized to actually rid the body of the cancer and give the best chance for a cure.

And Finally.....
Q. Why would you get a new boat?
A. Because we wanted to.

Love to all, Missy

Good news!

So, do you want the good news about the boat or about Mark first? Okay, the boat it is. The service man just called to let us know how great our boat runs. It started right up and he took it on the lake for 15 min. Couldn't find a thing wrong! Hopefully, whatever it was worked
itself out and won't happen again. You don't know how happy Mark is. He's not sure where he is going to muster the energy, but he sure wants to get out on the lake again.

And, for the important news you really wanted to hear. As I said, Mark's scan showed progress of cancer treatment in some areas and slight growth in other areas. Dr. McCollum was pleased with Mark's scan and was able to clarify some of the findings for us. He says that he feels the chemo is being more effective than the pictures really indicate. While the scan shows spots to be larger, it also shows areas of tissue death within those spots, meaning that the cancer is dying. He says he is confident that the shrinking of the lung nodules and the changes in the liver nodules are an indication that we should continue with the plan using Folfiri to get a total of 12 treatments in. In addition, it is time to start intervening procedurally. There are four areas that they are wanting to eliminate. Of greatest concern are the areas in the liver, so they will address that initially. They are working to get in with a surgeon, Dr. Jeff Lamont. Dr. McCollum assures us he is one of the best he has worked with. He is very confident in his technical skills as well as his aggressiveness which make him a good fit for Mark's plan of care. He plans for him to remove the portion of the right side of the liver involving both lesions. It looks as though that will happen within the next month. In preparation for that, he must be off of one of his chemo drugs, Avastin, for 4-6 weeks. Yesterday was treatment he received treatment #6 without Avastin (Unfortunately, he told Mark leaving the Avastin out probably will not help to make him feel any better following chemo.)

The lung nodules appear 40-50% smaller on the scan and he is planning an ablation procedure to eliminate them. He thinks this will be done with ease and it will be scheduled following the liver resection.

While now we are are faced with the anticipation of another surgery, the news felt like a blessing to us. We, and especially Mark are very TIRED and have been praying that there is relief from all of this at some point. It feels kind of like having a bad job. You have to trudge through it, dragging yourself there everyday because it is what you have to do. Now there is a tangible plan to rid ourselves of this little inconvenience and look forward to life - without cancer! God is always good.

I am certain everyone has some questions, and I would be happy to answer anything. You can leave in the comments or e-mail to me at mmbrown@nts-online.net. I will probably do a little Q and A this evening with questions or things I have forgotten. Thanks you all for caring so much about us. We couldn't do it without you.

Also, a few special thanks this week to a couple of great people. Thanks Kristi and Danny for covering for my failures. Can you believe they actually arranged courier service to Dallas to get us something we forgot. True love, and we appreciate you and enjoyed getting to visit with you. And to our parents who we can always count on to make sure our kids are taken care of. It is such a relief to be able to leave and know that they are in good hands.

And before Landon left for school, as I mentioned changes earlier, he was reading and said "Hey, maybe you could mention what we did this morning," and so I must! Thank you to Austin and Landon who got up on there own and got themselves ready to go, on time, without force! For one of these two that is a HUGE accomplishment. Can anyone guess who? I know that princess Abby will follow the trend as well!!!???? God, please help them to remember how proud I was today!

Love to all, Missy

The joys of having a boat!

everyone is so excited about going to the lake with the new boat and trying out the new tube. The sun is setting and there is bit just a ripple on the water. Awesomeness! And just as we drop the boat in the water, it malfunctions! Soooo, you load it back up. With tension high and kids very disappointed. Unfortunately Sunday didn't
happen either. Sound familiar!!! Kind of put a damper on our great plans dor the weekend.

Happy birthday to Barbara C. Hope you had a great day.

Mark's scan was done today. It wasn't much different than the last. The best news is that the lung nodules are about half the size they were. Everything else is pretty much unchanged. How that will affect the plan - find out on Wednesday
we don't know. I will let you know as we learn more.

Gotta go. Hope this makes sense cuz I am falling asleep repeatedly!!!!!!

Whew!!!

Sale week is over. We were very pleased with our busy week. And thank goodness Mark has turned the corner in just the last day and a half. He is feeling pretty good right now.

Back to last weekend, you might remember Mark's mom and dad were coming to stay with him and the kids while I was away. What a treat! Grandmother stays busy, busy every time she is at our house. Mark said they ate and ate and ate. I sure didn't hear any kids complaining/ We so appreciate everything they did while here. I was a little jealous about missing the cookin', but I did have a few really good meals as well. The convention was very nice with great accommodations. Thanks to Barbara and all those at Catholic Life for making the weekend possible. Wish Mark could have been there, but I did meet some really nice people and had a good time. I took a leisurely ride home - if that is what you call 30mph on I35 on a Sunday afternoon. I made it as far as Austin and met with my sisters in Cedar Park. That was enough. Good ole 281 you are my friend! The big city folks can keep their horrible traffic. That might drive me to insanity (your right! not far to go, but still!)

Mark is scheduled for his scan on Monday at 1000 am. We will fax reports and take cd's to Dr. McCollum on Wednesday and review the plan of care then. We are praying for God's healing hands to embrace Mark and hoping He will send only good news our way.

Better go. Kids at home wanting to get to the lake. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Love to all, Missy

Well.

I just had to get on here again to let everyone know that I really am okay. Following my last post I am certain someone was wondering who left this raving crazy woman in my place. With any luck, no one will go back to catch up on old posts?!! HEHE. Like Auntie N said, if we can't laugh about it we would waste away in our own self pity I suppose.

Best wishes to Doug and Dottie today. They are moving, and it is HOT. Hopefully Dottie is taking lots of breaks to rest to take care of my new little niece or nephew. Wish I could be helping you guys more. Thanks mom and dad for being there for them.

Also, just found out about my friend Michael from Olney. He was the young man from Olney that was diagnosed with cancer shortly after Mark. Michael had 3 1/2 months cancer free. Just last week they found his cancer to have returned and he will again be receiving chemotherapy. Many prayers for strength for Terri and Michael as they get back in the ring.

Hope everyone has a splendid weekend. Oh and that reminds me. I forgot in my last post to let everyone know how wonderful last weekend was. My sister had a cabin at pk and she took my kids for the weekend. Mark and I were able to pop in and out as well. We had a fabulous time on the lake, and with family and visiting friends. It was so good that even running out of gas didn't seem so bad! Thanks to Wayne and Laverne for taking care of us. We owe you big.

Love to all, Missy

Okay, Missy has had it!

ONE MORE TIME, I am going to attempt to make this post. This is the THIRD time I have retyped this entire thing. The first one took my time to create. The second one explained how sometimes I H-A-T-E this blog. (Yes I spelled it because my mother taught me never to hate anything!) And yes, when I sent it, POOF - it was gone. And now I would just like to throw the computer out. If only I were not trying to take care of a bit of personal business at work this would probably not be happening! AAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH. Think it is a security issue. SSSOOOOOOOO I came to the shop to try yet again to get out a little ole post. PPPLLLEEEEAAASEEE! Everyone got it. Missy is about to lose her mind over this computer thing. I even saved the second post - REPEATEDLY - and nothing
AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH.

Okay. I am a little better now. Mark is right in the middle of treatment #5. I will remove his pump tomorrow. Then he will probably sleep most of the weekend and will get to enjoy being pampered by by his mom. Grandmother and Granddaddy will be helping Mark and the kids while I am in San Antonio. This weeks treatment was a little unusual. Always something NEW for us to experience. We were so thankful to get some new medicine for Mark to help with the anticipatory symptoms he was having prior to returning for treatments. We would have a good weekend and come Monday, he would start feeling poorly again. This time he took the medicine on Tuesday and had a better day than usual. It would appear that if you take too much of this medicine you will have difficulty talking, walking, driving, holding on to your coffee cup, holding on to your newspaper, remembering things you have said, censoring the thoughts in your head before speaking, and staying awake! Whew, he plum wore me out. But, the good news is he doesn't remember any of it. Oh, bits and pieces, but the treatment is a blur to him. probably because he could hardly open his eyes the entire day!

The plan now is to get scans prior to returning for chemo #6. We have decided to wait until the 23rd of August, anticipating a good weekend and then only having a couple of days to have to think about any results prior to going back to Baylor on the 25th. At that time we should be developing the next step in the plan. We hope for only great and positive things, but our prayer is really that God does what is right for us as only he knows what that is. And, that whatever the test show, he gives us the resources we need to persevere and continue fighting this dreaded disease. Mark is really awesome. It is amazing to be with him through this process. We all have much to learn from him.

Auntie N, I have not forgotten. My work for you is done. I must rewrite or retype as scratch on a papertowel is not acceptable form, but I will deliver ASAP. Thank you so much for all your hard work and if I can help in any way, please call on me.

Love to all, Missy

SoooooooEXCITED!!!

To have my computer back. Thanks so much to the Anderle's for making it happen, especially Brian and Aaron. You guys are great. I sure am glad there are good people with enough patience to figure out these silly machines! We owe you big!

Well, while we were technology deficient, chemo #4 came and went - as did the plan to do a CT scan this week. Because Mark had a descent treatment last time ( a good 5 out of 14 days) Dr. Mccollum said he would feel better taking a look after 5 treatments as opposed to 4. The rationale is that there is a possibility that results after 4 treatments would be definitive, but there is a certainty that results will be definitive after 5 treatments. For example, if there was no change in condition after 4, he would question whether we just didn't wait long enough, but no change after 5 treatments will mean plan proceeding to plan B. Perfectly logical reasoning, but sort of a let down as the unknown is always awful to wait for. I said all along that I, for one, am learning great patience!!!

We did get to spend the weekend in Ft. Worth visiting with Mark's family. It was very laid back with lots of R and R. The kids had a great time with their cousins from California. New Mexico and the metroplex that they don't get to see real often. Mark is still trying to come around from treatment. He is mostly struggling with the weakness, tiredness, and lack of energy, and fairly constant diarrhea. Overall pretty miserable, but hoping better days are to come this week.

So I have made the lunch and chauffeured the boys to football, watered, done a couple of loads of laundry, and the dishes, had breakfast, posted on the blog and killed about 100 crickets today. Yuck. While bad, certainly not the worst we have seen. The grasshoppers on the other hand, they have eaten every leaf off of every rose bush and are working really hard on the rest of the bushes. Amazing. Sure wish some fisherman would come harvest some good bait from my house!

Hope you all are doing well and staying cool indoors. Austin says the 100 + degrees outside is a little warm!!! As for how hot that new turf is, he confirms all the rumors are true! On fire!! God bless all athletes as they swelter in the heat while conditioning their bodies all so they can entertain the spectators on the court or on the field. Keep them strong and safe. Love to all, Missy.