Faith Triumphs in Trouble

Romans 5:1-5 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Yesterday, while waiting to go into his brain CT, Marcus showed me the sweet word of God above.  Little did I know that it would have perfect meaning to us today! 

Today was result day to see if the chemo was working!  Well, here's the run down: All tumors in his lungs decreased in size except for one where his pleural effusion was...and honestly, since there is still some fluid they can't tell if it really grew, or if it wasn't measured properly before due to the effusion.  No new mets in his liver, spleen, kidneys, pancreas or brain!!! PRAISE GOD!!  They did however, see a small (less than 1cm) lesion in his T12 vertebrae, but that can't say for sure if it is actually a bone met or what-because it is so small.  WE AREN'T CONCERNED WITH THIS!  So, since the bone lesion is possible and it appears the right lung tumor may have grown, this puts him into a progression category-and since he is BRAF positive, Dr. Kim wants him to go directly to one of the new BRAF phase one(where you get the medicine-no placebo) clinical trials-EXACTLY WHERE MARCUS WANTED TO BE FROM THE START!!  These new BRAF trials are seeing awesome results-we currently have a friend we have met through a melanoma patient site that is in this exact trial and currently has NO ACTIVE DISEASE after only 2 months and she had tumors all over her body!!  GLORY TO GOD!  If this progression would not have occured, then he would not be eligible for this trial-so to some it may seem negative-but to us, it is a prayer answered!!  We prayed that God would guide the doctor to whatever treatment was necessary to heal Marcus, and that is exactly what is occuring!!  We are rejoicing in this tribulation, because we know it will produce perseverance-then character-then hope-and hope does not disappoint-because the LOVE of GOD has been poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us!!!!

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support-please do not stop praying!  Please stand in faith with me that this possible bone lesion is nothing and will go away and that the BRAF trial will send all this melanoma to INACTIVE MODE!!! 

The Princesses have spoken.....we are done camping!!

 

 

 

I am attaching some pics from Sloane's 4th b-day party last weekend...she loves tinkerbell and anything involving princesses...so we got into character! ;) Anyways, Sela, Sloane and I have been struggling with this camping lifestyle-don't blame us, it's not our fault-Marcus has just spoiled us so much!! We have been trying hard to hang tough in the 5th wheel and pretend we are on a LONG camping trip, but we really didn't how much longer we could handle it...so, since we were planning on selling the 5th wheel anyways at some point before we build again, Marcus told us we could just rent an apartment until then-because he wants us to be happy :) This was the best news 3 girls could have heard! So we will be moving into our sweet little apartment by Jan 15 and we will have 2 bathrooms again, washer/dryer and almost 1200 sq ft...needless to say we will feel like we are in a mansion ;) Now, we just gotta sell the 5th wheel- SO, if you are or know anyone looking for a "like new" 5th wheel-we have a 2005 Open Road, 40', 4 slide outs-ready to GO!!! Just email me and I will send pics....

Marcus has been feeling really good and will even be going back to work next week on light duty...he is so ready to get on with his life and get past chemo, labwork, drs, MELANOMA!!  So please continue to pray with us and stand in faith, in agreement that he will be healed from this beast!  He has so much life to live and so much to give-thank you all for your continued support, prayers and love!  We love you all!!!

GREAT NEWS-ALL GLORY TO GOD!!!

GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!! Marcus just got a call from MD Anderson and he is positive for BRAF mutation!!! SO if needed, he would be eligible for another array of open doors in treatment!!!! Also, very preliminary because it was from an xray yesterday, it appears that the left lung tumor appears to be stable and possibly reduced....SOOOOO, more great news to follow after we get those CT scans Jan 19-21-but we just had to let you all know this news so far!! PRAISE GOD-WE WILL CONTINUE TO STAND IN FAITH!!!!!!! PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED EVERYDAY!!!

grateful for every sigh of relief :)

Well today was full of sighs of relief!
The girls and I dropped Marcus off for his appointment with Cardiopulmonary today at MD Anderson. The fluid in his Denver Cath just has not been coming out since our last drain Dec 26-which we are grateful for, but just wanted to make sure the fluid was actually gone in the pleural cavity before the cath is removed...well, the x-ray wasn't really completely conclusive-but the dr. tried to drain cath but couldn't get anything either...so he decided to take it out! Marcus was so pleased!! BIG SIGH OF RELIEF #1!!
While Marcus was handling the Denver cath appt., I decided to take the girls to the Houston Museum of Natural Science until he was done and before their appt at 2:15.....we were blessed with a great parking spot right by the door-BIG SIGH OF RELIEF #2! and really enjoyed ourselves...dinosaurs, bugs, animals, energy, chemistry-very eventful museum tour-but my favorite part was the Butterfly exhibit! I could have stayed in there ALL DAY!! I even had a butterfly land on me-Sela was mad because she wanted one to land on her so bad-and I had to threaten to beat Sloane so she wouldn't try and grab it off my shirt and put it on hers!!! They were able to touch some dead butterflies that the nice volunteer brought by-and they seemed pretty happy with their butterfly experience! Marcus was done around 1pm and we drove back to get him, grabbed a bite to eat-then headed to their appt all together.....BIG SIGH OF RELIEF #3!!
Girls had their annual dermatolgoist appointment-first time with new pediatric dermatologist in hst-dr. hebert-she was wonderful-I guess once she saw on their paperwork that their daddy was Stage IV Metastatic Melanoma, she decided to call all interns she had in her office in the room to learn ;) She came in with about 5 interns (thankfully all female or Sela would have flipped out more than she already did!) She went over all the girls moles and explained to interns and me what they were called, what we needed to be concerned with, etc...and THANK GOD-everything on them is normal! Sloane's little new freckle on her bottom lip had me concerned-and the dr said it was good that I was aware and concerned because moles on mucousal (not sure if I really spelled that right) areas are at a higher risk of metastazing if they are Melanoma-so she said to keep a close eye on that one and keep chapstick with sunscreen on her lips! Sloane will be very happy with me now-she hates stuff on her lips unless it is sparkly-guess I am now in search of sparkly chapstick with sunscreen ;) Sela has a large mole on her back that I have never liked, but dr. says it is fine-just keep watching and come back next year-and we will! She also explained to the girls-more to Sela since she is older and actually understands-how they needed to take really good care of their skin, wearing sunscreen always, protective clothing, hats, etc. and getting their moles checked for the rest of their lives-due to the family history with their daddy-I made Sela repeat what dr. hebert told her so she couldn't get mad at me when I was hounding her about all this soon ;) And I also made her promise that even when she was a grown up she would always get her moles checked and her kid's moles checked-she agreed, but then she said, "how do you know I'm gonna have kids?" ;) I was just happy with her promising me this and for the good news about their moles being normal! BIG SIGH OF RELIEF #4!!

So Sela starts school tomorrow, Marcus goes back for labwork locally to make sure all his counts are still good, and we get back to normal life until Jan 19-21 when Marcus goes back to MD Anderson for scans to see how this CVD chemo cocktail performed! We are still standing in faith, believing that God will heal him from the inside out-and we will not accept anything else!!!! Please stand with me in faith-Love you all!!!!

2010-ready for you!!!!

Today Marcus got his neulasta shot-finished his chemo yesterday-and is ready to speak of melanoma in the past tense!!! We go back to MDA Monday for followup on his Denver cath-hoping they take it out!! Then back for scans Jan 19-21-so keep prayin warriors for positive news !!! We are still standing in faith that this chemo will work-trusting in God for a healing!!! Ready for some good news in 2010-and NO more melanoma!!!!

Happy new year!!