Happy-but not

Well we are finally settled in our room-thank you Lord for getting us into P1004 and not ICU!!!!! Tonight Marcus will get fluids and antibiotics but won't start treatments until tomorrow morning. We met with Dr. Kim today and found out some news that fustrated us a little-Dr. Kim wants him to do 4 rounds of IL-2 no matter what. We are scheduled to come back Nov 30 for scans and then admit again for 3rd round-then, even if tumors are
gone, he still wants him to come back for 4th round-if tumors are not gone, but responding, then he will go 6 rounds. We totally misunderstood all his before-but now we know the full game plan-4 rounds of IL-2 no matter what-possibly 6! We were so happy to get this room-but then not when we found out about the additional treatments-BUT Marcus says he will do whatever it takes to get all this melanoma out of his lungs!!!! So keep the prayers coming prayer warriors-Marcus needs them!!!!!!!!

7th dose complete!

Marcus was finally able to take his 7th dose of IL-2 around 1:30pm and finished about 1:45pm.  They had to give him potassium and calcium this time in IV.  Dr days this may be his last dose-just have to see how this 7th one goes-even if this is the last one, he will still have to be here at least 2 more days. Hopefully not in ICU but I don't know yet. He is so ready to be done-sad thing because he knows he has to come back for round 2 oct. 26-but he is ready for the break-and I am ready to see him unconnected to IVs.  Keep praying please-we need it!  Love u all!

Leviticus 14:7 -Seven is a great number to finish on!!

"Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the infectious disease and pronounce him clean..." Leviticus 14:7

Dr came in about 20mins ago-Marcus is really feeling bad-he is achy, skin is tight and he's just tired.  He hasn't urinated since 3am-they measure intake/output very closely- and he can't get another dose until he does-he just ate a little breakfast and drank several glasses of water, but still doesn't feel the need to go.  So dr says he won't get a dose at 10am-may get one this afternoon-but she wants him to at least get that 7th dose before he calls is quits.  He is getting 80 million units per dose.  It is really taking a toll on him.  I told him 7 was a great number to finish on!!  So we are praying he will be able to handle at least that 7th dose and then let God finish the rest!! Keep prayers coming please!!  Thank u-we love u all! 

Ok Marcus' 5th dose at 6:30 pm yesterday was chills/rigors free until about 10:30pm then a few came on-not bad but some.  His 6th dose didn't come until 3:30am not sure of the hold up-anyways he was good until 6am-chills/rigors and this time some vomiting-not much-he doesn't have anything on his stomach-only ate a few bites of supper last night-but he just feels horrible.  The swelling is starting to occur-mainly in his face-ears, eyes, lips-normal with IL-2 so we expected this.  Nurses let me stay until 6:30am (I normally have to leave ICU from 6-8 every morning and evening for shift change) but they let me stay until meds had time to work and he was resting.  It hurts my heart to see him have to go through this-I love him so much and don't like to see him suffer.  I told him again his morning-when he feels he has had enough, tell them and I will take him home-but he says he wants to keep going as long as he can- his goal is to take all 14 doses (I think it is 14) but if he can't I just pray that God picks up where the IL-2 stops.  Keep praying-love u all.

Prayers-keep sending them to Houston!! ;)

Prayers are working so keep them coming please! Marcus had 4th dose @10am and so far no chills/rigors this time!!! He is sleeping now and i just know that God has His hands around Marcus. There is no other explanation-all the prayer he is receiving is getting him through this with the least amount of side effects and I am so grateful. Thank you Lord!!!

His calcium was a little low on last labs, so they gave him some calcium via IV-but this is normal.  He is doing so well and I am so proud of him-so proud to be his wife!!!  Next dose around 6-6:30pm-so keep praying prayer warriors!  We love u all and we are so very grateful to have u all with us in this fight!!!!


His second and third doses seem to have been he worst so far-horrible chills/rigors about 2 hours after he received IL-2. But he went through this with interferon-and without any meds (he refused-never wanted to take anything)-but this time since he is in the ICU they give him meds immediatley when symptoms occur-has really helped him. I am just praying those rough side effects stay behind us and he gets through the rest easily!! Love u all!!

Great start

So far so good! Marcus finished his first dose of IL-2 around 10:30am and will receive his second dose at 6:30pm. At this point he has not had any side effects and is doing great-he is resting now until his next dose. He was feeling so good earlier he got up and walked around-he hates being stuck in the bed. But I just keep reminding him that he needs to take this time and relax, accept the treatment and concentrate on getting this melanoma out of his lungs!!! He agrees-we just keep asking God for strength and thanking Him for what we have received so far! No side effects at all up to this point! The drs really act like they are shocked and keep asking "are you sure you don't have shortness of breath, chest pain, etc?". I told Marcus they just don't understand the power of prayer!! All those
mighty prayer warriors out there-thank you-we know without those prayers-Marcus would not be doing as well as he is!!!! So keep them prayers coming!!!! :) don't stop now !! If he keeps doing well after his second dose, he will receive another at 2am. At this point we don't know how many more-he has 15 doses reserved for him-but they only keep giving as long as he keeps doing well,so I will keep you all posted. I am also posting updates on facebook, so if we aren't friends yet, send me an invite and you can get more updates!

Thank you again to everyone that came out to eat Saturday night for Marcus' 35th
bday and for everyone that came to Church on the Rock Sunday to join us and the elders of the church prayin over him. I feel this prayer was so powerful -not only for
Marcus but for everyone there! God brought us all together and I thank Him so much!! And thank you Cynthia Miller for arranging that for
Marcus-you and Byron are true blessings to us-thank you, thank you so very much!!!

keepin our heads up and smiles on our faces!!!-Marcus scheduled to start IL-2

well, yesterday we met with dr. kim to discuss the plan of action!  marcus has to go back thursday to do several more baseline tests, before he will be admitted into the hospital for 7 days-starting Oct. 5 to begin his 1st round of IL-2.  he has to make sure his heart and lungs are strong enough (doing stress tests and pulmonary test) and then another CT of the chest to have the most recent images of the tumors in his lungs.  he will be admitted monday after they insert a catheter into his chest for easier dosing.  he will begin the IL-2 treatments around 9am tuesday morning and they will give him up to 3 doses a day for 5 days, or until his body cannot handle it anymore.  that is why he has to stay admitted, so they can monitor his heart and all other organs-they will constantly being doing blood tests and checking on everything.  if anything starts to go south, they will reduce or stop the treatments.  he has to stay in the hospital 2 days after his last dose is administered, so they can make sure he is recovering properly-hence the 7 day admission.  then after he is released, he will get about a 14 day break and start back again Oct. 26-for 7 more days.  after that 2nd round, they will redo all the scans again and see if there is change (stable, shrinkage of tumors, growth, etc)...if it seems to be working, either by stabilizing or shrinking, they will schedule him for a 3rd and final round....if it is not working, then they will go back to the results from the gene mutations tests (they are actually testing for 3-B-RAF, C-KIT and NRAIS)-please excuse me if i labeled those wrong, i haven't researched the other 2 mutations, i only knew about the B-RAF.....and look into clinical trials...pretty much every trial marcus looked into that he was interested in, required him to at least have tried the IL-2 first...so he was ready to get this under his belt.  but we are praying and trusting that God will heal him with IL-2 and we won't even have to look at those trials!!!!!


meanwhile, we are trying to get everything in line for us to be gone for 7 days...thank God for my mother-in-law Debbie who will be taking care of the girls for us !!  this makes me less stressed and more capable of taking care of marcus while he goes through this....we have discussed with the girls what daddy has to go do, and i guess in their own ways they understand.  i just pray this works and we don't have to deal with this anymore!!  i know marcus is ready to be DONE with melanoma!!!!!

so, as you see in the picture of us from last week's lamar lady cards soccer game-we are keeping smiles on our faces-we know God has a plan for our lives and we are holding on strong and following His great lead!  we believe that God is the only one that can get marcus through this rough treatment and heal him-and we expect nothing less.

and as gary allan sings it, "life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride"

thank you all for your continued prayers and support-we love you all!!