"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me and I shall be saved, For YOU are my praise." Jeremiah 17:14

Today has been another rough one for my sweet husband.  He says it feels like there is a knife in his back/shoulder!!  I can only imagine the pain he is in...it hurts me to the core because there is nothing I can do, except pray and help him....and I keep doing those things-constantly-but it still hurts me.  But my eyes are fixed on Jesus, because I know the healing He has for Marcus is just around the corner :)

We went to MD Anderson today to meet with Dr. Kim for follow-up after the ER visit Thursday night.  According to discharge papers, diagnosis was Progression of pulmonary metastasis and loculated effusion.  Basically, growth of tumors in right lung and trapped fluid in lung-in between tumor and lung tissue.  Solution?  Get back on treatment of some sort, get the tumors shrinking, then fluid will be absorbed and pain will cease...So, back to treatment options-first choice clinical trial GSK 2118436 (even though at clinicaltrials.gov it says it is recruiting, at the moment the trial is full, but hoping to open about 20 new spots) anyways, this has been the first choice trial all along, but Dr. Kim just didn't want Marcus to go too long without treatment, because of what is happening now-progression, pain, problems....but, he says, if Marcus feels up to it, he would like to see him wait at least another week to see if the company really does open those new spots-they told MD Anderson last week that they would in 2 weeks...so next week should be  it! They told us he is # 6 on MD Anderson's list for this trial once the spots are opened, so we just pray he will make the cut!!! There is also a combo trial of GSK 2118436 and GSK 1120212 (BRAF and MEK) that is not recruiting yet, but would also be another option if it opened up before the other spot does....and there is always the trial I posted about last time, a gamma secretase inhibitor trial-so, 3 trials so far that could hopefully open up for him....and then last back up plan is another combo of chemos-Carbo something and Plaxi something, I haven't researched those yet, but, Dr. Kim says he has a patient that has done that combo and is 2 years stable disease, so that chemo for sure sounds good to try if needed! In case you are wondering why we don't just do chemo until trials open-the catch with trials is you have to be off a chemo or other treatment for usually 4-6 weeks before you can start trial-so if Marcus were to do some chemo now, then the trial opened next week, he would be excluded-and may not get a chance to get back in-so, at this point, the waiting, is pretty much his best choice-so we wait-patiently-because God is in control.
SOOO, if you are still reading and I haven't lost you in all this, please keep praying for Marcus.  He has new pain meds to try and see if these work better so he can at least get some rest...he maybe slept 3 hrs last nite-just can't get comfortable-pain overcomes him, then shortness of breath-because he is basically only working with left lung...the right lung is so full of fluid and tumor, they told him only a small portion of it was actually doing anything-THANK GOD his left lung is still stable and working fine!!  The devil keeps trying to bring us down, making us all discouraged, but we just keep fighting!  I found several Healing scriptures and printed out some for the girl's bathroom and some for ours....I taped them to our mirrors so every time we looked in the mirror we would have those scriptures ready to pray!!  And believe me when I tell you, having the word of GOD in front of you, to see, to speak, to pray-truly makes you feel FULL of power, strength and mighty praise!!!  We would not be making it through each day if it weren't for the grace of God-So I give Him glory-ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!!!!

Walk by Faith-everyday

You know, living in our 5th wheel has been very interesting-some days I feel like screaming, some days crying-then other days I truly feel that we are blessed beyond words. The closeness we have felt over the past month is amazing-although I will admit, sometimes Marcus has to remind me-but we have been a closer family because of our surroundings-we have no other choice ;) But seriously, we know that this is situation is temporary, and God is working all around us, getting things in order(mainly healing Marcus by making those tumors go away!)-we just have to "Walk by Faith", even when we cannot see!! Sometimes the world (or the devil) makes it easy to get distracted or frustrated about our lives or situations-we are always so impatient and want things done our way-NOW! I admit that I am like that A LOT-but I try very hard to let go of those feelings and I pray for God to get me through with patience. I know for years the devil really worked on me and made me believe that because of my past mistakes or my genetics, I would one day, eventually, go down a path of destruction and there was nothing I could do about it.....THANK YOU LORD for showing me that this is NOT true!!! Jesus has already paid for our sins-done-we are forgiven! All we have to learn is that we must repent, ask Jesus to come into our hearts and lives-and live our lives the way He wants us to-bottom line. The devil cannot win that war-unless we let him-so I decided a long time ago that God would win me-NOT the devil!! And every day I truly "Walk by Faith" and pray for guidance-won't you join me????

Please watch the Jeremy Camp video attached-he is very talented and I have not found a song that I didn't like from him-he is truly blessed with a unique way to get the message and word of God out to people through his music. Thank you Jeremy Camp for following through with the path God has for you!!!

Finally home!!

I have attached a you tube video that I would like to share...as I was waiting the past few days for Marcus, I have been searching for new christian artists on iTunes and I found Jeremy Camp's music-I quickly realized I needed to buy his album!!  I LOVE the songs in this video and had to share-plus the messages and scriptures included are awesome!


So, to update you all-the brain ct and abdomen/pelvis ct came back ALL CLEAR!  THANK THE LORD!  The biopsy did confirm Melanoma in the lungs-so at least now we know for sure what we are dealing with.  Dr. Kim is having cells from the original biopsy done last year tested for a gene mutation-V600E B-raf-if he tests positive for this mutation, they are suggesting he get into a clinical trial that includes AZD6244 and Dacarbazine.  Sucky part is, this is a double blinded study-so 50% of patients will get the AZD6244 plus Dacarbazine and the other 50% will get Decarbazine and placebo :( We are not really thrilled with this option-since Dr. Kim said Dacarbazine is a standard chemo that he would offer if Marcus was 80 yrs old and in poor health-not the 1st choice for a young 35 yr old man in otherwise great health- SOOOOO, at this point we have to wait to see if he even tests positive for the gene mutation-if not, then our next option is IL-2-with a possible combo of Dacarbazine to it....


In the meantime, we are asking for more prayers-none of these options have great statistics for cure-but we believe that God will work with those numbers for us :) BUT we need your help with prayers-please don't stop-keep them coming :)


Marcus is also looking into trying to create a more alkaline based diet-there is tons of research to support the fact that cancer thrives in more acidic atmospheres, so the theory is to create a more alkaline atmosphere in your body to help fight this-so if anyone has info that may help, please email me.  I am currently following the blog of another Melanoma warrior-who is currently in Mexico, at a Gerson clinic-I am praying he has good results to help us :) check him out on my blog list-he is under sMelanoma....


thank you all again for your continued prayers and support-it feels so good to be home and we know we are truly blessed to have all of you in our lives-thank you so very much!


marcus & mindy