When we went to Arizona we learned a lot about natural treatments. When we came back our goal was to replicate as many of those things as possible.
One of the treatments they used for detoxing was infrared sauna therapy. They had a dome that they put specifically over his liver but it was the same thing as a regular infrared sauna would accomplish.
So...being a big craigslist user when we got back I started searching out the ads for an infrared sauna. We found one before Christmas and so the kids and I went to check it out - it worked perfectly and the price was good so we purchased it. We had to disassemble it to get it moved and then we stored it at Nathan's house to surprise Mark for Christmas. However, after we finally found the time to get it over to our house after putting it together we cannot get it to work!
We had a good friend who is an electrician look at it and he felt that what we might need is some one who is good at electronics.
I don't know much about all this but I have made many, many phone calls and googled this stuff and I cannot find anyone that will take a look at this.
So...my plea is this - if anyone around here knows someone that may be able to take a look at this for us we would be very grateful for the lead.
If you have any information and can help us out you can call my cell number at 678-778-7254.
Thanks so much!
Lee
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Prayer, Laughter, Options and Research
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you so much for all the words of encouragement and the prayers!!! We feel lifted up in prayer and that means so much to us.
We had a good visit with Dr. Elwood this morning. He talked to us about a couple of different options for Mark. One would be to do a round of chemo and then the surgery and then more chemo. Mark's CEA levels are up so they feel there are probably cancer seeds hiding in the liver that are undetectable right now. This process would allow the chemo to attack those cancer seeds and also possibly shrink the existing tumors.
The other option we spoke about is a process that first of all burns the tumors out of the liver and then chemo is injected directly into the liver only treating the liver and not the whole body. This is being done by a doctor at Emory (Dr. Hannah I believe) and so we are getting a consultation with him. This is a fairly new treatment.
We are also trying to get an appointment with a doctor in Columbus, GA that formerly worked at MD Anderson and are looking into either going out to MD Anderson, The Mayo Clinic, Sloane Kettering or Vanderbilt.
The bottom line that I feel we learned today is that we probably have about 2-3 weeks of research, consultations, trips to get 2nd opinions from the top experts and much, much prayer! After all of that our hope is to have a solid plan of action and to attack it with prayer, positive attitudes and lots of laughter!
Laughter you ask? Mark loves to laugh and has been reading lately how much that helps your overall health and attitude is everything!! There is one man that laughed when the doctor told him his bleak diagnosis and everyone thought he was crazy - 20 years later (about 15 longer than they gave him) he's still laughing (whose crazy now?). So, remember not only to love us, pray with us but please laugh with us -
We know God has a plan and we are positive about that! He has been so good to us and we are so grateful to where He has brought us thus far and are excited to see where He will take us.
Thanks again for all the love and prayers - you can't believe how much it helps!
Love,
Mark and Lee
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentleness be known to all men, the Lord is at hand.
Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know to god:
and the peace of God,which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Thank you so much for all the words of encouragement and the prayers!!! We feel lifted up in prayer and that means so much to us.
We had a good visit with Dr. Elwood this morning. He talked to us about a couple of different options for Mark. One would be to do a round of chemo and then the surgery and then more chemo. Mark's CEA levels are up so they feel there are probably cancer seeds hiding in the liver that are undetectable right now. This process would allow the chemo to attack those cancer seeds and also possibly shrink the existing tumors.
The other option we spoke about is a process that first of all burns the tumors out of the liver and then chemo is injected directly into the liver only treating the liver and not the whole body. This is being done by a doctor at Emory (Dr. Hannah I believe) and so we are getting a consultation with him. This is a fairly new treatment.
We are also trying to get an appointment with a doctor in Columbus, GA that formerly worked at MD Anderson and are looking into either going out to MD Anderson, The Mayo Clinic, Sloane Kettering or Vanderbilt.
The bottom line that I feel we learned today is that we probably have about 2-3 weeks of research, consultations, trips to get 2nd opinions from the top experts and much, much prayer! After all of that our hope is to have a solid plan of action and to attack it with prayer, positive attitudes and lots of laughter!
Laughter you ask? Mark loves to laugh and has been reading lately how much that helps your overall health and attitude is everything!! There is one man that laughed when the doctor told him his bleak diagnosis and everyone thought he was crazy - 20 years later (about 15 longer than they gave him) he's still laughing (whose crazy now?). So, remember not only to love us, pray with us but please laugh with us -
We know God has a plan and we are positive about that! He has been so good to us and we are so grateful to where He has brought us thus far and are excited to see where He will take us.
Thanks again for all the love and prayers - you can't believe how much it helps!
Love,
Mark and Lee
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentleness be known to all men, the Lord is at hand.
Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know to god:
and the peace of God,which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
God is in Control (where would we be without HIM?)
Dear Friends and Family,
We want to thank you so much for all the prayers that you prayed on behalf of us today - I can tell you that we definitely felt them!
We just got back from the doctor's office and we didn't get the news we were hoping for.
Both spots on his liver are cancer.
We will go to see the surgeon this week that resected his liver the last time to see if that is a possibility again. Our oncologist felt like it was a strong possibility and that we need to get it done ASAP.
After that she strongly recommended that he start chemotherapy. She is willing to send us to where ever we would like to go to get a second opinion but she said that he must take the chemo.
So....now we have a lot of decisions to make and some large bumps in the road ahead of us.
Please pray for wisdom and discernment in trying to find what path God wants us to take.
Please pray for our children - this is very hard on them.
Please pray for healing for Mark - we believe that nothing is impossible when it comes to Him and we have faith that if He can do all the miracles we have read about then He can heal Mark's cancer!
Also, please pray for the FCA ministry - Mark has a lot of important events coming up that Mark is in charge of and he has a lot of his plate right now. Please pray that he will be able to do what he needs to do and will have the strength when he needs it and the help when he doesn't.
We are very positive and optimistic - you know - someone has to beat the odds - why not Mark? Right?
We love you all - thank you ahead of time for your prayers for us through this time!
Mark and Lee
Psalm 61:3
For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.
God IS our strong tower!!!!!!!
We want to thank you so much for all the prayers that you prayed on behalf of us today - I can tell you that we definitely felt them!
We just got back from the doctor's office and we didn't get the news we were hoping for.
Both spots on his liver are cancer.
We will go to see the surgeon this week that resected his liver the last time to see if that is a possibility again. Our oncologist felt like it was a strong possibility and that we need to get it done ASAP.
After that she strongly recommended that he start chemotherapy. She is willing to send us to where ever we would like to go to get a second opinion but she said that he must take the chemo.
So....now we have a lot of decisions to make and some large bumps in the road ahead of us.
Please pray for wisdom and discernment in trying to find what path God wants us to take.
Please pray for our children - this is very hard on them.
Please pray for healing for Mark - we believe that nothing is impossible when it comes to Him and we have faith that if He can do all the miracles we have read about then He can heal Mark's cancer!
Also, please pray for the FCA ministry - Mark has a lot of important events coming up that Mark is in charge of and he has a lot of his plate right now. Please pray that he will be able to do what he needs to do and will have the strength when he needs it and the help when he doesn't.
We are very positive and optimistic - you know - someone has to beat the odds - why not Mark? Right?
We love you all - thank you ahead of time for your prayers for us through this time!
Mark and Lee
Psalm 61:3
For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.
God IS our strong tower!!!!!!!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Petscan Scheduled
Mark's petscan is scheduled for Monday, March 22 at 2:00 and will follow-up with Dr. Klass to find out results Tuesday, March 23 at 3:45.
Thank you ahead of time for your prayers!
Mark and Lee
Please pray with us for Mark's body to continue to be cancer free!
Matthew 18:19-20
"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20) For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
Thank you ahead of time for your prayers!
Mark and Lee
Please pray with us for Mark's body to continue to be cancer free!
Matthew 18:19-20
"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20) For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
First of all I want to update you on the last posting. Last week when I posted that Mark had a petscan I was wrong - it was a CT scan. Looking back I realize that whenever we talked or prayed about it we both just said "scan" and I was shocked when the doctor came in the room with the results of the CT scan!
So...I found out they do a CT scan because it is more detailed and shows any changes no matter how small and can measure very precisely anything that shows up.
They did a scan on the whole chest region and everything looked good with the exception of a couple of spots on the liver. One is a spot that was there last time that was 1cm that did show up negative on the last petscan and MRI but it has grown to be 1.9cm and there is also a small area of concern towards to top of the liver.
They are ordering a petscan on the liver to see if either spot shows up as cancerous or not so we are just praying that when the test is done all will be great and there won't be any cancer!
We have to wait on the insurance to approve the petscan before they can make the appointment.
I will post whenever I find out when that will be.
We are very thankful that we didn't get bad news - we just have to wait until after the next scan to send out the news that he is still cancer free!
Thank you for your continued prayers!!!
With much thankfulness,
Lee
So...I found out they do a CT scan because it is more detailed and shows any changes no matter how small and can measure very precisely anything that shows up.
They did a scan on the whole chest region and everything looked good with the exception of a couple of spots on the liver. One is a spot that was there last time that was 1cm that did show up negative on the last petscan and MRI but it has grown to be 1.9cm and there is also a small area of concern towards to top of the liver.
They are ordering a petscan on the liver to see if either spot shows up as cancerous or not so we are just praying that when the test is done all will be great and there won't be any cancer!
We have to wait on the insurance to approve the petscan before they can make the appointment.
I will post whenever I find out when that will be.
We are very thankful that we didn't get bad news - we just have to wait until after the next scan to send out the news that he is still cancer free!
Thank you for your continued prayers!!!
With much thankfulness,
Lee
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
March 9, 2010- Petscan Today
It is a beautiful day here in Atlanta and we are enjoying the sunshine and the day that God has given us!
Mark has a petscan today to see if there are any traces of cancer cells in his body. We are not worried because God has already taken care of that and so we look forward to getting the results next week.
Our appointment with our oncologist is next Tuesday, March 16 to go in and find out the results of today's tests. Ironically that date is exactly one year from when Mark had his colonoscopy and we first heard the word cancer in relation to us personally.
I will blog next week to let everyone know what Dr. Klass tells us and what our next step is.
Thank you for your continued prayers - Mark is still very busy every day doing everything he can to boost his immune system and make sure that he does everything humanly possible to block any cancer cells from appearing anywhere in his body.
His daily protocol is time consuming but he sticks with it and is faithful to take all the supplements and do what the doctors have told him.
Because He Lives,
Mark and Lee
Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him and I am helped; Therefore my heart rejoices and with my song I will praise Him.
Psalm 33:20-21 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield, for our heart rejoices in Him because we trust in His holy name.
Mark has a petscan today to see if there are any traces of cancer cells in his body. We are not worried because God has already taken care of that and so we look forward to getting the results next week.
Our appointment with our oncologist is next Tuesday, March 16 to go in and find out the results of today's tests. Ironically that date is exactly one year from when Mark had his colonoscopy and we first heard the word cancer in relation to us personally.
I will blog next week to let everyone know what Dr. Klass tells us and what our next step is.
Thank you for your continued prayers - Mark is still very busy every day doing everything he can to boost his immune system and make sure that he does everything humanly possible to block any cancer cells from appearing anywhere in his body.
His daily protocol is time consuming but he sticks with it and is faithful to take all the supplements and do what the doctors have told him.
Because He Lives,
Mark and Lee
Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him and I am helped; Therefore my heart rejoices and with my song I will praise Him.
Psalm 33:20-21 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield, for our heart rejoices in Him because we trust in His holy name.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Back to Normal
Mark is back to work full force and everything seems to be back to normal (whatever normal is).
He is still cannot lift heavy things and won't be able to for a while. He realizes that it is very important to follow the doctors orders with a hernia so he doesn't wind up back where he started!
We will visit our oncologist this month and will have scans to make sure there aren't any new cancer cells. I will update the blog after we get the results of that which won't be until March 20th I believe.
We continue to be so thankful for all the love, prayers and support. We are very blessed to be a part of the family of God and have had so many reach out to us to show us God's love.
We pray that we will continue to grow in our faith and that we won't miss a single opportunity to share with people the miracle that God performed in Mark's body and to give Him all the praise and the glory for everything!
Have a great March - hopefully we will all get some nice spring weather soon!
Much Love,
Lee
He is still cannot lift heavy things and won't be able to for a while. He realizes that it is very important to follow the doctors orders with a hernia so he doesn't wind up back where he started!
We will visit our oncologist this month and will have scans to make sure there aren't any new cancer cells. I will update the blog after we get the results of that which won't be until March 20th I believe.
We continue to be so thankful for all the love, prayers and support. We are very blessed to be a part of the family of God and have had so many reach out to us to show us God's love.
We pray that we will continue to grow in our faith and that we won't miss a single opportunity to share with people the miracle that God performed in Mark's body and to give Him all the praise and the glory for everything!
Have a great March - hopefully we will all get some nice spring weather soon!
Much Love,
Lee
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