Monday, April 26, 2010

Monday, April 26, 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

I am thankful to report that Mark is doing well and feeling good! He went in Thursday to get his pump off and as predicted came home feeling nauseated. He did not feel well most of Thursday or Friday but by Saturday was feeling much better and by Sunday was feeling back to normal!

I really encouraged him to eat whatever he felt like and not worry about the nutrition at this point. I feel like he needs to keep up his weight and his strength and so whatever type food is appealing to him he should eat. I came home from the Beth Moore conference on Saturday and when he told me where he wanted to go eat dinner I about fell off the couch...Steve B's pizza buffet! He never wants to go eat greasy pizza but he sure did Saturday night and he got his fill of it - we had a good time laughing and just enjoying the fact that he had such a good appetite!

We won't have anything else to report until next Tuesday, May 4th when he goes in for round 2 of chemo.

Please continue to pray for healing and strength for Mark. We are praying that after the 4th round of chemo he will go in for a scan prior to surgery and they will be dumbfounded because the cancer is gone! We know our God can heal him and we pray that He will! We have faith that God is not finished with Mark and we are just waiting on His timing to see when He chooses for the healing to take place. In the meantime we will continue to wait and see what He has for us.

We love you all and thank you for lifting us up!

Mark and Lee

Psalm 34

I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Fear the LORD, you his saints,for those who fear him lack nothing.

The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;

the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

he protects all his bones,not one of them will be broken.

Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Chemo - Day 1

Friends and Family,

Day 1 of chemo went well. Mark spent most of the day getting drugs pumped into him through his port and then they sent him home with a pump that drips the chemo drugs steadily into his bloodstream for 48 hours. It looks like a fanny sack and has a tube running from that into the port in his chest. They said that he may not feel the full effects of the chemo until Thursday when they take the pump off.

He was tired and a bit nauseated last night but he did eat ok and then we just chilled out and tried to take it easy by watching the Braves and the Hawks play (both teams won!) We didn't know how he would sleep with the pump but he did fine and had a good night sleep.

He is going to try to work through all of this but he has promised that if he feels sick he will head home and get some rest!

Our prayer requests would be that number one God would completely take the cancer away from Mark's body and that the chemo side effects would be minimal or nonexistent. We are praying for faith and strength as we walk this new path.

We are so touched and blessed by the love of so many family and friends and yesterday as I was driving home it struck me - there are so many people that love us and hate that we are going through this and would take it away from us if possible but our heavenly Father who loves us more than any person on earth has allowed this in our lives and while we may never understand completely we accept this from Him and pray that we will give Him honor by our actions and attitude.

Thank you again for the prayers - they keep us going and we know that we come to a place where we don't know how to pray that somewhere someone is stepping beside us to pray what we cannot.

We love you,

Mark and Lee

Matthew 17:20

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Psalm 46:1-2

"God is our refuge and strength,an ever-present help in trouble.Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea"

John 14:27

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid"

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Full Steam Ahead!

Dear Friends and Family,

We are so thankful for all the prayers and guidance that we have received. We are excited about the plans ahead of us and pray that we will have the faith we need and that God will be glorified in all that we do. We are excited for the day when God chooses to completely heal Mark of this disease and we pray that it will be a testimony of His power to those who do not know Him.

Our course of action looks something like this:

Wednesday, April 14 - outpatient surgery to get port inserted

Tuesday, April 20 - First round of chemo with another possible drug

He will leave on Tuesday with a pump that will drip the chemo into him for 48 hours and then he will go back to get it taken off.

The chemo treatments will be every two weeks for 8 weeks.

After 8 weeks they will schedule him for a liver resection. ( will probably be 1st to mid July)

After a 4-6 week recovery from surgery they will start the chemo back and will continue this every other week treatment for 16 more weeks.

Please pray with us for a full recovery and minimal side effects. Mark's goal in to continue the ministry without missing any beats. Right now he is very strong and his body should tolerate the chemo very well.

They are considering another medication to go along with the chemo. We are waiting to hear if our insurance will cover this or not. He would have to go in every week and have it administered through an IV. It does have side effects so we are praying for God's guidance with this also.

One last prayer request would be for our insurance to cover our visit to the Mayo clinic. We were working with them before we left since it was an out of network visit. After getting to the Mayo we were called back to the business office where we were told our insurance denied this visit. Our oncologist is working on an appeal so please pray that the appeal will go through and that will be the end of that!

A verse that has been very comforting to me in seeking wisdom to find the right path is Isaiah 30:21 "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."

I just pray we will LISTEN!

Much love,

Mark and Lee

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Prayer

We are back from the Mayo clinic - what an amazing place -

Thank you for all the prayers! We felt them!

We have been so blessed by God's people praying for us! We had friends come to our house last week for a sweet time of prayer which so blessed us and on Easter Sunday were able to have prayer with Mark's family before leaving on Monday.

How powerful prayer is and how privileged we are to have access to His throne through prayer!

We had a good visit with the doctors at the Mayo and had a lot of questions answered.

We are going to spend the next couple of days praying about the next steps which we are both feeling pretty sure about.

Please bind your hearts with ours as we make the final decisions!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Much love,

Mark and Lee

Mark 11:22-25
"'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered. 'I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins'"

John 14:13-14
I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it

Psalm 5:3
My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct my prayer to You, and I will look up.

Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Matthew 7:7-8
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.


Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

James 1:7
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;

Monday, April 5, 2010

Going to Mayo in Minnesota

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow! 8 days since I have posted! What a busy week we've had.

First of all a big thanks to Ed Tanton who is working on getting our sauna fixed - we are excited for Mark to get started with that part of his detox.

Since I last wrote Mark has been able to have a phone consultation with a top doctor from MD Anderson who is now in Columbus, GA (thank you Mark Lee for making that happen!). He has also been to see Dr. Gray (recommended by a lot of our Mt. Paran friends!) and had a good appointment with him.

Today he will see Dr. Pannah at 1:00 and then we leave at 4:00 for The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota! We will see one of the top doctors in the country for metastatic colorectal cancer.

I'd like to take this opportunity to personally thank John Charles who has made it possible for me to be with Mark on this trip by donating his sky miles! Thank you so much!!!

Every time we turn around God is sending us blessings, big and small and believe me they are so sweet and appreciated!

After we found out we were heading to Minnesota a dear friend from WV, Chris Turley called and donated his Holiday Inn Express points and there just "happens" to be a HI Express 2 blocks from the Mayo!

These are just a couple of examples - another would be a CD in the mail with praise songs, cards, texts, e-mails and phone calls! Thank you!!!

Mark will have testing and see doctors all day tomorrow, Tuesday, April 6th. We will be back in Atlanta Wednesday afternoon.

At the time we will take the rest of the week to pray and look over all the information that we have gathered and seek the Lord to help us to see which path He wants us to take.

Thank you for all your love, prayers and support!

Mark and Lee

Matthew 28:20 I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (Minnesota?)!

James 1:2-3 Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Isaiah 40:31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.