The Latest

I'm sitting with Mark while he's getting his second dose of Avastin.  The first dose was two weeks ago, and I noticed a rather good difference that same night.  He interacted with the kids more and just seemed to be doing better.

The baptism and blessing went well.  Mark had both his dad and mine in the font with him, and it was good that he had a bit of help.  Mark managed to get Shelly most of the way down but needed a bit of help getting her that last little bit of the way down.  He was slow getting dressed, but thankfully everyone there was understanding and patient.  And Nikki's blessing went well too, although Mark was a bit embarrassed that she was crying even though he was bouncing her.  :)  There were over 130 people there!  We both felt so loved and are grateful for all of you (even if you were only there in spirit)!

We've had family in town staying with us for the last week or two or three (depending on which family members we're talking about), so life has been full and I haven't found as much time for updating this as often as I should.  We are too busy talking, taking videos of Mark, playing games, making candy, etc...  When something bad happens I'll be sure to let everyone know, so for now, no news is good (or at least neutral) news.

Mark is largely doing ...not bad...  He is getting weaker, but we stopped his physical therapy last week and I think that's played a large part.  The therapists need to see progress in order to justify treating him, and his seizure set him back enough that they were having a hard time justifying his treatment on paper.

There is a maintenance program at the facility that sounds like it will be perfect for Mark.  It's the same workout, just with technicians instead of therapists.  There is no need to justify the treatment since it's not covered by insurance, and it is more predictable in when we can get appointments.  The problem is that they charge per calendar month, regardless of how much of it you use.  The original plan was to have him do his last few appointments with the therapists that took him almost into mid Dec, take a break for the holidays and pick up the maintenance program in Jan.

Mark has gone downhill enough physically in the last few days that we might need to rethink that.  He's been having a hard time getting himself out of bed.  Once he's sitting on the edge of the bed he can get himself around the house pretty well, but going from lying down to sitting up is hard for him.  He has also almost completely stopped using his left hand.  He has strength in it, he just stopped using it...

I'm tempted to go right now (while Mark is napping during his infusion) and set him up with appointments, but maybe we can do more at home than we have been for the next week and save us some money and be able to spend more time with family...  but on the other hand, he'll enjoy his family time more if he is more functional...  Decisions, decisions...

The doctors want to do one more round of treatment and then do an MRI to see where he's at.  Give the meds enough time to work, but also not wait so long we're treating it uselessly.

I think that's about all the news I have time for before his infusion is done.  When I know more or different, I'll let you know!