Monday, October 12, 2009 10:10 PM, CDT

“Oh what a day‘, isn’t that a song or something? Mark wasn’t singing much today, but after a couple of happy pills he felt much better. We were at the clinic at 8 - Monday morning there is a zoo. We did get to see our friends there, Tom and Debbie, they are still waiting for his white count to go up before his treatment begins. I know it is nerve racking for them.

Mark had some blood test and then we headed up to get his CVL port put in (I will learn the names of all these things eventually). That took a couple of hours of waiting and procedure - they had to take more blood too. Then we were back down to the lab for more blood test, grabbed a bite to eat, then to the bone marrow testing area where they took more blood and finally to the Infusion center for the Melphalan drip (of course they took more blood) . Someone told us there were Vampires on every corner, we believe it - and they wonder why everyone is pale and tired!! I am hoping the Melphalan doesn’t have any side effects - so far so good. He is trying to sleep with the port in his neck, the bone marrow test on his hip, and the bone marrow biopsy on his abdomen - maybe he will be tired enough to sleep even with all the baggage.

The UAMS campus is big and we are constantly running from one side to the other to get test or procedures - we get lots of exercise. We have learned that we have to be our own advocate, as with any business things get misplaced or mis-communicated. I have learned to ask a lot of questions (but that has never been a big problem for me - Mama said I always wanted to know WHY?)

The weather has been yucky for the last couple of days, cold and rainy - makes for a nasty drive in the morning with all the traffic. Mark decided he would get the better of that and have his blood test done at 7 in the morning - we will see.

I get very discouraged with all this, but then I meet people that have problems much worse than ours. Today we met five other couples from Alabama (2 from Mobile and 2 from Birmingham and one from Molton)and a sister and brother from Greece. Two of the couples were in remission, having been to the clinic for 3 years. They looked and felt great and the others were new like us. But in much worse shape - kidney failure, broken hips, spine, ribs, etc. - like I say we are very blessed!!! Thank you Dr. Goodson for finding this so early.

Our friend Donna Dunnam is getting to go home on Wednesday - she is in remission. We are so happy for her and her family! She has fought a hard fight.

May God bless you all. Please remember us in your prayers. Karen