Full update on Mark, starting at 4:30 a.m.

Mark called me on his way home from work yesterday and sounded the best I've heard him in a long time. He was so proud of himself for working a full forty-hour week after all he's been through and how weak he still is. He went home, had a good, full meal that my Mom made him. He went to bed around 9:30 p.m. and was still acting completely normal.

Around 4:30 a.m. this morning my mom woke up to mark flailing around, almost as if he was having a seizure. He knocked over the bedside table and my mom thought maybe he was having a dream. She tried to wake him up but he was nonresponsive. His eyes were open but he couldn't respond to her. He wasn't able to control any of his bodily functions and that's when my mom knew something was very wrong. She told Mark to hold still while she called 911. The medics came to their house (and luckily had four wheel drive so they were able to make it up their steep driveway). They had to carry Mark down the spiral staircase because they couldn't get the stretcher up or down the stairs.

Mark arrived to MedCentral Mansfield and they did a CT scan of his brain which didn't really show anything they needed to see. They didn't have the capability of doing an MRI there so they started the transfer process to get him to the James Cancer Hospital at OSU. He was showing signs of a stroke as he couldn't move the right side of his body or speak but no one could really say for sure without an MRI.

He arrived at OSU and they took him for an MRI shortly after. A few hours later, a resident Neurologist came to do some more testing. He had a toothpick that he was using to poke Mark in his head, arms, chest, legs, etc. It was really painful for Mark where he could feel it and it was really hard for us to watch someone doing that to him! It was really scary to see them poking his right side and him not feeling anything. He said it was narrowed down to either a stroke or vasculitis. After gathering some information, the resident went to call the attending Neurologist before he would give us any type of prognosis.

He came back after talking to the attending and said they were pretty sure Mark had a stroke due to the cancer causing his blood to thicken and areas of his brain not getting enough blood. Unfortunately, he said it hit Mark in all the "right" places, affecting his speech, ability to comprehend things and move his right side of his body. On the stroke scale, he said it most definitely wasn't mild but of course, could have been worse. It's important that Mark start speech, occupational and physical therapy right away. He couldn't give us any indication as to how Mark will progress or what we should expect as far as him gaining his speech and feeling back. It varies by person and is a day-to-day process.

They want to do a few more tests so that they can determine what exactly caused the stroke and prevent anymore from happening. For the most part, he seems to understand when you're talking to him. I got him to give me a thumbs up and when Betsy arrived with Max, Mark completely perked up. He leaned his head out to kiss Max and it was very touching. Max sure knows how to light up a room!

It's still a very scary road ahead with no real answers about when Mark will get "better" and what exactly better will look like. What we do know is that whatever statistics they throw at Mark, he will most certainly try his hardest to beat them!