Return to Regina

Mark, Clayson and I headed back to Regina/Wadena, Saskatchewan last week, to follow up with Dr. McCarville and meet/see all the Canadians who got quite familiar with Mark back in October but he had never met. Even though the weather was a disaster.....it got down to 50 below zero and we had to endure a blizzard, one day the high was -30, this trip was much more enjoyable than my last journey to the northern territory.

We went to the scene of the accident in hopes it may trigger some memories of the event, but we had no such luck. It was fun for me and Clayson to see where the guys hunt, even though it was hard for me to imagine ducks inhabiting a place covered in snow with moose and buffalo looming around each corner. We stayed at Earl and Florence Christiansen's farm and Clayson had fun assisting Flo with feeding the cows. Clayson made fast friends with Carmen's kids and they took us for a ride on the Ski doo (snowmobiles). Clayson went to his first hockey game and visited a curling rink. Many people in town were confused when they saw Mark there in the dead of winter and not during duck season but they were glad to see how good he looked.

The doctors and nurses were over joyed to see Mark, the real walking talking, Mark. They told us they seldom get the opportunity to see their patients after or if they recover and it was therapeutic for all of us. We went to the hospital at 9:00pm one night and Sherry, Pat, Linzie and Garth came with a choclate cake, cider and coffee we had a reunion right there in the ICU outside room #4. The nurses couldn't say enough about how much they enjoyed Larry and Darrin. Something about what happend in room #4 stays in room #4??? Garth, one of the Canadian nurses is planning to write a paper on Mark's miraculous experience. It appears there are only 6 people in Canada who have had this procedure. Of course, Mark has invited all the doctors, nurses and friends to visit us Sikeston we'll have to wait to see if they come. There were only a few people we didn't get to see but we left cards and gifts for everyone.

The doctors are pleased with Marks progress and say they expect him to continue to gain strength and be back to his old self soon. They want him to have an annual CT scan for the next several years and wean him off the blood pressure medication in a few months. We are still struggling to get our insurance to pay our Canadian medical bills but we will continue the fight.

Sunny Coles invited us to stay with her while we were in Regina and it was very nice to have a comfortable place to warm up and wind down each night. We appreciate all the love she has shown us. We were able to attend churh on Sunday and thank all the church members who supported us throughout our stay in Regina.

As for our return home.....well we have yet to make it home. We got to the airport at 4:30am and got stuck on an airplane in Toronto for 3 hours then stranded in Chicago for the night. It was a bit of a nightmare. We have been rescheduled on a flight headed to Memphis at 3:40 this afternoon if it doesn't get cancelled. We are hoping to make it home before our Super Bowl party on Sunday. I'm sure the party will go on even if we aren't able to be there. Ha! Ha!

Thanks for all your support throughout this trial.

Love,
Stephanie, Mark and Clayson