Mark in Good Spirits in Radiation
(Stephanie:) I arrived in Bangkok on the opening day of the new airport, Thursday. I went to see Mark in the hospital and found him awake and feeling good Friday at 7 am, despite having felt terrible the day before... he seems to thrive on the chemotherapy. Mark's doctors have changed his regimen a little lately - he will be doing chemo more often but for fewer days each time. He's also doing radiation, and as you can see from the photo above, we went to radiation today. I was able to watch as they set up Mark's radiation, and I learned that each patient has their own custom alloy "plate" that fits into the machine just above their radiation site. The radiation goes through a hole in the plate, and this guides how far/wide the radiation will go into the patient. You can see Mark's in the photo - it's a silver "circle" about 4 inches in diameter. I saw some of the other plates, too - all cut out in different shapes and thicknesses.

Mr. Mark tickled over a sign on dragon statue in Chang Mai.
Dragon statue named "Mom".
Within hours of the tanks appearing in Bangkok Mark took a flight to Chang Mai. He reported having 4 days there in which he felt "normal." He said he interspersed sight seeing by taxi with a number of well spaced naps. With the help of Jin, who looks after him in Thailand, he is trying to see everything and everyone he can in case his cancer gets ahead of his treatment and all your prayers and any miracles that might occur. On the other hand he is doing everything he can to fight the cancer while he closes out his condo and packs things for home.
Mark's sister Stephanie is flying to Thailand from Japan, She is due there tomorrow. As a department of defense employee, she can ship some of Mark's belongings to Texas through the embassy at a US postage rate.
Few minutes past midnight Wednesday Sept. 27, 2006
Talked with Mark early this am in Bangkok for a few minutes (midnight in Austin and 12 noon in Thailand). He was on his way to get radiation to his chest wall cancer. This involves having a mold made at 200 dollars and 15 treatments at 75 dollars each for about a total of 1300 dollars. He is concerned that cancer has invaded bone and there are other cancer locations in bone. He's also concerned he will not have access to as good care in Texas as he has in Bangkok where he sees the doctors frequently and is only a 50 cent taxi ride away from the hospital cancer center. On the other hand he is concerned that he not wait too long to leave Bangkok and get so sick he ends up in intensive care with a huge bill there that has to be paid immediately.
Talked with Mark again at 8 am this morning and he said in addition to 15 days of radiation, he would also get a round of chemo (3 days of chemo)starting about 8 pm Austin time and he would again be in the hospital overnight. The chemotherapy drugs are going to be somewhat different this time although his liver and kidney function tests are back to "good."

Mr. Mark was able to leave Bangkok within hours of the tanks surrounding Bangkok and take a flight to Chang Mai. Jin, who looks after him, found a place to stay and this was his big chance. Mark is trying to see everything and everyone he can in case his cancer gets ahead of his treatment and all your prayers and any miracles that might occur.
Mark's sister Stephanie is flying to Thailand from Japan and is due there tomorrow. Through the American Embassy, as a department of defense employee, she can ship some of Mark's belongings to Texas in preparation for his closing out the condo and coming home.
Few minutes past midnight Wednesday Sept. 27, 2006
Talked with Mark in Bangkok for a few minutes (midnight in Austin and 12 noon in Thailand) and he was on his way to get radiation to his chest wall cancer. This involves having some sort of mold made at 200 dollars and 15 treatments at 75 dollars each for about a total of about 1300 dollars. He is concerned that cancer has invaded bone and there may be other cancer locations in bone. Mark is concerned he will not have as good an access to care in Texas as he has in Bangkok where he sees the doctors frequently and is only a 50 cent taxi ride away from his doctors, but on the other hand he is concerned that he not wait too long to leave Bangkok and get so sick he ends up in intensive care with a huge bill there that has to be paid immediately. Stay tuned for more information.

Pictures taken by Mark Richardson Coup D'etat In Bangkok Thailand and Mark is There in the Heart of the City
Mr. Mark's mom, at the beauty shop, suddenly got calls on her cell phone; people calling to report that tanks were surrounding Bangkok as part of a coup d'etat. It was the middle of the Bangkok night (12 hours difference in Austin Texas and Bangkok time), but Mr. Mark was up watching TV when his mom called to check on the situation there. He knew nothing of the coup or the tanks as the Thai TV news was not being shown at that time. The stations normally having ongoing news were not available. A little latter the news was on in Bangkok. We soon learned the banks, schools, and government offices would be closed. There were tanks and road blocks around the city. At first the flights out seemed to be cancelled and Mark is due to fly to Chang Mai on another adventure in just a few hours. The Baht is falling in value some and Mark called his old room mate from Dallas who is a bank examiner and asked him about whether he would be better off to pay bills in dollars or baht. Next, Mark decided to see if he could get a taxi and go take some pictures. He was excited to be in Bangkok in the middle of a coup and reminded me that he and I had been in Saipan typoon Chaba and he had been in on the erruption of a volcano somewhere and we had volunteered in Honduras after a hurricane and wasn't he lucky to be where the action was so often? He soon learned that Thailand had experienced a coup about 15 years ago and the local people were not excited about this one and in fact some Thais had told him to go to sleep and not worry about it. He thinks he will be able to fly to Chang Mai on a two day trip, which is another adventure he is getting in while he is still able. Mark thrives on adventures. He is in Thailand to close out his condominium lease and give away some belongings and pack a few others. He had to give a two month notice in order to get a deposit back and is scheduled to come back to Austin for good on or before the 14th of November. He is not sure his cancer situation will let him stay that long....but isn't he lucky to be in on this major happening/adventure in Thailand: a coup d'etat?

Adventures keep Mark going even with secondary liver cancer. It was a whirlwind week in Nevada and California.Mark visited there with old friends and saw everything he could. Sometimes he was in bed sick 24 hours and sometimes he was on the go, fishing with Allen (co-worker when Mark worked at a hospital in Reno)going to a party with old co-workers, being at Lake Tahoe, walking in Muir Woods National Park, traveling on US Highway 1 along the ocean, eating at the seashore, seeing and going over Golden Gate Bridge, checking out Haight Ashbury (see picture at Haight Ashbury of legs out the window), staying at his favorite place near Fisherman's warf and the ball park, and doing lots of other interesting and exciting things. The mass balloon ascension of 110 hot air balloons was in Reno and it was beautiful. We worry sometimes that Mark doesn't rest enough or is exposed to too many germs or doesn't eat enough at times or do what we think he should; but the man is amazing in his quest to wring as much out of life as he can and to touch base with as many people and places as he can. Mark had to go back to Bangkok to close up his condo lease and give away his belongings one more time. The plan is for him to be back in the states and getting treatment at the VA in Houston. It looks like he might have enough miles to get the trip back with air miles.

Mark thanks you for any and all kind thoughts, prayers, letters, notes, contibutions, candy, pictures of kids and pets, poems. stories, and children's hand drawn pictures, and all other forms of support sent his way. A couple of friends: Frank in Austin and Allen in Reno took Mark to lunch and to parties in people's homes where he could pretend to be just a regular guy and not even mention the word cancer. Some people like Suresh and Brigitte and Kay Kemper and Greg gave him wonderful invitations, but he ran out of time and strength to accept. Sally Sullivan, Marecella and others made a special effort to come by to meet Mark while he was home. All of you are wonderful to be so kind to Mark.

Go to the archived blog links in the column on the right if you have not read them. You will find stories about many other interesting adventures.

Update on others with esophageal cancer (Mark's primary tumor was esophageal): Ann Richards our former Texas Governor (just before Bush was gov) died recently. She had esophageal cancer but a different kind than Mark and Mr. Frank who called yesterday to report he is doing well with chemotherapy; his tumor has shrank, he has started radiation, and after that the area of the tumor will be surgically removed and the esophagus resown to the stomach.

Mark at Michael Debakey Veterans Hospital Houston Oncology Service 9/1/05 It was a long hard day for Mark with the drive to Houston, two hours with Drs Wong and Epner in Oncology; an hour getting prescriptions (nausea, vomiting, and pain); two hours in rush hour Houston traffic, and the ride home: a long hard day.
VA medical benefits and care seem to have improved over the past few years. Once you get past the initial hoops at the Houston VA, appointments and care seem not to require the long waits. There is ongoing effort at the Houston VA to make things easier and better for veterans and employees. The hospital is seeking redesignation as a Magnet Hospital. We were impressed and happy with the time Drs Wong and Epner spent with Mark and their straight forward talk with Mark and I. Note: In the photo above,Mark has the booklet about VA benefits under his arm. We are learning a lot about cancer and a lot about VA benefits and how to access them.