WELCOME HOME!

mark was finally released last night! he is now beginning the long road to health. the doctors were not able to diagnose but seemed to be happy for him to go home. after nearly 5 weeks in the different wards, it must be very strange for him to be home. Mark tried to write a post himself last night but found it too difficult. i imagine he will write one soon.

(See the comments re. the caption for this photo.)

Is today a big day?

When I visited mark yesterday he said he was very worried about today as this is the day when the results come back for some of the major tests that they have been doing over the last number of days and weeks.
There are a number of possible outcomes:

1. They do not find the cause of the problem but believe that it has 'worked itself out' and so Mark is allowed to go home and start recovery there.
2. The tests reveal nothing but the doctors do not feel that mark is well enough to go home so will stay in hospital for observation and more tests.
3. The tests might reveal the cause which can be dealt with quite fast and then mark can go home.
4. They find the cause and it is serious enough for the treatment to be administered in hospital which might take some time.

I think that these are the major possibilities. Numbers 1 & 3 are the best options which will mean mark is moving towards being a happy(ier) bunny. Numbers 2 & 4 are the possibilities that will demoralise mark tremendously and which will result in us needing to encourage him all the more.

there is a fifth option. it might be that the test results are not ready by today or that the doctors are not in a position to give back the results today. this will be a very frustrating outcome for Mark as he has been building up to this day for some time. i'll post the outcome as soon as i get it. lets hope and pray.

evenin all

Its saturday evening and i'm sitting upstairs at mark and ruth's. ruth and her mum and sister are downstairs watching some futuristic flick and coz i am not allowed to talk through it :) i thought i'd come up here and type away.

spend 2 hours with mark this evening. so good to see him laugh (even though it was at his own jokes and not mine!) His chest really hurt as he laughed and his jokes weren't funny but it was special to see him happy. Apart from the obvious weight loss and inevitable weakness, he seems well. major test results come back on monday and they will do another echo thing on his heart to check to see how that is. they might do another transfusion if the haemoglobin in his blood is lower than anticipated (ruth dictated that bit!) There is a whisper of a rumour about him coming home at some point in the not too distant future but 8 days ago we were thinking the same thing so there is no real excitement - more muted hope.

i know that the road to fitness will be a long one with many uphill sections but it did make ruth and me smile the way mark was able to laugh as he attempted to tense his biceps. he was saying that he was upset because, i quote his 'body was perfect before he came into hospital'. hmmmm!

he has, typically, made friends will all the old men on the ward. we walked past one of the men about 3 times in 5 minutes and the obligatory exchange of the 'thumbs-up' sign combined with some little expression of mutual encouragement gave the impression that the two of them had been on this journey together for many a year. i think he's been on this ward for two days. he really is a spreader of joy.

ruth also seems to be doing well. mark knows that her faithful care, compassion and love over the past weeks have helped him through and aided his recovery so much. (ruth dictated that bit as well... not really!)

this is a positive post and that is a fair reflection of how things seemed today. we rejoice in the light we see but know that he is not out of forest yet. (ruth just asked what on earth is mark doing in a forest? funny funny :))

i attach some more photos with comments attached. thanks to Andrea, Rob and Bethany.

hi all

thought i'd not write yesterday so that you could all enjoy mark's wonderful photo as the latest post :) thanks ruthie

i'm in cheltenham again and just about to go and see mark. from what i hear, he is doing really well... but i remember what happened the evening after i wrote that the last time! mark is now in the cardiac ward and jokes about the average age of his new 'friends' with him on the ward. i think he brings the average down to about 80 :) it's good for him!

attached to this post are some wonderful photos sent by mark's friend Will. they were taken while they were in bolivia some years back. Will's comments to each photo are attached as comments to this post so do check them out.

cheers, and i'll try to give my reflections later on after i've seen mark and add some more pictures sent to me by 'The Lacey clan' :)

Markee with the BOYS!

Thought it'd be nice for you all to see a picture of the 'man' himself! Taken on Tuesday during a brief visit with the boys - Leo ever the monkey! Mark sends his love and many, many thanks for your continued support (I took in a further 19 pages of comments for him to read through this morning!).
With Love, Ruth x

blood transfusion

spoke to mark earlier this evening. he was in the middle of a transfusion. it is more of a drip drip thing rather than my expectation that they kinda did it quicker - not that i had much of an idea. today seems to have been a another tough one for mark. i briefly spoke to the cardiac high dependancy sister on the phone and she said that there had been a few tears today.

here's a challenge to you - dig out those photos with you and mark or just you or just mark and email them to me at timbuckler@gmail.com. i'll put them on the blog and will attach your comments. whoever puts on the most or funniest or just makes the most effort i'll ... take you out for a meal - way-hay!! except if you are from mark's school then i'll just get mark to buy you a school lunch when he gets out! now come on - how much of a motivation do you need?!!

Relationship

It is great to read stories about your experiences with mark. they make me smile because i can picture him doing the different things! i know also that these stories mean so much to mark because he looks back on the one thing that stands true in his life - that it really is all about relationship. he was telling me this the night before last. he talked about how he is finding a new perspective on existence. his awareness of and relationship & peace with God, while tested, grows strong; also the importance of his friendships, each one of you. if you have time to read barty's post from yesterday (its the long one!), do so. it explains the jamaica photos and is not only interesting but also fun. no news to update you with. recent tests have proved 'inconclusive'.

thank you and keep them coming :)

As the post from earlier today will show you, Mark has been in hospital for 4 weeks today. I have put a list of all the people who have posted messages on this blog for Mark. If your name is there - thank you soooooooooo much. please write again because it makes such a difference - even just some thought from your day.
if you have looked at this blog but not yet posted - just post your name if your busy - it'll takes less than 30 seconds :)
Do the following:

• click here: comments
• then type in the box,
• click Anonymous
• then 'publish your comment'.

Thats it!

Tora and Chris
Jessica
M & D
Helen
Rich & Abi
The Keepers
Matt Pickard
Barty & Sue and Laura and Joe
Rachel, Nick James and Georgia
Meg and Steve
Tony Mc
Andy (sun run)
Grahame Tucker
Andrea and Clive
Stu Hayter
Tom & Helen Clark
Ema Makower
All at Hucclecote, especially John, Eva and Geraldine
Tom
Jessica, Yury, Lucia, Rafa and Gabriel
Giles
Mark Bailey
Jodie Anderson and family
Helen - your friendly morning receptionist
Jo Sharman
Megan Tennant
Sharon Mey
Eileen Rooks
Melanie Richardson
Jan Woodward
Denise Powell
Wendy Purdom
Moira Turtle
Will, Ema, Beth and Tom
David Adjei
The Fuller family - David, Kerry, Rachel, Cameron, David Zac, Rianna and Caleb
Dave
Scott, Soph n Nessa & your small year 10 class
Rachel (MI ROOM!)
Louise
Neehow
Mike Howes
Andy (& Uta & T,S,D,L)
Benedict William Charles Heritage PerkinsMark Charles Edward Nye
The 'girlies in the office'
Roger, Tracy, Nay and James in the IT Department.
Gabriel Bartlett
SPANDEX
'the chauffeur'
Mr.Gloverglover
From Gl/Rw
Barty
Becky G. (the gibster) and the rest of BK :)
Alexander Lockett
Alan Francis I'm still choosing an identity Francias, Fransiscooooo.
Sonya, Garrie, Harriet, Minal, Michael, Danielle, Daniel, Alice, and Uncle Tom Cobly
Sonya and Sym
Sophia and James
Sam Turner
The Roosta
Clare Jeffree
Sara
Isolation Staff at Beaufort...Karen, Petra, Shaun and Sara
Bateson, Glover, Rowles & The Quiet Room
Lola
Callum
rob tutor group
Maria
Louise
Tom Mcguinness
Danielle


And Squidda :) Sorry to miss you off the list yesterday by calling you richard! - and sorry to everyone who has posted but not put their names :)

today is 4 weeks in hospital

4 weeks is such a long time to be lying on a bed. while i don't know for a fact, i guess that mark has walked for less than 30 minutes in this whole time. i have tried to imagine what this is like but my mind cannot go there. i stayed in bed for 4 days once with a bad knee and that did my nut. 4 weeks. wow. no wonder he's feeling low. i honestly can't imagine how he would be doing if it wasn't for all your love and care shown in so many ways.

i had a really great chat on the phone last night with mark and then one with ruth. both were real blessings for me. ruth manages to keep on going and is managing to hold things together so well but it remains very difficult. mark is trying so hard to fight discouragement. each day he really really longs for the doctor to come to his bed and say "we've found the reason for all the problems..." but each day the doctors report back that they have drawn a blank on another set of tests. he fears that every ache and pain might be another major problem.

Posted above are two photos of better days - in jamacia :) Thanks so much for these Paul. also a couple of photos showing the recent art display by marks students at beaufort school - with a strange face peering from behind one of the display boards - nice one mr nye! :)

Morning all

It's monday morning - break time for me at school so i have a few minutes to post the message.
I didn't see mark this weekend but did manage to speak to him briefly. it didn't seem appropriate for me to ask him how he was - that just seemed like a daft question! we talked for a minute or two and things seemed much the same - still waiting for test results etc. will keep blogging - if thats what its called!

Bout Time I Wrote!

A MESSAGE FROM RUTH:
I'm really not at all sure if I am doing this correctly!! Some ICT teacher I hear you all saying - well we'll see!

I thought it about time I wrote something and as I'm sure you'll all understand, have found it tricky finding time of late! Firstly though, I would like to thank everyone SO much for taking the time to read this blog and offer words of encouragement and love to Mark - always the emotional man, I can confirm they have brought tears to his eyes on more than one occasion. Seriously though - thank you to each and everyone of you. Thank you too to Tim Buckler for coming up with this idea and painstakingly updating the blog everyday to keep people informed - I hope you know what a difference it has made Neehow - You're fab!

Life in the Buckler world continues to be unpredictable! As you will have read on a previous post, we had another scare on Thursday morning resulting in an emergency operation to remove a build up of fluid restricting Mark's heart. Throughout the ordeal though I am proud to say Mark remained calm and almost cheerful at times! I think that might have been the morphine kicking in though! After having over 950ml of fluid drained from around his heart, he is now stable and in the Coronary Care Unit being observed. He is feeling very tired (as one would expect), but continues to exhibit strength and optimism - how he does it is beyond me. What a man I married! I couldn't be prouder.

I hope and pray that soon we shall be able to post a message saying that he is returning home and fully on the road to recovery. At present, I ask for your prayers for a diagnosis/recovery and continued words of support.

Once again, thank you soo much to all of you x

P.S. I have NEVER seen so many cards!!! Thank you!

wow

it's funny in a non ha-ha kinda way.
things do change quick.
mark had chest pains i think (i was asleep when i was told) and the doctors decided at 1am to do some kind of emergency thing on his heart to remove 700ml of fluid to prevent cardiac arrest. he's ok now but will be in hospital for a time longer. think he's back in ICU. ruth is doing ok but was in hospital much of the night so must be totally shattered.
wow. it's a whirlwind of emotion on this roller-coaster. t'will be rather good when it all comes to a stop.

... thursday update...

busy day yesterday so didn't speak to ruthie though through texts during the day, things seem to improving. mark did send me a text himself... i include in brief "...i'm feeling almost normal now thank Jesus!"
this is good news and certainly progress... but one day at a time.

a beautiful family :)

todays news

Ruth is in the hospital as i type - i'll ask her to post a message later or will try to do so myself. no news today as yet other than to say that mark is on a ward and out of ICU which is good on the whole but the risk of a hospital bug goes up as does the company of annoying people in the beds around him! the latter being a small price to pay for restoration of health!

recognise these two mark? :)

from nepal

a few photos from clive and andrea in nepal at a 'pink' volleyball match :)

tuesday

i am really touched to read all the posts for mark and ruth from both near and far.

i'm cautious to post encouraging news as things change so fast but... ruth texted me this morning to say that mark was feeling quite a lot better. i must be optimistic and say that this is really good news. no idea about diagnosis but maybe mark is fighting it to the extent that he is winning - can you tell that i am not a doctor?! i feel like a cheer-leader :) 'go markee'!

FATHER'S DAY 2007

sending this post on the sly - covering a german year 8 group but they're top set so no hassle... :)
just a quickie.
spent the weekend in cheltenham. mark and ruth are trying so hard to keep their spirits up. no diagnisis yet but some more results are in today i think. as yesterday was father's day, ruth took leo and finlay to see mark at the entrance to the hospital. he got there in a wheelchair and managed to stand when he saw the boys. leo ran to greet him and mark went down on one knee to hug him. his weakness did mean that he couldn't keep himself upright and he fell over and needed to be helped back to his chair but it is very special that leo has such joy when seeing mark. it can't be easy for leo.
ruth continues to visit every day - often twice. mark loves this, of course. i think it would be nice for ruth to post a blog - she mentioned that she would like to do this .
they might move mark out of intensive care today, i'm not sure. these daft hospital bugs are a concern. hey-ho.
back to the german class. they've discovered that the answers are in the back of the book. time to look serious :)

a message from mark to you all

tim here - visited mark last night. obviously he knew about the blog but wanted to post a message himself so he typed one on his laptop and i saved it on my memory stick. it took him about 15 mins. here it is :)

Dear All,
My brother came in to ICU tonight to visit me and show me some of the blog that you have all been all contributing to, and I can say that even thought my hands are still swollen and painful I really wanna say how happy I am for the life I have, I am truly blessed by the kindness written in this blog it helps me get through another day of uncertainty.
I know I have Pneumonia but this is not the problem, the problem is where it originated from and why does my temperature continue to fluctuate.
I look up and see hundreds of cards some home made and all with sensitive encouraging notes in.
Thank you everyone for support and encouragement, I am truly grateful.
Mark