Having trouble tying multiple functions together

Using Arduino Programming Questions
10

Well how are you sending the data, if you send a string with a null terminator you need to account for it.

You could flush all remaining characters.

//Get new mode if available
  if(Serial.available()){
    mode = Serial.read();
    while( Serial.available() ) Serial.read();
  }

Or maybe even better, check if the character is what you are looking for:

//Get new mode if available
  if(Serial.available()){

    char temp = Serial.read();

    if( ( temp >= '1' ) && ( temp <= '5' ) ){
      mode = temp;
    }
  }