Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Port placed but bili still too high

Hi everyone!! Mark has his port placed early this morning. He is still sleeping from the sedatives. The procedure went well, but he will be sore for a while. We will have to start Coumadin to keep the port from clotting. We also had labs drawn today. Mark's bilirubin is still a little too high to start chemotherapy, but it is coming down. We will keep out appointment this Friday with Dr. Farmer and if labs permit, hopefully chemo on Monday.

Mark's chemo will initially start with 3 medicines. With one of these, he will have to avoid cold so it's a good thing we live in the south. They will eventually start a 4th agent, but we cannot start it until 4-6 weeks after this surgery today. It has the side effect of delayed wound healing which is why they will wait on this.

Mark went to Colton's football game last night and was excited to see Colton play such a remarkable game. He made several great tackles and their team won in overtime. They now advance to the playoffs and Colton is excited that this will be played in the High School stadium.

So far, Mark has continued to coach Calen's football team. He is more on the sidelines now, but he refuses to stop these important activities.

11 comments:

Gary Waters said...

Mark,

You and your family are the daily thoughts and prayers of the Waters Family. Stay strong and continue the good fight.

Gary Waters
Gary, Jackie, Levi, and Emily

Daniel said...

Mark,
We pray for you and your family. Keep fighting. You will overcome it.

Blessings,

Daniel and family from California

Lee Colquitt said...

Mark,

Get back soon! I just nominated you as the College of Business representative for the Faculty Grievance Committee. There's more where that came from if you stay gone too long. Ha!

Seriously, our family prays for you every night. Fight it hard. You're a strong guy. There's nobody I can think of that I would put my money on more than you.

Lee

Tami Kinsey said...

Mark:

All of your old friends here in the Economics Department at OU are pulling for you - we wish you the best. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers until you beat this thing!

Keep the faith, baby!
Tami Kinsey
OU Econ

Benton Gup said...

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Benton Gup

Unknown said...

Mark -
My first reaction to hearing the news was "If anybody can fight this and come out the other side, it's Bertus." I am positive you'll prove me right. You, Rhonda, and the kids are in my prayers - I don't say that many, so there should be some credit built up.

Be well,
Christoph

Unknown said...

Mark:

Some people will do just about anything to avoid working on a paper!

Seriously, you're in our prayers. You know we went through this with our son a few years back, and in 3 years we picked up a lot of info. So if there's any questions we can answer, let us know.

-Pete DaDalt

Denise said...

We are all thinking about you at the office, Dr Bethea,Kathy,Kris,Prabhu. We will keep you in our prayers. Keep up the fight.

Tracy Richard said...

Mark, you are in our thoughts and prayers every day! Your positive outlook and faith is an inspiration to us all.
Our Best - The Richards

Brad & Leah Meadows said...

Mark & Ronda,
You and your family are in our daily thoughts and prayers. We know with your positive attitude and fighting spirit, that we know so well, you are going to beat this.

All our love,
Brad,Leah,Carson,Beau & Jackson

Ronnie Clayton said...

Mark,

I wish you the best and we have you in our thoughts and prayers. The UAB doctors are great. I spend a lot of time with one of the cardiologist there and, based upon empirical observation, you are getting the best of the best.

Hang in there.

Ronnie Clayton