December 29-chemo

Hello again. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. We had a nice one here. It was quiet with just our famiy here in Auburn. The kids had a great time and enjoyed their gifts. We went to mass on Christmas eve with the kids.

Mark and I headed in to the Cancer Center this morning for Mark's infusion. He had his blood drawn as usual, but for the first time it wasn't good news for us. His CEA marker went up to 17. We were not happy to hear that number. Dr. Farmer came and talked with us some about what this all means. It may be that the 5FU isn't working as well since Mark developed an allergy to the leukovorin (which is the catalyst for the 5FU). Maybe it's just a blip in the number (we pray). He got his infusion today as usual minus the leukovorin. Mark will have his blood for the next infusion done early on Thursday the 8th. If the number is the same or higher, we will have to change his treatment. We pray hard that the CEA goes down. The 5FU and leukovorin are the cornerstones of all the chemotherapy protocols for colon cancer.

Mark has another test this Friday to see if his fistula has healed. If so, we will also have to consider when to schedule his reversal surgery.

This has been a very trying day for both of us. We are trying to stay positive and hope and pray for good news next week when the lab work comes back. Keep Mark in your prayers as always. God bless!!!!

December 22

Hello to everyone. Mark is doing well. He has been feeling much better with this round of chemo. The chemo effects have worn off and he is looking forward to a great week now. It has been much better than the last round when he was sick the entire time. That was awful!!!!

We made it through Emily's 4th birthday on Saturday. She enjoyed opening her gifts and eating cake and ice cream with the family. We will do a party with her friends on January 3rd. She is really looking forward to that party.

Mark's birthday was Sunday and we celebrated with a lunch at Provino's with the kids and then later got a babysitter and went out for Sushi with several friends. We had a good time and enjoyed the evening out.

We are now gearing up for Christmas. The kids plan to make their sugar cookies tomorrow evening and decorate them for Santa. That is always a lot of fun. We are all looking forward to the time off and just relaxing.

Thanks for all of the support through this battle. We are so appreciative of everyone. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. God bless!!!!!

December 16-Chemo

Hello. Mark got infused yesterday at the Cancer Center. All went well (as well as can be expected). He didn't have any reactions this time. They held the leukovorin. We visited with Dr. Farmer this time and she felt like things would be okay. Of course we'll have to wait and see. The next infusion is December 29th and Mark will get another CEA number then. That will help determine if the treatment without the leukovorin is still effective.

Mark is still hooked up to the chemo here at home. He will get unhooked tomorrow around noon. He is pretty worn out. He has been eating a little and keeping some fluids in which is good. We are hoping he rebounds for Emily's birthday this Saturday and for Mark's birthday on Sunday.

It is nice that the week of Christmas will be Mark's off week of chemo. We will pray hard that he doesn't get sick this time and he actually has a week of feeling good so that we can enjoy the holiday.

We've certainly enjoyed getting all of the Christmas cards from everyone. I love the pictures. They're always so fun and seeing all the kids grow is unbelievable.

Continue to pray for Mark's recovery and health. I hope everyone has a heartwarming Christmas. Be safe everyone. God bless!!!!!!!

December 10

Hello everyone. Mark is finally starting to shake this virus and has started feeling better. Unfortunately he doesn't have long now before his next chemo infusion. This cycle of chemo has just been awful!!!! Hopefully it will get better this time. He has decided to grow a beard since his face is sensitive and he hates to shave. It is a little rough right now. We will see. He has been getting out of the house more and going in to the office. We went to Calen's basketball game this evening and then had dinner after the game with the kids.

Colton and Emily are very excited about the elf that has come to stay with us until Christmas. Colton found him this morning and hasn't stopped talking about him ALL DAY!!!!!!!!! It is fun to see the excitement in those two. They were actually being nice to each other since the elf might tell Santa if they were naughty. (I think I'll keep him around all year).

Mark and I hope to get our Christmas shopping done this Friday while the kids are in school. We will see how that works out. I just don't know where the time goes.

Mark's week off of chemo will fall during Emily and Mark's birthdays and the week of Christmas so we are very happy about that. We hope and pray that Mark is feeling well for the holiday.

Thanks again for all of the prayers and support. We couldn't get through this without such great family and friends. God bless!!!!

December 8

Hello everyone. Sorry it's been a while since I've updated. It's been soooooo busy around here. We've been constantly on the go. Mark has been sick. He spent all last week sick with a virus. Stuffy head and cough. He just felt achy and under the weather. His absolute neutrophil count was low when they gave the chemo, so I'm sure it dropped even further. That is a measure of his immune system. We've had him taking vitamin C and got him the Zicam OTC cold stuff which he said actually helped some. He has pretty much been in the bed for the last week and over the weekend. He thought he felt better today and went to the office, but said when he started walking to lunch he got short of breath and his heart started racing. I told him to call the doctor's office to see if he could go in for a chest xray, but he said "no, then I might miss Calen's game today". Typical. He is doing a little better now. He made it to the game tonight, but has been in the bed since we got home. Hopefully he will call the doctor tomorrow. He can be really stubborn sometimes.

I was very busy over the weekend getting the kids here and there. Emily had 2 birthday parties and both boys had practices in addition to all the typical weekend errands. Sunday afternoon I started getting all of the Christmas decorations down from the attic. I figured if I didn't get it done, it may not get done before the holiday. I managed to get the tree up and lights on it, but we still have to get the ornaments on. Maybe this weekend we can do that. It has really been crazy!!!!

Calen has 3 basketball games this week and then will have a break until January. Colton is just practicing now which helps.

Mark was sick on my birthday, but we made it out for a short dinner with the kids. We now have Emily and Mark's birthday's coming up before Christmas.

Please continue to keep Mark in your prayers. He really needs them this week with being sick. Hopefully he will kick this virus and get a few days of feeling better before the next round of chemo starts again. He is really starting to look a little better tonight. Hopefully looks aren't deceiving. God bless!!!!!

December 2

Hello to all. Mark had a better day today. He is pretty puny from the chemo, but doing better than the last 2 infusions. I think the meds are helping. He went out to teach in the late morning and then had to get Colton to basketball practice since it starts at 4pm and he was able to do that okay. I picked up the rest of the crew and when we got home, the nausea was starting to kick in, so Mark got a dose of all 3 pills and has been sleeping soundly ever since. He looks very comfortable. I guess that's one way to get through the chemo. It certainly beats feeling miserable!!!!

The kids and I had dinner and did homework and got showers done. Not much excitement tonight, thank goodness.

Pray for healing of Mark's body and a cure to end all of this awful cancer. God bless!!!!!

December 1-Chemo reaction

Hello to all. We had a mixed day today. Mark went in for chemo #3 this cycle. He took the Ativan and Benadryl ahead of time to help circumvent the nausea. All things were a go and he didn't get the dry heaves walking into the infusion center, so we thought things were good. Mark's cancer marker came back at 8 and that is GREAT news!!!!!!!!!! We were thrilled with that number. It should be <3 for normal. It started at 16 and climbed to 25 in a weeks time before starting this round of chemo, so it was an impressive fall. Mark got the IV nausea meds and the IV steroid infusion and then the oxaliplatin and the leukovorin and that's where things went south. Mark was about 20 minutes into that infusion when he woke from sleeping looking very red and violently coughing. He couldn't stop coughing. He coughed so hard and often that he had tears coming out of his eyes. His infusion nurse quickly came over and stopped his infusion. He started looking rashy, but the cough immediately got better. They gave him another steroid push and more Benadryl (IV this time) and some IV histamine blocker. Mark's heart rate shot up into the 130s and he felt like it was pounding out of his chest. After the meds, things started calming down. Dr. Johnson was immediately there on site and later Dr. Farmer came to look at Mark. She thinks it is a reaction to the leukovorin which isn't "chemo" but a catalyst that helps the 5FU chemo work better. We will have to stop that now. Unfortunately this med is a part of every chemo regimen that treats colon cancer. Dr. Farmer was positive in stating that she has several other patients who have developed this allergy and are doing fine without the leukovorin. She states it would be too risky with the brochospasm to reintroduce it to Mark.

After all of that fun, he was able to finish oxaliplatin infusion and get started on the 5FU infusion which is the pump that he brings home and lasts 46 hours. He was pretty sleepy with all the meds on board, but insisted on going to Calen's basketball game, so we headed straight from the infusion center to the gym and watched basketball. Mark was actually feeling a little better than last time and so far (knock on wood) hasn't had the nausea.

Colton came home from the game with a migraine headache and began vomiting on the carpet. He has had a few rounds of the vomiting so far and feels absolutely terrible. Hopefully he will be feeling better by morning. We will see.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Continue to pray for Mark's healing and recovery. Keep Paulo in your prayers as well. God bless!!!!!!

November 30

Hello to everyone. We are getting back to normal after the long trip. It was a lot of fun, but tiring. We drove back Friday night and made the trip in about 12 1/2 hours. It usually takes closer to 14 during the day. I drove the entire time since Mark wasn't feeling well. I was quite exhausted when we arrived Saturday morning, but amazingly I didn't lay down and sleep, I unpackaged the bags and did laundry all day. I took a 1 hour nap and somehow made it through the day. Mark was tired and slept a lot. The trip really wore him out. We picked up Belle, our lab, and got Leppy the guinea pig today. We are once again complete. haha

We were able to watch the Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State football game which was exciting. Emily even got out the pom poms and did some cheers for us. I think that really helped the team. I know a lot of people are upset that Texas didn't make it to the championship game, but we are quite excited about going. The strength of our schedule combined with a 3 way tie for the lead in the South makes us quite deserving we feel (and the computers apparently agreed).

Mark is gearing up for chemo again tomorrow. These last 2 rounds have definitely not been easy on him. We hope and pray that the next one will be better tolerated. The antinausea medicine has been helpful, so we will see how this round goes. Mark is hoping to feel well enough after the infusion tomorrow to make it to Calen's basketball game which is at 4. We will see. This is the last week he will have to teach for a while since finals are coming up. That will be helpful.

Thanks again to everyone who has been so supportive of Mark and all of us during this battle with cancer. We really appreciate all of the love and support. God bless!!!!

Nov 23

Hello to all. It's been a few days since I've posted. We made the trip back to Oklahoma. It wasn't too bad. We stayed in Olive Branch, MS overnight Thursday and finished the drive Friday morning. We were tired from the drive. Usually Mark does most of the driving, but I did most of it this trip. He is starting to rebound and feel more like himself which is good.

We went to the Oklahoma vs Texas Tech game Saturday night. It was a great game!!!! There was a lot of excitement and energy from the fans and we feel we helped the team to their impressive victory. Now we hope they can win with authority over OSU. They will be tough!!! The kids enjoyed the game and we took a lot of pictures.

We had a quiet day today and plan more activites this week. We will be going to Norman to visit campus tomorrow and to an Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game Tuesday night. It should be fun even though they aren't playing well, I think they are playing a good opponent.

It has been nice visiting with family and friends. We are really enjoying the trip. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

God bless!!!

November 18

Hello everyone. It was quite the day. Mark felt pretty ill, but managed to drag himself in for class today. He took his chemo pump with him and taught. He came home and totally crashed. He ate some soup which later came back up. He felt pretty nauseated tonight and was getting annoyed with me trying to encourage him to eat some crackers. You can just imagine this picture, right??? He finally ate a few (probably so I'd be quiet and leave him alone). The antinausea pills finally kicked in around 9:30 this evening and after the kids were in bed and I was finally getting everything picked up and finished in the house, Mark asks me to go get him a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. That certainly doesn't sound like anything I'd crave during a time of nausea, but I figure the pills must be working. I ran out at 10pm and got the food and so far it's stayed down. We will see.... It was just nice to see him requesting something to eat. (I would have prefered something we had in the kitchen, but oh well.....)

Mark should get unhooked from the chemo tomorrow around noon. Hopefully by Thursday or Friday he is starting his rebound. We plan to travel this weekend and it would be nice if he felt good during the drive.

Colton found out his basketball team this evening and they will have their first practice Thursday night. Calen has been practicing hard each night and will finally get a night to rest tomorrow as their practice was cancelled.

Thanks again for all of the prayers and support for Mark and the family during this cancer battle. Continue to pray for all of those battling this awful disease. God bless!!!!!

November 17-Round #2

Hello to everyone. Mark started round #2 of this chemo cycle today. He got nauseated just thinking of it this morning. He had an appointment with Dr. Farmer before his chemo started and we talked with her about how he reacted last round. She has a great plan for this time and future chemos to help prevent the nausea and anxiety associated with it. Hopefully it will work. Frank came and sat with us for most of the morning and visited with Mark. Mark really enjoyed that and we both really appreciate your friendship. It really means a lot. Mark started getting sick by mid treatment and pretty much passed out in the chair (not literally, but fell into a deep sleep). He was freezing with goose bumps all over him, so I put a warm blanket on him and he seemed to rest well. Colton had his team's end of the year football party tonight and of course Mark insisted on going even though he felt like total crap. He made it through the party and after we got home, he was able to take one of the pills Dr. Farmer prescribed and he really relaxed and seems so much more comfortable. I think this will really help get him through these awful days.

Miki and Scott Parker brought over some chicken soup for Mark yesterday to help get him through the nausea. It is a homemade recipe from Miki's mom. They also brought food for the rest of us which was awfully nice. Thanks so much guys!!!! It was great!!!!

We are gearing up for our long trip back to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. We will have to break up the trip and Mark is supposed to get out and stretch often as chemo patients are at higher risk for forming blood clots. It may be our longest trip on record. Good thing we have a portable DVD player and now an adapted for the playstation2 for the car. haha. We may need them to keep our sanity.

God bless!!!

November 12

Mark is doing well this week. He remains a little dehydrated and is constantly fighting that. The nausea seems to have left and we are thankful. He has been busy catching up with his grading. His students are anxious to get their projects back. He is working diligently tonight trying to get them all finished.

Colton's football team played in the championship game last night at the High School stadium. He was so excited. Their team won and had an undefeated season this year. The kids were so excited as well as the coaches. They all worked so hard this year. Mark got to enjoy the game from the sideline.

Calen is busy practicing basketball every day after school. He comes home exhausted from all the running and conditioning they do. The season will be starting up soon and will be very busy. Most of their games start at 4 or 4:30.

The kids all got their picture taken tonight at the mall with Aubie dressed up as Santa. We didn't realize they were doing the pictures tonight, but happened to be there shopping. Emily was psyched and had to get hers done, so we talked the boys into it, too. I think it will be cute. The pictures will be mailed to the house later. Of course, they weren't dressed up or anything, but still it will be a great keepsake for later.

Mark is excited to have his twin brother, Matt, coming in this weekend for the Auburn/Georgia game and tailgate. It should be fun (the tailgate anyway-unless you are a Georgia fan). After the weekend of fun, he will gear up for his next round of chemo on Monday. Pray that it is easier on him this time. God bless!!

November 10

Hello everyone. Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. Mark starting feeling quite a big better on Friday and turned the corner on Saturday. He continues to have A LOT of output from the ileostomy and dehydration will be our biggest hurdle to overcome now. We were hoping so badly to have gotten that reversed before the chemo started. Hopefully he won't require IV fluids this week, but he is having trouble keeping the fluids in a positive balance. We are glad to see Mark feeling better and hope that he has a great week before we go back to chemo next Monday.

Colton's football team will be playing for the league championship at the High School stadium on Tuesday night. He is excited about that. Calen is practicing basketball every night now and is definitely getting into good shape. They run a lot!!!!

We are so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family supporting us. Continue to pray for Mark's strength through this battle. God bless!!!!

Nov 6

Well, we had hoped Mark would be better today, but he still felt pretty lousy. He has had more nausea and vomiting with this round of chemo than he ever has in the past. I am not sure why, but we certainly don't like it. He got some IV medicine for the nausea on Wednesday and is taking some oral antinausea medicine today. It has really been the worst treatment yet. I hope the next one is easier on him. He tried to go in and teach his class today, but had to leave because of the nausea and vomiting and spent the rest of the day in bed.

I managed to pick up all 3 kids after work and make it to Calen's basketball team's parent meeting. We didn't get home until late, so we just grabbed some fast food. YUK!!!! We finished homework and showers and got everyone off to bed.

Please keep Mark in your prayers. He needs to get through these chemo treatments and hopefully get the next surgery done in February. Also remember Paulo in your prayers as he will be starting chemo soon for newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer. God bless!!!

November 5

Hello everyone. Mark isn't feeling so great with this chemo. In fact, I think this is his worst treatment yet. He started out Monday doing fair, but has rapidly declined. He was dehydrated today and got some IV fluids this afternoon at the infusion center. He hasn't been able to get up today at all. He had hoped to take Colton to basketball tryouts and to football practice, but couldn't get up. He really didn't eat all day and finally managed a little soup this evening. He is really grumpy and mostly just grunts at me when I check on him and ask him how he's doing. (Who can blame him???) It's so hard to see him feeling this bad. I certainly hope that all of his future treatments won't be like this. He had some that were better than others his last go round with the chemo.

I was extremely busy this evening running to get all 3 kids picked up on time and dropped off to practices on time. I was late picking Calen up from basketball practice and felt really bad. It was nonstop, though. Glad that's over!!!

I hope that Mark bounces back quickly from this round. Maybe he will wake up feeling much better. We can hope. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. God bless!!!

November 3-Chemo restarted

Hello to all. Mark and I went in to the Cancer Center this morning around 8am. He got his blood drawn and the chemo started. He knew without looking at what was hanging when the oxaliplatin was infusing by the tingling he got in his fingers, toes and tongue. The chemo memories quickly came flooding back. He got the exact same regimen as before without the Avastin added. He came home with the 5FU infusion that will last until Wednesday morning. He is feeling extremely fatigued now. He did make it to Colton's football game tonight and sat in a chair on the sidelines. He was much less animated than usual. Colton's team won and will play in the championship game next week. Mark should be feeling better for that game.

Mark's CEA number was higher this time at 25 (from 16) which confirms that we made the right decision in not waiting any longer on restarting the chemo. This is starting to show it's ugly face again and I think we are hitting it where it counts. The PET/CT was totally clean which gives us great hope that there isn't any metastasis anywhere.

Calen made the 7th grade basketball team. We are very proud of him. There were about 56 kids trying out for 15 positions and he made the team. They started workouts today and he will definitely be in shape with these workouts.

We are hoping to make a trip back home to Oklahoma soon for Thanksgiving. We may also make it to the Texas Tech/Oklahoma football game. The kids are excited about that. Mark will have one more chemo before that.

Thanks to all of you who continually show us support and love through this battle. Pray hard that Mark's body tolerates the chemo and fights the cancer. God bless!!!!!

October 30

Hello to all. We have heard from Pittsburgh and they have been able to speak with Dr. Farmer. It was decided to go ahead with chemo soon and not waste any more time for now. They suggest at least 3 months and then maybe looking into reversal surgery depending on Mark's response and scans/cancer marker. We will hold the Avastin which is part of the chemo regimen Mark did before, anticipating possible surgery in the future. We will proceed with the other chemo drugs as before. Mark's appointment to get started back on the chemo will be Monday morning. Pray that he tolerates it well. It is certainly hard on his body and is not any fun at all. He was so wiped out before while on chemo.

The kids went Trick-or-Treating tonight in Auburn. They did this a night early because of the High School football game tomorrow night I'm told. They had fun. Calen was a hippie, Colton the Scream character, and Emily was Aerial.

We haven't told the kids yet about starting chemo. We will break it to them this weekend. We didn't want to disrupt any school work, etc. It will be hard on them.

Continue to pray for Mark during this cancer battle. Many of you know Paulo who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Please pray for him as well. He will be starting chemo soon I am told. God bless!!!!

October 24

Well, we got mixed results from the tests today. Mark's CT/PET scan turned out okay. They did not see any "hot" areas of disease or metastasis. It all looked pretty normal. They see some scarring around the liver probably from the chemo wash after surgery. However, the CEA (cancer marker in the blood) was elevated at 16 (normal is less than 3). There could be microscopic disease that doesn't show up yet or a false positive reading on the CEA number. Dr. Farmer feels it is safe to wait 2 weeks and return for blood work and see what the trend in the CEA is. If it is going up, we have to start back on chemo pretty quickly. If it isn't, we may decide to do exploratory surgery to see what the abdomen looks like and see if there is any cancer showing up that is not seen on the scan.

Dr. Farmer is going to send copies of both the scans and the labs to the Drs. in Pittsburgh to get their opinions as well. We will see what they say.

Pray hard these next few weeks that the CEA number falls drastically and that it is just a false positive lab test. We really need a zero to come back on our next one.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive during Mark's cancer battle. We have appreciated all the love and care. God bless!!!!

October 24

Hello everyone. Mark goes in this morning for blood work and a PET/CT scan. We will go see Dr. Farmer this afternoon for an appointment and hopefully get the results of the testing this morning. Pray that it all turns out okay. God bless!!

October 22

Mark will go in this Friday for his CEA lab test. This will tell us if there is any active cancer in the body. We are waiting on Dr. Farmer's office to get the CT authorized with the insurance company, so as soon as that is done we will know when the CT scan will be. Mark is feeling well. We are praying for good news with these next 2 tests so that we can move forward with recovery.

Calen's team finished their season last night in football. They remain undefeated and it was a good season for the boys. Colton's team was also undefeated and now in playoffs. Basketball tryouts start next week. There is just never a break between the sports. Oh well, I guess it keeps them busy.

Continue to keep Mark in your prayers. God bless!!!!

October 20

Mark heard from Pittsburgh today. They were able to speak with Dr. Farmer. It was decided to get another CT scan and a CEA number to see how Mark is doing and to make sure we're not looking at any new disease sneaking into the picture. Once that is over, we will decide the next step. If the scans and cancer marker are normal, we may be able to wait a little longer before chemo and we will certainly have more peace of mind. Now we will wait to hear when the tests will be. Hopefully they can do them this week. There is always so much waiting!!!! I am learning to be very patient, though.

Colton had his last regular season football game tonight and finished the season undefeated. They now will start playoffs and hope to make it to the championship game. Calen's team will have their last game tomorrow and if they win, will also be undefeated. Go DRAKE WILDCATS!!!!!

We will keep updating as we know information. Continue to pray for Mark's body to fight this cancer and for him to remain cancer free. It is a battle he MUST WIN!!!!! God bless!!!!!

October 16....1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Hello everyone. Today is Mark's one year anniversary from his cancer diagnosis. I guess that is reason to celebrate since he is doing so well. It has been a year of ups and downs for sure. We are just glad to have some normalcy back in our lives right now.

Mark heard from Pittsburgh yesterday. They have not been able to speak to Dr. Farmer yet. She was out of the office yesterday, so they will keep trying. It will probably be Friday before they can touch base. We will update when we know something.

Thanks again for all the prayers and support. God bless!!!!!

October 13

Mark heard from Pittsburgh today. They are still a little uncertain about proceding with surgery with the small fistula still present, but seem a little unsure about waiting this long off chemo. They decided to discuss Mark's case with Dr. Farmer here and they should get back to Mark tomorrow on their decision. They really don't like to do chemo with the ileostomy still there since he is at high risk of becoming dehydrated. There was some talk of doing a CT scan to make sure everything still looks okay. We will wait and see what they decide. After all of this down time, we are certainly on edge now about the next step.

The CT scans are definitely a scary test. You pray so hard that all comes out normal and that you can continue on the same path, but know that with each one anything can change. It is always a relief to hear the words negative after one of those scans and we pray hard that we hear them once again.

Mark enjoyed his trip to Dallas and enjoyed the game in the Cotton Bowl. He says it was one of the best games he's been to in quite some time. I know Oklahoma lost, but he actually wasn't nearly as upset as I thought he'd be. I think he just enjoyed getting to see the Crimson and Cream in action first hand. They are an awesome team to watch!!!!

Calen has 2 more football games and then it's on to basketball season. Colton has one more game and then playoffs in football. Their team is undefeated so far. He is really hoping to make it to the championship game as they play it in the High School stadium and get to have announcers and everything. He will also play basketball this year. Emily continues to learn a lot in her ballet and tumbling classes. She cannot wait until her recitals. She talks about her "show" all the time. Unfortunately she thinks she is going to get to talk during this show, so hopefully the teacher can make her understand that she will just dance. It might get interesting. haha

Thanks for all of the support and prayers. Continue to lift Mark up in your prayers. God bless!!!

Oct 7

Hello to everyone. Just a quick update. Mark heard from Pittsburgh today. He just got confirmation that his films had arrived and now they will wait on Dr. Bartlett to look at them and let us know what he thinks. It is a slow process sometimes and we've had to learn patience. Hopefully we'll know something in the next day or two about our next step. We will see.....

Mark has a conference in Dallas this week and has arrived safely there. He will be interviewing candidates and going to meetings. He managed to stay through the weekend and snagged a coveted ticket to the Oklahoma vs Texas game. The kids and I feel a little cheated on that one, but we hope he enjoys the game and Oklahoma comes out with a victory. Meanwhile, we'll be back here in Alabama working and going to school.....(sigh). We will make the Auburn/Arkansas tailgate and game this weekend, so it isn't all that bad. Mark really hates that he will miss one of Calen's football games this Thursday night.

Thanks so much for all the support and prayers. God bless!!!!!

Sept 29

Mark had his bowel test again today for the 4th time. He was thrilled when he woke this morning and got to go to the hospital for the wonderful colon test again. YIPEE!!!!! Anyway, we finally got a good report. His colon has almost completely healed. The fistula is down from 8 cm to around 1 cm. The radiologist commented on how dramatically it had shrunk. We will now have to wait on the Pittsburgh doctors to look at the films when they arrive and give us their opinion. We feel we are getting close to getting rid of the ileostomy. Mark will be glad to get rid of that.

Mark got to go by and see Dr. Farmer today while he was in the hospital. She still seems okay with the fact that we're waiting this long off of chemo. Mark looks wonderful and if you didn't know any better, you'd never guess him to be sick at all. He looks great. He still gets tired easy, but who wouldn't with all he's been through in the last year. We were just talking tonight about how tomorrow will be 3 months since his major surgery and how drastically it has changed our lives. It has been a bunch of highs and lows, but definitely all highs these days and we thank God for each and every one of them. We are quickly approaching the one year anniversary of Mark's cancer diagnosis. It seems like forever ago in some regards, but just like yesterday in others. Funny how you wake up one day thinking everything is okay, not realizing your life will never again be the same.

We are staying very busy with both boys playing football and Colton's baseball team is still together and gearing up for a tournament in October. Mark is helping to coach Colton's team and is very animated on the sidelines and in practice (imagine that!!!!). Emily is funny and sweet and such a mess. She keeps us very busy. She continues to do her ballet and tumbling classes every week. She can't wait until her recital (which isn't until May).

Thanks to everyone for all of your support, love and prayers through this journey. We appreciate all the caring and concern for Mark's health. God bless!!!!!

Sept 21

Hello to everyone. I know it's been a long while since I've updated. That is definitely a good sign. Mark is doing fabulous. He is back to normal weight and feeling so much better. He still gives out easier and quicker than he used to, but I think that is to be expected given all that he's been through. We feel so blessed to have been given this break from the surgery and chemo. Maybe this fistula was really a gift to all of us. (Trying to stay positive).

Mark has gotten to spend a lot of time with Calen and Colton this football season. He has made it to most of Calen's practices and enjoys watching them. They have won all 3 of their games so far and just beat Opelika (their big rival) 26-0 last week. It was a good game and the boys earned an "A" to put on their helmets with that win. Colton's team played their first game Monday and also won big. Colton was so excited. He recovered a fumble, scored a touchdown and made several great blocks. Emily was just glad to have found some friends on the sideline and played princesses and ran from the "Big Bad Wolf" during the game. She is so funny sometimes. Her only concern is whether or not the concession stand will be open.

We had a great tailgate Saturday for the Auburn/LSU game. In spite of the loss, we enjoyed the day long social event and the seafood boil along with the gumbo and red beans and rice that Mark made for all to enjoy. There was some great Cajun cuisine out there!! We certainly missed watching OU play since this was their week off. We hope to see them play TCU next week. It is hard to get the Oklahoma games down here, so we usually end up buying the ESPN Gameplan to get to see our Sooners play. Yes, we bleed Crimson and Cream.

Mark's next test will be September 29th (a week from Monday). We are praying hard that everything in the colon has now healed so we can proceed with the next surgery and then finish with the chemo. We have truly been blessed and are trusting that all will go as planned to restore Mark's health. Keep praying for the colon to be healed. God bless!!!!!

Sept 8

Hello to all. Not much to report here. I hope everyone got to watch a little of the Stand Up 2 Cancer program on Friday night. What a great way to reach out and raise money for cancer research. It is so important as there are so many people affected by this awful disease.

Mark continues to do well. He still gets fatigued easily, but is so much better than we could have ever imagined from his initial diagnosis to now. What a blessing and miracle!!!!!!!! Mark has been out helping with Colton's football practice. He was getting a little too animated with the players and about passed out the other day. He had to lay down on the ground for a bit to get himself back together. He forgets sometimes his limitations. His biggest challenge besides the fatigue is the ostomy. He would really love to get rid of that. Hopefully that will be our next big hurdle. Mark's test will be September 29th and we will find out whether or not the colon has healed. We pray hard that it has.

The kids are all doing well. The boys both love school and have great teachers and classes this year. What a blessing. Emily is growing up so fast. She keeps us laughing a lot (or pulling our hair out). The Drake football team won their first game Thursday night 28-6 in Valley. Calen was excited about that. Colton was mad that he didn't get to go as he had football practice that night. Hopefully he will get to watch a game or two. His football season will be starting soon as well. We definitely stay on the run with the 3 kids.

Thanks for all the support. We hope to have a quiet month and then great news to end the month. God bless!!!

Sept 2

Hello to all. We got news from Pittsburgh today. Dr. Bartlett reviewed Mark's films. He feels that the colon needs a little more time for healing and is still hopeful that it will heal up on it's own. They want to wait on chemo as to allow for better healing time and not stress the body or tissues any more. Mark will have another test to see if the colon has healed in one month. We will pray very hard that it has healed and we can procede with the next surgery. It still makes me a little nervous waiting this long before restarting the chemo. I am a bit paranoid maybe. I know that Mark is thoroughly enjoying the break from chemo and it feels good to see him feeling so good.

Dr. Farmer's office will set up Mark's next test and an appointment for him to come in and get his port flushed. It hasn't been used in a while and they will have to flush it with anticoagulants so that it will not form a clot. Other than that, Mark will be free from Dr. appointments for the next month.

Continue to pray for healing, especially the fistulas in Mark's colon so that Dr. Bartlett's team can finish their work and we can procede with the next step in treatment. God bless!!!!

Sept 1

Hello everyone. Not much exciting news here. We did find out that Mark's films were delivered and signed for on the 27th after all. They have reached Dr. Bartlett's office. YEAH!!! Now it is a matter of getting them to view the films and give us feedback. Mark will probably call them in the morning and check on the status of things. We're not sure of Dr. Bartlett's surgery schedule, but we are just anxious to find out the next step. Most likely it will be more waiting. We may end up starting the chemo before having the second surgery (again this is just my speculation). We will wait to see what they say this week.

Mark is doing well overall. I think the tailgating wore him out a bit, but he certainly enjoyed visiting with everyone and getting back into the swing of things. He slept late Sunday and we attended the 5pm mass. He didn't feel like doing a lot today either. We had a pretty lazy day around the house which was kind of enjoyable.

Tomorrow starts another busy week. Football practice for both boys and Emily's ballet class is tomorrow as well. Calen's first football game will be this Thursday night for the middle school. He is getting excited about that and I know Mark can't wait to watch them play.

Thanks again for all of the support and prayers. God bless!!!!

August 27

Hello everyone. Good news to share. Mark had both of his urology tests this week and he passed both with flying colors. He will not need any more follow ups unless he develops problems. YEAH!!! One less thing to worry about. We were glad to get the news.

We are still waiting to hear from Pittsburgh on Mark's tests from last week. Yes it is another mail saga. We decided to use the Post Office Express Mail service since UPS messed up severely the last 2 times we've used them (despite charging an obscene amount of money and not delivering as promised overnight or even that WEEK!!!!). We felt like a change needed to be made, so we thought we'd try the good old postal service. I sent the package Friday and specified that I DID NOT want the package delivered Saturday as there would be no one there in the office to receive the mail, but wanted it delivered MONDAY. They wrote it on the receipt and took my money with a smile and stamped my package. Of course, I get a notice that they could not deliver the package Saturday because there wasn't anyone there for delivery (DUH!!!!!) and that Dr. Bartlett's office will now have to pick up the package from the post office or they will send it back to me after 5 days. I tried to get them to redeliver the package since they clearly messed up, but they'll hear nothing of it. Lesson learned!!!! I guess we'll have to try good old FedEx next time. Surely there is someone out there who can deliver with competence. So far we are 3 for 3 with not getting records there. It is very frustrating!!!!!! I don't know when they'll get the records. I guess eventually they'll wind up in the right place.

We've been very busy. Mark is enjoying being back in the classroom and back to work. He goes to watch the end of Calen's football practice every day as well and enjoys that. Colton will start football practices this week and Emily is still doing her ballet and tumbling classes. Of course this will be the first big football weekend for both Auburn and Oklahoma. We will be tailgating for the Auburn game. Unfortunately Oklahoma will not be on television (they are playing Chatanooga-doesn't sound like much of a game, but it would still be nice to get to see our crimson and cream play their season opener).

Thanks again to everyone who continues to pray and support us. We have come so far and couldn't have done it without all the love and support and the many prayers that are offered up each day. God bless!!!!

August 20

Hello everyone. Mark had his test this morning. We did not get the great news we were hoping for. He still has the fistula or leak from the colon. It has gotten a little smaller since the last study. They also found another fistula since the last study which was very tiny. I am not sure why he would have formed another one. This is common in people who have had radiation to their tissues, but he has not. I don't know if it is a side effect of the intraperitoneal chemotherapy. It can also be pretty toxic. Anyway, it hasn't totally healed as we had hoped and the chances of reversal soon have gone out the window. That is okay. We would rather be safe than do something to jeopardize Mark's health at this time.

We will send the films off to Pittsburgh again and wait on their opinion as to our next step. We may end up proceding with chemo before the reversal after all. Not sure yet if this is what they'll say, I am only speculating.

Mark's mother had her colonoscopy today. It was normal and we were all glad to hear that. His dad's test will be next week and then the whole family will have been tested.

Keep praying for healing and strength. It has done wonders for Mark this far and we have seen a miracle. God bless you all!!!

August 19

Hello to all. It has been a busy week so far. Mark's first day back in the classroom was today. It was exciting for us all. Emily wished him well "in school" on her way out this morning. It was cute. I have a tradition where I take everyone's picture as they are leaving home the first day of school every year. I keep all of them. I threatened Mark today that I was going to take his picture on his first day of school. He just rolled his eyes at me and then took a long time getting dressed so that I had to leave before he did. I think it was on purpose. Oh well....we were all excited anyway that Mark was back in the classroom today. He said it felt good.

Tomorrow is the big test day with the gastrograffin enema. We have been saying a lot of prayers that there is no leak present so we can get the ileostomy reversed. Mark is really looking forward to getting things back to normal in that regard. Mark's mother, Kathy, is also having her colonoscopy tomorrow. Hopefully that will be good news as well.

I was looking at pictures today that we took of Mark the day after surgery in Pittsburgh. It is amazing to see how swollen he looks. The description of Jabba the Hut was pretty accurate. Now that he is better, I may have to figure out how to post those pictures on the site for everyone to get chuckle out of. He was so swollen. WOW!!!!!

Thanks again for the continued support. God bless!!!

August 17

Hello everyone. We had a nice and relaxing weekend. We finished painting the back porch ceiling. It looks really good and we moved all the patio furniture back onto the patio. I'm sure the neighbors are all happy now. haha

Mark's next test will be Wednesday morning. This will be the one that determines whether or not the area of the colon is healed and "leak proof" so that we can go back to Pittsburgh and reverse the ileostomy. We will pray very hard this week that there are no leaks there. We will then have to wait on word from Pittsburgh and hopefully all things will be a go for surgery, but I am going to just take it one step at a time. Mark was also scheduled for a urology test that same morning, so I think he will have to reschedule that one.

Mark's first day back in the classroom teaching will be Tuesday. He is excited. It has been a while since he last taught and this is a big and welcomed change for him. We have been looking forward to the day he could get back to teaching and it is now just ahead.

The kids all did well this week. The boys both survived their first week of school and Calen his first week of after school football practice. Emily totally loved her ballet and tumbling classes. She learned to plia' with her heels together and feet out. She says her "feet don't like each other and have to make a triangle". I am sure that is how the instructor explained it because it is all she says over and over. She keeps practicing. It is cute.

God bless!!!!

August 15

Hello to all. Mark and I had a nice anniversary. It was our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday. Mark sent roses to me at work and then took me out for dinner last night. It was a good evening and I think we both enjoyed it. It was low key and relaxing. Mark's parents came in from New Orleans to get a few things they left behind and agreed to watch the kids for us, so it was perfect timing. We spent the rest of the evening watching the Olympics and stayed up late watching the gymnastics. What can I say, we're nerds.

We are waiting to get Mark's next test date. Hopefully this will take place in the next week or two and we'll be doing surgery in September we hope. We will see how things play out. We've learned not to get too anxious about how quickly things move, as they don't always progress as quickly as we'd like. We just feel blessed that Mark continues to do so well and having this break from chemo has been good. I am a little anxious to get moving as I think too long of a break is not going to be a good thing. Yes, I am paranoid. I can't help myself.

Thanks again for the support, prayers and well wishes. God bless!!!

August 13

We have finally gotten word from Pittsburgh. Dr. Bartlett has looked at Mark's CT scans and was quite pleased with what he saw. They really didn't feel there was a fluid collection there at all. They were also glad to hear that Mark is doing so well. They want to plan another gastrograffin enema test before scheduling the reversal surgery just to make sure everything has healed up and there are no leaks present. We can schedule that whenever, so we will probably get moving on that test soon.

Mark also had an appointment to follow up with the urologist today and they want to do a couple of more tests as well. Everything seems to be moving in the right direction and we are pleased.

Tomorrow we will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Time has certainly flown on that one. WOW!!!! It is exciting that we are in a place that we can enjoy spending time together. Things could have been very different for this one. Mark could have been on chemo or still recovering from surgery, so it really couldn't have worked out better for us. I know schedules still remain busy with the kids and school, homework, football practice, etc, but hopefully we'll be able to spend some quality time in the evening together after the kids are in bed.

Thanks to all of you for supporting us. God bless!!!

Aug 10

Still no news from Pittsburgh thus no updates on the blog. Sorry I've been a slacker this week. We found out Dr. Bartlett's PA Heather is on vacation and Mark's test has been sitting on Dr. Bartlett's desk not being looked at. She pretty much keeps him in line and on track and lets him know what to do, who to see, etc. It was a little frustrating for us when we found this out, but certainly explained a lot. Hopefully we hear something early this week.

The kids start school in the morning and both boys are excited about it. Colton is a 3rd grader and Calen a 7th grader on the Bobcats team at Drake. Emily is just thrilled that her ballet shoes came in and her first class is on Tuesday.

I will let you know when we hear from Pittsburgh. Mark looks great. He saw Dr. Farmer Friday and she was thrilled with the way he looked. His weight is up to 180 lbs. He is out walking 3 miles most days of the week. He still has some endurance issues, but they are quickly becoming a thing of the past. His neuropathy seems to be the only lingering thing that may not pass.

Thanks so much to all of you who have been so supportive of us through this. God bless!!!

Aug 4

Well, still no news. We found out today that the films we overnighted Thursday via UPS just arrived this morning at 10:30am. I guess UPS forgot what overnight meant. I think we will chose another company next time. This is twice now that they've messed up delivery. It does explain the lack of communication from Pittsburgh. They just received the films. We will hope that they had a chance to review them this evening and can get with us tomorrow on their thoughts and plans for Mark's next surgery. We will wait patiently for word and update when we know something.

Life is slowly getting back to normal for us. Mark and I have started back on our nightly walks and have progressed to almost our full 3 miles. His appetite is much better and he is going in to the office and focusing on work. His stamina still has a long way to go, but trust me this is huge progress. We feel very blessed and thankful for these last few weeks. It will really stink when Mark has to resume the chemo schedule and have the every other week of feeling like crap again. We will try to enjoy this while it lasts.

Continue to pray for healing and a cure. God bless!!!

Aug 3

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. We were hoping to have heard something from Pittsburgh on Mark's test on Friday, but as you can tell by the lack of update, we did not. Hopefully Monday will bring us the news we've been waiting on. It will at least let us know which way we are going. We were really hoping they would be able to do Mark's ileostomy reversal surgery before his semester started at Auburn. I don't know that it will be an option at this point, but we will see.

Mark is feeling better everyday. He had a little tummy ache over the weekend. I'm not sure if it was just a bug going around or what. We went out and walked in the neighborhood just shy of 3 miles tonight which was a killer with this humidity.

The kids have one more week before school starts and it will be good to get them back into a routine. Emily starts ballet and tumbling classes next week. We ordered her ballet shoes, so we are hoping they come in time for class.

Thanks again for all the support. God bless!!!

July 30

Mark's CT scan went well this morning. He felt a little ill after and came home for a nap. The frustrating part for Mark was that they were not able to print off his films onto a CD like Birmingham and Pittsburgh did. They are making him wait until tomorrow and then making him drive back to the hospital to pick it up. Mark was a bit frustrated with the system today, but quickly got over it. That prolongs getting the images to Pittsburgh until Friday and depending on Dr. Bartlett's surgery schedule, may delay them looking at the films until next week now. UGHHHHH!!!!!!! We did look at the radiology report here today. Everything looked good. The fluid collection seems pretty small in my opinion. We will see what the experts say about it. Still not sure about long term plans. We pray that we know something by Friday, but again it may be next week. The great news was no new cancerous lesions on the CT scan and no lymph nodes or spots of any concern on the CT. That is always exciting to hear.

We will keep you posted. God bless!!!

July 29

Hello to all. We are still improving daily. Mark is getting stronger with each passing day. He still runs out of gas easily and finds that simple things he used to take for granted are much more difficult now, but that should get easier with time. He seems to have a better appetite. He constantly battles the ileostomy and I think things will get much better after that is reversed.

Mark has his CT scan scheduled for early tomorrow morning. They are going to take a look and see what his abdomen and pelvis look like. They saw a fluid collection on the earlier test and they want to take a better look at it. We will see what happens from there. It is all a waiting game from here. Hopefully if we get the films off tomorrow by noon and overnight them ourselves, we will have word from Pittsburgh by week's end.

Calen got his Drake team assignment today and that was exciting. They have meet the teacher night next week in the afternoon and the elementary school's will be in the evening. I can't believe school will be starting soon. I don't know where the summer went.

Continue to keep Mark in your prayers. We hope for good news from the CT scan and healing of the fistula so that they can get rid of the ileostomy soon. God bless!!!

July 27

Hello everyone. Just a quick update. We had a busy weekend and just got in late tonight. Mark did well through the heat and humidity. Colton's team played in an awful rainstorm and the field was like a slip and slide on Saturday. They won both games Saturday and then made it to the championship game today. We played the Bay City Bears from Mobile and were beating them the entire game and gave it up in the bottom of the 6th inning. It was a tough loss, but we were proud of the kids. It was a tough team we were playing. The kids got 2nd place and I think kids and parents are all ready for a little break, but we had the best group of kids and parents you could ask for and our coaches were just top of the line.

Mark drove the entire trip (I did offer to drive, but he insisted on doing the driving). Not sure what that says about my driving, but he usually doesn't like me to get behind the wheel. He says I just drive too slow. Mark is really looking good. We will be anxious to see what the CT says on Wednesday. This time we will personally get the films and overnight them, so hopefully we'll be hearing something from Pittsburgh by week's end.

Thanks for all of you who continue to offer support and prayers. We appreciate it more than you know. God bless!!!!

July 24

Hello to all. We got word from Pittsburgh today. They had time to review the films and reports and called us about them. There appears to be a collection of fluid in Mark's abdomen. They are not sure where it has come from, but were happy to know that Mark is doing well and gaining weight and improving instead of feeling sick and running fever, etc. They ordered a CT to be done and Dr. Farmer's office was kind enough to get that ordered for next week so that we can get a better look at the fluid collection and see whether they will need to go in there and drain it or whether they think it will resolve on it's own.

It does not look like the ileostomy reversal will be anytime in the immediate future. I think they will give Mark some time to heal up before they go back in for the reversal and will need to make sure the leak (the one seen last week in the rectum at the surgery site) has healed. We will try and be patient.

We are still going to Gulfport and plan to leave in the morning. Continue to pray for Mark's healing. Maybe by next Wednesday all the fluid will be gone from his abdomen. Also keep Randy Smith in your prayers. God bless!!!

July 23

No news from Pittsburgh yet. I sent the report via fax early this morning. I guess we'll be calling them tomorrow if we don't hear anything. It has definitely been a long 2 weeks waiting to hear from them. Mark felt a little under the weather today. He has had more abdominal pain and has been laying in bed this evening just not feeling quite up to par. Hopefully nothing to worry about. We will see how he's doing tomorrow.

We will be packing up to leave Friday morning for our beach trip and Colton's last travel ball tournament for the season.

Keep saying prayers that Mark is healed. Also send up prayers for Randy Smith who was diangosed with colon cancer in 2006. He has been in remission and just started losing weight and not feeling well. I spoke with his wife today and they found a suspicious spot on his liver. He is having tests done tomorrow and we are praying that it is not a recurrence of the cancer. His wife, of course, is very worried. Thanks so much to everyone for the continued support. God bless!!!!

July 22

We got an email from Pittsburgh this evening. They finally got the films, but no report from Mark's procedure here. (The funny thing is while talking to Dr. Downs last night, he mentioned that he specifically put on there to send the report with the films and he dictated his name and phone number to the reading room on the report so that the doctors in Pittsburgh could call him directly with any questions back here in Opelika). I will pull it off the computer first thing in the morning and fax it from my office to them. Hopefully we'll hear something tomorrow rendering their opinion on the surgery and when the optimal time would be to do it. Mark got on the scale today and has gained a total of 6 lbs back (from the 32 lost). He is definitely making progress. We are seeing great strides in him every day. It is unfortunate to think that he will have to go back to the chemo, but it is inevitable.

Everything now seems to be falling into place. We will anxiously await the verdict from Pittsburgh and roll with whatever it is they tell us. Please keep praying that we are guided in the right direction. We thank all of you for your continued support and prayers. God bless!!!!

July 21

Hi. Mark continues to improve each day. He is eating well and regaining his strength. We went for another short walk this evening in the neighborhood. It is good to see him getting back to him normal self again. This morning he had breakfast out with his parents and Colton and went to the office for a short while.

Pittsburgh should have received the films today of Mark's procedure. Hopefully we'll hear something from Dr. Bartlett tomorrow to let us know what direction to move in next. It will be nice to know the next plan of action. We saw Dr. Downs out in the neighborhood tonight while taking our walk and we stopped to visit a while with him. He actually read Mark's last test and has been very helpful and supportive during this time.

Calen continues to have football workouts twice a week and Colton has one last travel ball tournament in baseball before it's over. Our last outing this weekend is in Gulfport. We will leave early on Friday as to enjoy a little beach time. The tourney actually starts Saturday, but the hotel is on the beach so we hope to get in a little fun time. Emily has regressed a little with her constipation issues. She did really well for 3 weeks straight and we thought we were home free. I think she was just fooling us. We have been fighting that for the last week and I am at my wit's end.

Keep the prayers coming for Mark and for healing of his fistula so that we can procede with the ileostomy reversal. We really need to start moving forward with the chemo as to not let any cancer start growing in Mark's body. God bless!!!!

July 20

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been a while since I've updated. The Bertus' are still here and we are all sharing a computer to get online and it is not always possible after work to get in a few seconds. I will try to do better. Mark is gaining a little weight and we are all happy about that. We estimate he is up about 5 lbs. We did not hear anything from Pittsburgh this week. I called them Thursday to check on the status of things and they had not received anything from East Alabama hospital yet. I called and got transferred a million times (an overestimate of course, but it sure felt like it) and finally someone told me that they did send them (the films) LAST Friday as they were supposed to, but they didn't use FedEx, they just shipped them regular mail. I wanted to choke someone because the entire purpose of the conversation with them LAST week was that we wanted them to make us copies so that WE could FedEx them ourselves, but they insisted that they would do it. I then requested a copy of them and we picked them up ourselves Friday and shipped them overnight. They should be there first thing Monday morning for Dr. Bartlett. (I am still doubting whether the first set even got sent as I checked Friday and they hadn't arrived a week later regular mail-seems a little slow to me for a CD to be mailed). That set us back an entire week. We will wait and hear something this week on Mark's surgery now that we have the ball rolling again.

We spent this weekend in LaGrange for Colton's baseball tournament. The kids played well. They got runners up in the tournament. They won 4 of 5 games total and I think they would have been more of a threat in the third game today had they not played 3 games back to back in the heat. They were to the point they could hardly swing the bats. It was pitiful, but we enjoyed it and they kids had fun. The heat triggered a horrific migraine for me, so I spent the rest of the day in the bed and am just now feeling back to normal (everyone else is in bed and I probably won't be able to go back to sleep). Makes for a long work day tomorrow.

Thanks for the continued support. Mark has received a lot of phone calls this week and has been going in the the office and starting to feel more like himself. It is good to see that. We even took a walk in the neighborhood last night. We used to walk 3 miles, but we toned it down to a slow walk around the block. It was a big step for Mark and he did well. Keep Mark in your prayers as always. God bless!!!

July 15

Mark is doing a little bit better this week. He has actually put on a few pounds. He is still quite thin, but making some progress and we are happy about that. He seems to be getting back a little more energy and has been to his office for short visits both yesterday and today. He is totally wiped out after a couple of hours and comes home to take a nap, but again it is progress and we are happy about that.

Dr. Farmer called today. She got the report from Mark's test Friday and was a little concerned. She spoke with Mark a while about the results. We are just waiting to hear from Pittsburgh now. They should be getting the films by now. If we haven't heard anything by tomorrow, I will call them to check on the status.

Calen has been busy with football workouts already. He really enjoys that. Colton is still playing baseball for 2 more weeks. Emily is busy with a little bit of everything. We are going to try and sign her up for private swimming lessons. She didn't get a lot out of the group lessons, but I think private lessons may be helpful and fun for her.

We appreciate all of you who continue to be so supportive and caring. Keep praying for healing and strength. There is power in prayer and we have witnessed it first hand. God bless!!!

July 14

Hello everyone. Mark is hanging in there. He is trying to eat more. Not sure yet whether the appetite stimulant is working yet. We will check his weights this week to see. He thinks he has put on a few pounds already, though.

Mark's test from Friday showed a small leak in the rectal area called a fistula. It will have to be repaired before the ileostomy can be reversed. The films have been sent to Pittsburgh, so we are waiting on them to receive them and review them and give us their opinion on what needs to happen next. We are not sure whether this can all be done at once or will now require 2 surgeries. We will wait and see.

Colton had 2 scrimmage games this weekend here in Auburn instead of playing his tournament in LaGrange. It was nice that we didn't have to travel and we enjoyed watching them play. We went to Shakey's after the games and the kids had a good time. We still have 2 tournaments left this year. Next weekend we'll be in LaGrange and then the weekend after that we will go to Gulfport, MS. Not sure yet whether surgery will interfere with either of these trips. We will see.

Keep Mark in your prayers and hope that this will be an easy fix for the surgeons. Mark has an appointment at the Surgery Clinic today for his wound. It is almost completely healed now and is looking good. I would be surprised if they schedule anymore followups with him. Thanks again for all of the support and God bless!!!

July 10

Hi to all!!! Mark is slowly gaining steam and starting to feel a little bit better every day now. It took him quite a while of being down to get to this point, but I think we're finally making some progress. His appetite is still a challenge. We saw Dr. Farmer today for his checkup and he is down 32 lbs since surgery. He is very thin!!!! She was concerned about this too. She wanted to start him on Marinol which is the pill form of marijuana to help with his appetite. Mark was a little hesitant of this and she assured him it was totally legal. She did not have the samples available to start him on, so she decided to try something else first. We are trying an appetite stimulant over the weekend and if it works we will get a Rx, if not we will try the Marinol. (I can see the jokes coming now from the department).

Mark has a test scheduled for tomorrow morning to check all the suture lines and make sure everything is healed so that we can schedule the second surgery.

We are hanging in there and hoping to resume some normalcy soon. Our biggest concern now is getting the weight back on Mark so that he can withstand the second surgery and then more chemotherapy after that.

Thanks again for all of the support and prayers. God bless!!!

July 9

Mark is doing a little better. He is healing and starting to feel a little more like himself. He has gotten so weak that it will take a while to rebuild his strength and build his stamina. It doesn't take but a little activity to totally wipe him out.

He has his test scheduled for Friday morning at the hospital and after that, we should be able to schedule surgery again in Pittsburgh. Mark also has an appointment Thursday afternoon to visit with Dr. Farmer.

We made it out to watch the Auburn Blue All-Star game in Opelika this week. It was good to get Mark out a bit. We will be travelling again this weekend to LaGrange for Colton's travel ball tournament. They have 3 more weekend tournaments left and then it will be time for school to start again.

Thanks again for all of the support and prayers. God bless!!!

July 6

Hello everyone. I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Mark seems to be making a little progress. He is still very sore and having a lot of pain. If we could get rid of that, I think he would be a new man. His appetite hasn't returned and he hasn't started regaining the weight yet. We are hoping that will start coming back with time. He seems a little less sore today which is good. I think he is ready to schedule the tests for his next surgery, so we will get that going soon.

Mark's incision is looking really good. It is close to healed now. The 2 open areas get smaller and smaller each day. I think by our next appointment in the Surgery Clinic, it will be closed up or just shy of it.

I took the boys out golfing at the AU Club yesterday. It was a fun outing for us. Usually Mark does the golfing, so it was a new experience for me. Usually when I go out there, it is to play tennis or to take the kids swimming, but I drove the golf cart and we made it for 9 holes. Calen and Colton had a good time. Emily stayed behind with her granny and grandad.

Calen, Emily and I made it out this morning for Mass. Calen was altar server today. Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed behind. We did talk him into a late lunch at Provino's today and I think he enjoyed getting out a bit.

We continue to pray for healing and put our faith in God that he will guide our path. Thanks again to all of you for your continued support and friendship through this journey. God bless!!!!

July 4

Hello to all. A quick update from the Bertus household. Mark continues to rock along. He is hurting quite a bit still and requires Percocet to keep him functional through the day. He is slowly tapering off, but gets way too much pain to go without it. He is still having trouble in the urinary department, but luckily we still do not have the catheter back. We pray that things will start to recover soon. It is so frustrating for him. The wound is really starting to heal up and the 2 open areas are much smaller now. That is definitely something to cheer about.

Mark's activity level hasn't picked up a lot yet. He is still mostly in bed or sitting in the chair. His weight is down 27 pounds now. His appetite isn't great and his ileostomy is a constant battle. The ileostomy comes from the small intestine. They did this to allow all the areas they had to resect and suture back together to heal. The problem with an ileostomy is that all of your fluids are reabsorbed in the large intestine. Mark is not currently using his large intestine, so he loses a lot of liquids through the ileostomy and can easily get dehydrated. We have to constantly push fluids to keep him from becoming dehydrated. They say that most patients with ileostomies end up in the hospital from time to time with dehydration. We are now at the point where the ileostomy can be reversed and Mark should be able to avoid the dehydration issues once the reversal operation is done. We will have to get tests done to make sure all the suture lines are healed and there are no "leaks" in the intestines before they will do the surgery.

I have been a little down recently with all of these issues going on. Thursday I received a card from someone at work. She handed it to me as we were talking about Mark and I know that I must have sounded somewhat negative with all of the things going on and the frustrations we're feeling. After our conversation, I opened the card and felt awful for thinking negatively. The card said it all. "Don't tell God how big your mountain is, tell your mountain how big your God is." I think that will be my new motto.

We had an okay 4th. Mark really didn't feel good and wasn't up much. He did get up for a short while and made an outing to Sam's with me and his mom, but he started feeling uncomfortable quickly and was ready to get home. He planned to make it out for fireworks but just wasn't feeling well and stayed home. The kids and I went outside today and played some. Emily got a new Princess bike and enjoyed riding it through the neighborhood and Colton was playing on his new Ripstick. Brent took the boys out to hit golf balls on the driving range this afternoon, so overall I think we had a good time.

We continue to pray for Mark's body to heal. We need to quickly get this next surgery behind us so we can move forward with the chemotherapy. Waiting too long is not recommended and we want to give Mark every opportunity to beat this awful disease. Keep praying for healing and strength. God bless!!!!

July 2

Hi everyone. Mark is making slow progress. He actually went in to the office on Monday. Andy drove him in and he spent a couple of hours up there. Most of the time was spent visiting with everyone, but that was okay. He made an outing out of the house yesterday to the pharmacy and then out to eat lunch with his mom and dad.

The catheter is still out. Things aren't quite back to normal status, but we are happy that the catheter has stayed out and pray that things recover as they should.

Our next big step will be scheduling the procedure to check the colon resection sites to make sure everything has healed. We will have to get that done and FedEx the films to Pittsburgh before they can schedule the ileostomy reversal surgery. Hopefully we can get that scheduled soon. I am just waiting on Mark to tell me he's ready to undergo the procedure and we'll get started.

Mark still has not put on any weight. He is down 25 lbs from surgery. We are trying our best to fatten him back up.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support and friendship. Keep praying for healing and strength. God bless!!!

June 29

Hi. We're back from the trip to Alabaster. It was fun, but we are all worn out. Mark made it and actually went to all of the games. He was quite the trooper. Luckily we got a great schedule. Our first game was 9pm, so the weather was nice. Saturday our games didn't start until 6pm, so we weren't out in the heat of the day and this morning we played at 9am and it was actually chilly. Our afternoon game today was getting a little warm, but we still had a lot of cloud cover and it made it nice for Mark.

We're home now and officially unpacked. Everyone was tired and took a little nap this evening. Colton got up feeling sick and then began vomiting all over the living room carpet and downstairs bathroom. It was such a joy to clean up after a long and busy weekend. He is resting now.

We are going to take Mark's catheter out tonight before he goes to bed. They officially told us to do it Monday morning, but since Dr. McKenzie is letting me do it at home to save us a trip, we thought we'd get a jump start. This way if Mark is not successful (and we're hoping and praying hard that he is) we hope to save ourselves a middle of the night trip to the ER tomorrow night. We hope that any troubles will show up in the middle of the day so we can make a trip to the doctor's office instead. (That is the plan anyway). I really have a good feeling this time that he will be okay without the catheter. It would certainly make Mark feel more like himself and give him some more freedoms to start getting more active.

Mark had to walk up one flight of stairs at the hotel to get to the breakfast area. I thought he was going to die when he looked at them. The look on his face was like he was going to have to climb Mount Everest. He is just so debilitated from all the bedrest. It is amazing what it (bedrest) will do to someone so strong and active like Mark.

Our incision still looks good, but has a long way to go. It is still gaping open in 2 spots and has to heal from the inside out. We continue to do dressing changes. I am not sure when we will be scheduling our next surgery in Pittsburgh. Hopefully it will be soon. Keep praying for strength and healing for Mark's body.

God bless!!!

June 27

Hello to all. We are frantically getting packed and ready for Colton's travel ball tournament this morning. We are planning on leaving by noon. Mark plans to make this trip which will be a big undertaking for him since he hasn't been up much at all. We will drive to Alabaster today and stay in the hotel. Colton has batting practice this afternoon and then dinner. His first game isn't until 9pm, so at least Mark won't be sitting out in the heat today.

We will be out of town all weekend, so I doubt I update. Pray that all goes well on our journey. We will give you the scoop when we return on Sunday.

God bless!!

June 25

Hello everyone. Not a lot has changed around here. Mark is still progressing slowly. He doesn't get up and do much yet. He developed some blood in the urine yesterday and we took a urine sample to the lab (from the catheter). It showed a lot of blood and some bacteria, so the urology office started him back on antibiotics today. The preliminary culture was back by the end of the work day today and no bacteria has grown yet, so we'll see. Hopefully this doesn't put our plans to get the catheter out Monday on hold.

Eugenie sent an email today. She heard from Julie's mom (the girl in Pittsburgh waiting on a multi-organ transplant). They headed to the hospital this morning in anticipation of organs on the way. Hopefully everything was a go and she got the transplants. They are a lovely family and we will hope for the best for them. Definitely keep Julie in your prayers.

Not a lot of new stuff here. Hopefully recovery will pick up so we can get surgery number 2 scheduled. We can do that as early as next week. I don't think Mark will be ready then, but we don't want to wait too long and delay the time between surgery and chemo by too much. We want to increase the odds of beating this cancer and so we're anxious to get "the show on the road" as they say.

God bless!!!

June 22

Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay in updates. I've been out of town with Calen's travel ball team since Friday at 2pm and just got back into Auburn around 8pm tonight.

Mark is doing well. He continues to heal and had a quiet weekend with all of us gone. His mother stayed here to help take care of him and I think they just sat around and didn't do a whole lot. I'm sure they both enjoyed the quiet time. It is hectic around here with all 3 kids at times. Mark's incision continues to heal. We have an appointment tomorrow morning at the Surgery office to have them look at it. It is still draining some from the bottom where it is open, but doesn't look infected. It will have to heal from the inside out and will take a while in that spot. The rest of the incision is looking really nice.

We will have one more week with the catheter in. Pray hard this week that Mark is successful. That has been REALLY frustrating for him!!! He is still taking the Flomax every night.

Mark hasn't really started putting his weight back on. I had forgotten how thin he'd gotten until I saw him again after being away for the weekend. He has lost so much muscle mass in his legs. Hopefully we can get him up and moving more to help that out some.

Calen's team did well in Hoover this weekend. They placed 2nd overall which was outstanding. We were really pround of them. Next weekend Colton has a tournament in Alabaster. Mark is hoping to feel well enough to travel for it and maybe get to travel from the hotel to the game for an inning or two now and then. We will see how that goes.

For all of you prayer warriors out there, keep praying for healing and strength for Mark's body. Pray that all the cancer cells were destroyed and that the upcoming surgery and chemo go smoothly. God bless!!!

June 19

Hello. We had an exciting night last night. Mark starting having a harder and harder time urinating as the evening progressed yesterday. By bedtime, he wasn't able to go at all. We went to sleep hoping for the best, but a little nervous. Mark woke at 1:45 in quite a bit of pain and misery. He couldn't go and we had to drive to the ER. It was a LONG wait!!!! It took forever and he was in quite a bit of discomfort in the mean time. After the catheter, he was ready to leave, but they made us wait on urine tests, etc. He wasn't excited about all of that and we didn't get home until 5:15 this morning. We were both exhausted and ready for some sleep.

We called Dr McKenzie's office and waited on a return phone call on what the next step should be. They finally called back to inform us he would be in surgery all day and wouldn't come back to the office. Luckily, he gave me his pager number and told me to page him to give him updates on Mark, so I paged him and got to speak with him. He felt we should leave the catheter in another week and suggested even waiting until a week from Monday so that he would be in the office all day if we needed him. Mark wasn't thrilled, but it beats the alternative.

There is some talk that a nerve was cut during surgery and Mark's bladder isn't working at all. I don't think that to be the case since he got out almost a liter yesterday before things stopped again. Anyway, Dr. McKenzie just thinks he needs more time from this extensive surgery they did in the pelvis. They did a lot of dissection around the rectum, prostate, bladder and such. Mark will continue the Flomax to shrink the prostate tissue and we hope that helps some.

I know this may be way more details than some of you care to hear. Sorry.

Mark continues to heal. His wound looks good. They are leaving the bottom part open and letting it heal from the inside out. We will see the surgeon again Monday morning to let them peek at it.

God bless!!!!

June 18

Hello to all. Mark had a good day today. We woke early and we got the catheter out at 5:30 am. He is doing well without it so far and he did not have to go back in to see the urologist today. We will keep our fingers crossed that we don't end up there tomorrow or later this week.

We saw Dr. Farmer today. It was a long wait in the office, but always worth it to see her. She is such a gem!!! She was amazed at how great Mark looked after reading the operative report and pathology report. I'm telling you they are impressive. It was quite the operation. Mark's weight was down 25 lbs total. I think maybe he's hit the bottom of the weight loss now. His appetite is slowly picking up some, so we'll see. He is making slow progress, but progress nevertheless. He was even talking some of travelling to Birmingham this weekend to see Calen's last travel ball tournament. I don't know that it will be possible, but we'll see. He would definitely have to stay in the hotel most of the time, but we might be able to get him out for an inning or two now and then. (Then again, we might just be crazy!!!!)

Thanks again for all the support and prayers. God bless!!!!

June 17

Hello. Mark made it to both doctor's appointments yesterday. He did not get the catheter taken out as we'd hoped. Our appointment with Dr. McKenzie was late in the day and they were afraid if Mark couldn't go, we'd end up in the emergency room late in the night. We didn't like the sounds of that one either, so we agreed to leave it longer. Dr. McKenzie is in surgery all day today, so we will try early Wednesday morning to get the catheter out and see how he does. If Mark can't go, we can get him to the office to have it replaced. They won't make him wait like that mean nurse in Pittsburgh!!!!!

Mark is making slow strides toward recovery. It is definitely like baby steps. His appetite is slowly returning. We are glad about that. He is supposed to eat 6 small meals daily instead of 3 large ones and that takes some getting used to. He doesn't like that much.

We are slowly getting things caught up and back into a routine. I plan to get back to work tomorrow afternoon after Mark's appointment with Dr. Farmer.

Thanks for all of the support. God bless!!!

June 16

Hello and happy belated Father's Day to all of you dads. We had a busy one. Mark is still feeling pretty weak and tired, but makes slow progress every day. He had WAY more output from his ileostomy yesterday than he was supposed to, so we were chasing it all day with tons of Benefiber and Immodium. Fun, right??? Anyway, it is better today.

After his shower yesterday, his incision opened up at the bottom. It was gaping open with innerds showing. Of course it is Sunday when this happens, right? I went to the store to get steri strips and just closed it back together and we called Dr. Farmer's office this morning. They got us in with Dr. Lock at the Surgery Clinic bright and early for a dressing change and once over. We will see them back next week. Dr. Lock actually wants to leave part of it open to drain, so we'll keep our eye on it for signs of infection. We will see the urologist later today and are hoping for the catheter to be removed.

We see Dr. Farmer on Wednesday morning. We dropped off the surgery note and pathology report (it was also 8 pages long). WOW!!! That was a lot of cancer to talk about, huh????

Mark's diet is not restricted much with his ileostomy, but he is forbidden to have anything with nuts or seeds including fruits with seeds. He also cannot have fruits with skins (like grapes). He cannot have dried fruits or pepper or whole wheat. He is supposed to limit his onions, but can have them.

Our kids did not get home until late Sunday from their tournaments. It felt GREAT to see them again. I hugged Emily so tight she told me she couldn't breath. I think they all great at least an inch. It was a wonderful feeling to have them all home again. We got to hear about the boys' tournaments and how they did and hear about all of Emily's adventures in the hotel pool, elevators, etc. We really missed them dearly!!!

Thanks so much for all the support. We pray now for quick healing of Mark's body and restored strength. God bless!!!

June 14

Hi everyone. We're HOME!!!!! Yeah!!!! We made it thanks to a pilot named Barry Jeffries who is a radiologist from Atlanta and he flies for Angel Flight. He flew to Pittsburgh this morning and picked us up. We left Pittsburgh right when the storm came through and that was exciting. We were in a 6 seater. I am not a big fan of flying, so I was saying a lot of prayers through this flight. I kept thinking that God wouldn't let an "Angel Flight" crash right???? Anyway, our 3 hour trip took 4 because our pilot had to fly around numerous thunderstorms, but he did an awesome job and was super nice to volunteer his time for us.

We flew right in to Auburn's airport and Keven Yost and John and Debby Jahera met us there. It was great to get into a car and drive home. Mark took his pain medicine, ate a few bites of soup for lunch and went straight to bed. He needed the rest as he looked pretty miserable on the flight. He just couldn't get comfortable. He started throwing up before we left for the airport and I wondered if we'd even make it for a while. I am exhausted, but too tired to sleep if that makes any sense.

I can't wait until the kids get home tomorrow. I know it will be chaos, but I cannot wait to hug them all and see them. It has been great having Brent and Kathy here to care for them for such a long period of time. I don't know what we would have done without them.

Mark got an autographed Auburn football and helmut signed by Tommy Tubberville from the Finance department here at Auburn. They sent the football to the hospital so we displayed it for all the northerners to see in Pittsburgh and they gave Mark the helmut at the airport today. It was quite the awesome gift. Mark has been blessed with such an awesome department and a wonderful group of colleagues. Thanks to all of you!!!!

Mark is still quite weak and will require a prolonged period to recover from this surgery. We have 2 doctors appointments this week and hopefully everything goes well. We are hoping to get rid of one of the tubes/drains on Monday. The other will be several weeks.

Thanks for all the prayers and support. We have felt blessed and loved. God bless!!!!

June 13

Hi. Mark is feeling a little bit better today. He has been a tad more active, but still wanted to be pushed downstairs for breakfast and lunch in his wheelchair. He is making baby steps and I am happy about that.

We heard from Angel Flight today and they have scheduled a flight for us to return to Auburn tomorrow. We are supposed to leave Pittsburgh at 10am and will have to make a stop somewhere for fuel. We will fly directly into the Auburn airport. They said the plane we will use is a nice jet. We will see. We have to shave our luggage down to 25 lbs in a soft duffle bag, so I made a trip on the shuttle to the Univ of Pittsburgh book store today to purchase one. The campus is beautiful. I will send all the nonessential stuff home in the suitcase today by mail. Hopefully all goes as planned. I think they are predicting storms both here and in Auburn tomorrow. Pray that the weather cooperates.

Brent and Kathy are out of town in Pensacola with Colton and Emily for a baseball tournament and Calen is spending time with the Brooks' and they will take him to his tournament in Gadsen this weekend. I hate missing their games.

We have met so many people in the family house waiting on organ transplants. It is really heart breaking.

Keep Mark in your prayers as always. God bless!!

June 12

Hi everyone. Mark is having a better day. He got up and took his first shower since surgery. It was quite the adventure. (I HAVE been giving him sponge baths, so he hasn't been stinky). I think he felt good having the warm water run over him. It did wear him out, though. We went downstairs for breakfast and he was ready for a nap.

We made it to Dr. Bartlett's office. They removed his 44 staples and he was wishing he'd taken 2 pain pills before we left instead of just the one. He made it. He has lost 22 pounds so far and I don't think he has hit the bottom yet. His appetite is still poor. I left him with a chocolate Ensure before I came for this update. I am pushing calories as much as I can, but he just can't tolerate much yet. 25 pound weight loss is pretty normal for this surgery, but I think Mark is going to go over that. He is pretty thin. He walked a little today, but only a few steps. His blood pressure was only 84/60 in the office and we're pushing fluids.

We got the surgery note to bring to Dr Farmer's office and it is about 8 pages long. WOW!!!! It is a tough read. They really did a number on him. A lot of his tumor wasn't aggressive which was good news, but there were 2 instead of just one in the colon like they'd originally thought. They were definitely cancerous. All of the lymph nodes were benign which is great news.

We are hanging tough and Mark will have a long road of rehab ahead. We will have to start fattening him back up so we can get him back up here in 4 to 5 weeks for a takedown of the ileostomy and then restart the chemotherapy. It will all be worth it in the end.

Thanks for all of the support.

God bless!!!!

June 11

Hello. We are "home" at the Family House now. We left the hospital yesterday afternoon. We wheeled Mark across the busy intersection in the wheelchair. He wasn't fond of all the bumps, but we made it. He has been resting since. He hasn't gotten up to walk any in the last 4 days and we are trying hard to motivate him to get up and move more. He gets up to sit in the chair, but has refused to walk.

We went downstairs for dinner last night and Mark wanted us to take him in the wheelchair as with breakfast. He has managed to back off of his pain medication some. I think he is less anxious about it now that he is in control of administering it. He is still pretty sore and is having a lot of output from the ileostomy. We have to watch that closely as dehydration is common and a lot of patients with these end up readmitted with dehydration. They have put him on fiber supplements 5 times daily to try and slow things down. We will see.

We see Dr. Bartlett tomorrow for our appointment and are scheduled back in Auburn to see Dr. McKenzie with urology Monday and hopefully get the catheter out. We will see Dr Farmer on Wednesday. It will be busy.

My mom is leaving within the hour, so it will just be Mark and I. I hope we'll manage on our own. I think we'll do okay.

Mark's laptop isn't working now, so I have to use the computer at the Family House and it blocks this website, so I ran across the street to the hospital for this update. That should be fun. I will try to keep everyone updated.

God bless!!!

June 10

Hello. We are waiting to be discharged from the hospital today. It feels good to be making that step after 12 days here. Mark has been up in the chair and finally has on his street clothes and looks a bit more like himself. We are now just waiting on the final okay. We secured a wheelchair to use while we're here in Pittsburgh.

We will have a follow up appointment with Dr. Bartlett Thursday and our plan is to fly into Auburn on Saturday, but the weather both here and there is calling for storms, so we'll see.

We will be at the Family House until we can get home. It will feel so good to sleep in our own bed and to see and hug the kids again. Can't wait!!!!

My mom flies out tomorrow at 3:30, so it will be just Mark and I. I think we'll just chill out and relax. Hopefully all goes smoothly.

Continue to pray for healing. God bless!!!!

June 9-Evening update

Hello. We did not get to go home from the hospital today. They decided to keep Mark tonight and will probably discharge him tomorrow. He had done okay today with just the pain pills. He has tried hard not to ask for any IV medication to control his pain. He suffers through the last hour or so. They have offered him extended release pills or even pain patches, but Mark feels he is starting to get better control and wants to stick with this overnight. We'll see.

Mark got up in the chair for a few hours twice today, but didn't do any walks in the halls yet. He just hasn't felt up to it. He is pretty weak and has lost a lot of muscle mass. We are pushing the Ensure and protein as much as possible. His diet is mostly soft stuff right now.

We will need a wheelchair to push him around when we come to the Family House tomorrow. He isn't strong enough to walk very far, but hopefully that starts coming soon.

Andy left today at 2pm and was driving to South Carolina for a conference which was another 8 hour trip. He was quite the trooper with all that driving.

Keep praying for Mark's recovery. Also pray for Julie (I gave you the wrong name 2 days ag0) who needs a multi organ transplant). They have been staying in the Family House for 1 1/2 months now this go round and stayed several weeks back in January. She is young adult and weighs only 61 pounds. She really needs those organs.

God bless!!!

June 9

Good morning. Mark had an okay night. He is still having quite a bit of pain and required 4 additional hits of IV Dilaudid yesterday in spite of 15mg of oxycodone every 4 hours. We are going to try him without the IV meds today since he cannot be discharged with the IV stuff. If he does okay, we can go home tonight (to the Family House).

Mark still needs to have several things done before we go home, so if we go I have a feeling it will be LATE today. We will probably need a wheelchair to use this week and a shower chair for the Family House. I will have to get him to Dr. Bartlett's office either Thursday or Friday for his appointment and there is no way he can walk to that. It is a city block with a steep hill.

We will go home with the catheter in and he may get his 44 staples removed in Dr. Bartlett's office. If not, I can do that when we get home. We will see.

Andy spent the night with Mark in the hospital. He wasn't very happy with Mark's nurse today when she came in and asked him if he was Mark's dad. He said he preferred his nurse yesterday much better. haha

Andy will leave today, but Mark has enjoyed visiting with him. Hopefully the rest of the week goes smoothly and we're home in time for Father's Day.

God bless!!!