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!!!