August 31

Well, it's finally here. We leave for Pittsburgh in the morning. We had a "Pre Tailgate" Tailgate since Mark and I will miss the Auburn tailgating. It was great to visit with the group again. We will really miss the tailgating crew. You guys will have to cheer extra loud and have a beer for Mark (I don't like beer, so maybe a soda for me). Hopefully Dr. Bartlett does such a great job that Mark will be rejoining the group before the end of the season. That is our hope.

Father Bill came over tonight and visited with us and did an annointing of the sick service for Mark. It was very nice. St. Michael's is having a prayer service for Mark on Friday morning from 8:30 to 11:30 in the chapel and then mass will start at it's usual time at 12:10. You can come and go as time permits during the prayer service.

Calen is pretty emotional about us leaving. He really takes it hard and didn't want to go to bed tonight. He posted an emotional message on Facebook that made me want to cry. It is so hard. Emily was clingy as well and I know Colton is getting sad. They are in good hands, but it is just so hard to leave them for such a long period of time.

Mark is ready to go. He hasn't been feeling well and I think he is just ready to get going on this as it will be one step closer to getting rid of this cancer. His belly is swollen with fluid and is tight. He gets really uncomfortable if he eats even small portions of food. I hate seeing him so miserable.

Continue to pray for Mark. I will try to keep everyone posted on the progress as we get to Pittsburgh. Mark wants to try a few restaurants he saw on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives from the Food Network on Wednesday. Hopefully he will feel up to it.

Remember Carly Parker in your prayers this week as well. She will have her surgery at MD Anderson this Thursday. God bless!!!!!!!!

August 27

Mark just finished with his heart cath and it was normal. We were thrilled with the news. We kind of expected it to be normal, but were still thrilled with the news. We now have the green light for Pittsburgh next week.

Mark's parents will be here tomorrow in anticipation of taking care of the children when we're gone. Pray for them. Trust me, it's a big job. The kids are looking forward to their granny and granddad coming to see them and spending time here.

Father Bill is going to do an Annointing of the Sick ceremony with Mark on Monday night before we leave for Pittsburgh. We really appreciate the time he has spent with us. Janine Babbitt also talked about St. Michael's doing a prayer service on Sept 4th for Mark.

Continue to pray for Mark as always. Also remember Carly Parker in your prayers as she will be having surgery the day before Mark at MD Anderson. God bless!!!!!

August 26

Mark met with the cardiologist today. They decided not to do a stress test as the EKG was clearly abnormal and a change from the previous EKG. In order to clear Mark for the intensive surgery he will have to undergo, he wants to do a heart catherization. That is scheduled for tomorrow morning. We are hoping it is clean and Mark is cleared for surgery. We do not want any surprises, but of course will deal with what we need to. Dr. Williams will be doing the procedure. I will update as soon as we know anything. We should have quick results as soon as the procedure is completed.

Continue to pray for Mark as always. God bless!!!!

August 25

Hello everyone. Mark is scheduled for his stress test tomorrow with Dr. Williams. Hopefully the cardiology evaluation will go well and he will get cleared for the surgery. We are praying and know that things will work out as they should, we will just follow the lead.

Our flight to Pittsburgh is Sept 1st. I am getting anxious already. Mark, of course, has some anxiety kicking in as he knows what lies ahead. It is such a brutal surgery, but at this point it is a necessity. I am already missing the kids and we haven't left yet. We will miss so much while we're gone with both school activities and sports. Calen is sad that Mark will more than likely miss all of his football season. We leave prior to the first game and it is unlikely that Mark will be recovered enough to make it to the games when we get back, but we'll see. We've learned to take things one day at a time.

God bless!!!!!!

August 24

Mark went in for pre-op tests today at the hospital. He had blood work and an EKG done which are to be sent to Pittsburgh. The CEA marker has really shot up and is 56. I guess that should be expected with all the weeks he's been off the chemo. The EKG showed some ischemia in a few leads, so now we will have to see the cardiologist for clearance before surgery. The EKG is clearly different from his 2008 one.

Mark doesn't have good endurance, but mostly we've attributed it to the chemo and I'm sure that is it. I hope the EKG thing is just poor lead placement and nothing more serious.

Please keep him in your prayers as always. God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 10

Hello again. We've survived another first day of school for the kids. We went to Universal Studios last week for a few days and made it back Sunday evening just in time for the kids to get back to school all rested and ready to go. The trip was a lot of fun. Mark fared pretty well. He was a little tired with all of the walking and heat, but loved some of the rides. He really loved the Spiderman and Simpsons rides. Mark's parents and 2 of our nephews went with us and it was a lot of fun.

Colton loved his first day of 4th grade and Calen had his first day at Jr. High today and seemed to be very happy with his schedule and all of his teachers as well. Emily also moved up to her "big girl" class in preschool. This will be the last class she'll be moved to before the transition to Kindergarten next year, so she was excited that it was her "first day" as well today.

Mark is enjoying the time off of chemo. He wanted to go for a walk tonight. He is trying to build up his endurance for the upcoming surgery. He gets some abdominal bloating and discomfort, but is doing well overall. He just really has no stamina and gets fatigued very easily.

We got our letter from Blue Cross/Blue Shield again denying Mark's surgery. What a nightmare. That is always the last thing you want to be worried about or think about when you are sick and in need of medical care. I just don't understand them, but I guess I never will.

Continue to keep Mark in your prayers as always. September 4th will be here before we know it. God bless!!!!

August 4

Hello to all. Mark is doing well. He is certainly enjoying the time off of chemo. We are both excited about upcoming surgery and nervous as well. Mark remembers well the pain that was involved. The heated chemo is very painful. They put in spinal blocks while under general anesthesia and leave them in to help control the pain because it is such severe pain. It was quite an ordeal last May and took months to recover from. I don't mean to sound so negative because we're excited that they've decided to do the surgery and to procede with the heated chemo which gives Mark another chance at beating this cancer.

Colton was released from the hospital Saturday evening and has bounced back quickly. It turned out not to be Salmonella or Shigella, but Pseudomonas. He is back to his usual self.

We are leaving tomorrow afternoon/evening for Universal Studios for a short trip before school starts on the 10th.

Continue to pray for Mark as always. God bless!!!!!

August 1

Hello again. We heard from Pittsburgh yesterday. Dr. Bartlett sees new metastatic disease around the bile duct beneath the liver again and some in the pelvis along with scattered spots in the abdomen. His feeling is to go in and try the surgery again. He is pretty aggressive and wants to to the heated chemo again as well. They have to decide whether to do the Mitomycin or to try Oxaliplatin as the heated chemo agent. Oxaliplatin is a more specific colon cancer chemo agent, but they haven't yet established a protocol for using it yet. They have used it some. They feel Mark was a "treatment failure" on Mitomycin since they used it last time and his disease returned.

They don't feel they will be able to do the ileostomy reversal surgery since there will be so much dissection in the abdomen and pelvis. They will probably leave that or consider a colostomy instead. We will see.

In the midst of getting all of this news, Colton was up screaming with belly pain all day and having vomiting and diarrhea. Not the run of the mill stuff. I thought he may have appendicitis as bad as his belly was hurting. I took him to the Pediatric Clinic and they admitted him to the hospital straight from the office. We spent the night over there last night and will be staying the day as well. They will decide tonight whether to let us go or keep us. He had blood in his stools and was severely dehydrated. He didn't start urinating until they gave him 2 liters of IV fluids. He can't eat yet and they think it may be salmonella or shigella. Not sure where he would have gotten it since no one else is sick and we've all pretty much eaten the same stuff all week. Who knows.

Oh yeah, Mark's surgery date is Sept 4th. We will leave around the 1st or 2nd to fly up there. Mark was a little disappointed that it was opening weekend of football. Our tickets may be for not. Oh well, there are worse things, huh....

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