Mark Bertus Latest

Jan 30

2010-01-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you who attended Mark's wake and funeral. He had many wonderful friends, colleagues and students here in town. Many of you made the trip from Oklahoma and many of you were kept from attending because of the terrible ice storm and for that I am sorry. We have truly been blessed with so many wonderful people.

Many of you asked about the quote Andy used from me in his eulogy. It is something I posted on facebook the day Mark passed. Here it is again. Mark was a wonderful man who taught me to love deeper than I thought I was capable, laugh more than I thought possible and live in each and every moment. He was a great husband, father, teacher and coach. I don't pretend to know the reasons God chose to take Mark at an early age, but I know heaven got a little brighter today.

This has certainly been a tough week. There have been a lot of ups and downs. We've told many funny stories about Mark and laughed as we remembered him in some of his great moments. Believe me, there are many. It's also been sad and tearful where you feel your heart being ripped from your chest. What a roller coaster this will be I'm sure. Matt and I played "Take It To The Limit" by the Eagles which is one of Mark's all time favorite songs. He used to crank it up LOUD and sing at the top of his lungs while we were driving in the car. I think he used to sing it before he played baseball in High School before we even met. It brought tears just remembering him singing that song. We visited the grave today and all that kept going through my head was that song and how he lived life that way.

The kids are holding up. They have spent the night with friends and I am so glad that so many of their friends have been so supportive. It is nice to be in such a great community such as Auburn.

For now, it's just taking it minute by minute and getting through the day. Hopefully it will start getting easier. I feel like my entire universe has shattered and it just doesn't fit back together quite the same way. There is such a huge hole in it now.

Thanks again for all the love and support. We've been truly blessed. Please continue to pray for all those battling cancer. God bless!!!!

Jan 26

2010-01-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

It is with heavy heart I write one last time. Mark passed this morning. His suffering has ended and he is no longer in pain. He went to be with our Lord and Saviour. He was surrounded by family and he went in peace. Thanks to all of you who followed Mark's battle. He was one tough warrior and fought hard to the end. We got to say our goodbyes this morning. Hospice came out. Julia was here with the hospice chaplain and they were great. Father Bill came over and prayed with us and spent quite a bit of time here.

After Mark was gone from the house, I went into the bedroom to shower and it really hit me that he was gone. The bed was made and he wasn't in it. It was just not right seeing the bed without Mark there. He's really gone.

The funeral will be at St. Michaels Catholic Church at their NEW location on North College St. It will be Friday morning at 10am. We will be having visitation at Jeffcoat Trant funeral home on Thursday night from 6-8pm. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Mark Bertus Scholarship Fund at any Auburn Bank location or mail to PO Drawer 3110 Auburn, AL 36831-3110.

If anyone is coming from out of town, the Holiday Inn Express will offer a special rate if you give them Mark's name. The address is 1801 Capp Landing Opelika, AL 36804. Ph (334) 749-5250.

I will post if anything changes or as we know more. Thanks to all of you who have supported us through this battle. Hold tight to those you love today and always. Please continue to pray for those battling cancer. May God bless and keep you all!!!!!

Ronda

Jan 25

2010-01-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

Hello to all. Things here continue to decline. I know I keep saying that, but it is true. Mark is more confused and again does not recognize where he is and is saying random things and hallucinating most of the time. It is difficult to tell at times whether he is in pain or not since he cannot give us a lucid answer. We try to use his body language. We had the hospice nurse come out on Saturday to increase his morphine drip and then again on Sunday to increase the drip once again to get better pain control. We are still using extra doses when needed.

Matt had to return home to take care of some business, but hopefully will be back tomorrow. I don't know how much longer Mark can hang on. He is just hanging on by a thread it seems. He is sometimes short of breath and will grab at his chest like it hurts him. We have turned the oxygen up some. It is hard to leave his side. I don't want to be gone for even a minute.

My mom and Eugenie are still here and Mark's parents have been here since September. We are all spending as much time with Mark as possible. It is hard to see him like this. I pray that God will end his suffering and bring him peace. He has been suffering way too long and it's painful to watch and be helpless.

Father Bill came by for a visit and to pray with Mark during the week. Luckily it was when Mark was still able to remember some and he knew who Father Bill was.

Thanks to all of you who continue to support us through this battle. We have been fighting long and hard. Mark is a tough warrior as you can see. He has never been one to give in to anything and this is no different. He plans to fight to the very end and who would expect anything less from Mark. Please continue to pray for peace and for Mark to be pain free. Pray for all those battling cancer and as always, God bless!!!!!

Jan 22

2010-01-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. We continue to hang on and take things as they come. It's hard to remember what has changed since the last post. Mark continues to get weaker overall. He has trouble just holding his hand up and needs help rolling side to side in the bed. He is still confused a lot, but sometimes makes a little sense and has cracked a few jokes to make us laugh. He has a knack for that even in his darkest hours. He truly is amazing.

He kept me up most of the night last night talking to me, fidgeting and asking for water. He wanted the TV back on at 3:30, so we found a NUMB3Rs marathon to watch. That is one of Mark's favorite shows. He loves the way they use math theories and equations to solve things. I have no idea what time it was when I finally went to sleep, but Mark's hospice nurse showed up this morning and I was exhausted and couldn't even get out of bed for her. I think she understood. Mark starts telling her that he's been having trouble breathing (out of the blue) and sounds pretty lucid at first, then starts telling me "honey, I'm off center" and I think he's talking about the position he's laying in so I tell him I'll move him in a minute. He then starts talking about the comet not lining up right, so I know he's confused again. Julia asked why he wasn't wearing the oxygen since he was having trouble breathing and he said "I don't know". We put the oxygen on him today and he's been using it and doing fine with it.

The hiccups continue. Mark's diaphragm will spasm and he will gasp loudly and not be able to breath for a bit every now and then and it is a little scary to see. He did that yesterday once when we were all sitting here and we all reacted towards him and were asking if he was okay. Mark did it again a second time right after that on purpose and then said "ha ha". Like I said, he is still joking around some.

Mark's sister, Eugenie, made it in tonight from the airport. He has had a chance to visit with her now as well. He was asking about her the other day, so now she is here.

Debbie Brooks came by today and got to see Mark for a brief visit. I wasn't sure if Mark would remember her, but when he saw her he did recognize her and got to talk with her briefly. Andy came by for a visit tonight as well. We truly are blessed with some of the best friends ever.

Thanks for all the prayers and support. Pray for all those battling cancer. God bless!!!

Jan 20

2010-01-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

Hello to all. It's been a busy and eventful 24 hours. Mark's twin brother, Matt, and my mom, Sue, decided late last night to drive to Auburn. They packed quickly and hopped in the car and drove overnight through the rain and made it today around noon. I told Mark last night that his brother was coming. He didn't remember that he had a brother at first. I sat for a while and told him the story of us moving to Auburn and that he was a Finance Professor at Auburn University and about our children and our life here. I asked if he remembered Andy coming to visit him and after a little bit, he started remembering. After the story, I asked him if he remembered his brother and he looked at me like I was crazy, so I asked "what's your brother's name?" and he said "Matt".

He has been a little more with it today. He still has times where he doesn't know us, but for the most part can figure out who we are. He says off the wall things and I think he hallucinates a lot. The hiccups continue and sometimes his diaphragm goes into a spasm and he makes a very loud gasping sound inward that is pretty scary to hear.

Matt and my mom made it around noon as I stated above. When Matt walked in the front door, I was sitting with Mark in the room and Mark said in a sing songy voice like a child "Matt's here". It was pretty cute. Matt got to stay with him today, but visiting with him is hard since he is so confused. It is more spending time with him than visiting because you never know what you're going to get. Andy came by and he did remember Andy, so that was good.

Mark's blood pressure is decreasing and he is taking in less water. He is definitely declining. No one knows the day or hour, but we're definitely on very limited time now.

I received the nicest gift from Tracy Richard and John Oliver of Camera Graphics today. Tracy took a family picture of us shortly after Mark was diagnosed with cancer as a gift to us. Many of you have seen it as we put it on our Christmas cards in 2007. She had the picture blown up into a beautiful size family portrait and framed by Mr. Oliver of Camera Graphics. It is so beautiful and amazing. The frame is gorgeous!!! I was so overwhelmed at the time, I don't think I said thank you enough to them. I was just in shock!!! I brought it into the room to show Mark and said "look what Tracy brought us" and he said "yeah, she took that". Amazing for how confused he is that he can remember that. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!

We are trying to keep the kids' routines as normal as possible for now. They are definitely feeling Mark's decline. Colton didn't want to come in the room tonight to tell Mark goodnight. Calen has been a little withdrawn, but tells me everything is okay. Emily is just Emily. I think this will be different on her and maybe won't be real for a while for her. It's hard to know what a 5 year old thinks sometimes. She came in to tell Mark goodnight in her usual happy tone as if nothing were wrong. Of course, this is all she knows. Her dad has been sick half of her life now and for all of what she remembers I'm sure.

Thanks to everyone for continued support. We are trying to cherish every moment we have left with Mark. Continue to pray for peace and comfort for him. Pray for all those with cancer. Pray for those in the Haiti earthquake as well. God bless!!!!

Jan 19

2010-01-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone. Today has been hard. Mark had a bad night last night. Shortly after my post last night, he became quite short of breath. I don't know if he reacted to the medicine he took for the hiccups or if it is just a decline in his condition, but he started having trouble breathing. We turned him onto his side and he had trouble for about 15 minutes or so (which felt like an eternity). He started calming down and the hiccups continued most of the night. He was quite confused this morning and didn't know who I was or where he was (at home). I decided not to go in to the office and stayed with Mark today. He has been having more trouble in general. He isn't gasping for breath, but it seems a little harder for him at times. He continues to hiccup most of the time which wears him out. I called the hospice nurse to let her know what was going on and she came to check on him today. She is going to get some oxygen out here for us to use when Mark needs it. It will certainly make it easier on him. It was difficult watching him struggle like that. I can't tell if he's hurting or not and he can't really answer us now. He occasionally will grimace, but when we ask if he's hurting he says no.

It's been a tearful day for me and for Mark's parents. We knew the decline would come, but it is hard to see it happen. I pray that Mark isn't hurting and that there are no more struggles for him breathing like last night. Thanks for all the prayers and messages. God bless!!!!

Jan 18

2010-01-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone. Mark continues to remain in a stable state. He has had unbelievable nonstop hiccups for 3 days straight now. They've kept him (and me) up all night for the last couple of nights. They just wear him out and I don't know how he does it. He is so weak and they just take so much of his energy. He is getting more confused as well. I was talking to him this morning and telling him how sorry I was that he's had these awful hiccups and that he hasn't gotten much sleep because of them. He said yeah and I'm sorry for you too. I asked him what he meant, thinking he was going to say he was keeping me up all night, too, but instead he said "because you had hiccups, too". He managed to unhook his morphine pump tonight and I had to figure out how to get it back together. He constantly messes with the pump and the buttons and the IV pole. I tried to cover it up with a blanket. We will see if that distracts him. The combination of the liver failure, dehydration and morphine are not good.

Emily came in tonight to see her dad. She made him a card earlier tonight and wanted to come in to visit again tonight. He waved to her and smiled. She told him that she would miss him when he went to heaven and asked if he would miss her too. Before he could answer, so piped in and said "at least you won't have any pain in heaven". I think it's harder for me to keep my composure during those moments. They're just so pure, spontaneous, and honest. What do you expect from a 5 year old.

Andy came over and visited with Mark some today. Mark was awake pretty much all day. Mark's parents spent some time with him during the day while I was working and they got to sit and visit.

As I am sitting here typing this, Mark's hiccups are progressively getting worse. They are so loud and violent now. I don't know why they get worse at night, but they do. Julia brought him some medicine today to try and get rid of or reduce the hiccups. They did get a little better this afternoon, but never disappeared. I gave him another dose about an hour ago. Boy, I hope it kicks in soon for both of our sake. It has to be totally miserable for him. He is making this terrible sound. The cancer is up under the diaphragm and irritating it which causes the hiccups. At least, that is our assumption.

The boys spent the night at the Brooks' house last night and were both tired today, but went to hit some baseballs today when they came home. Tomorrow night is basketball for both of them. Colton has practice followed by Calen's game.

Thanks to all of you who continue to support us with prayers. We can't thank you enough. Continue to pray for Mark and all those battling cancer. Also continue to pray for the earthquake victims in Haiti. God bless!!!!

Jan 15

2010-01-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone. Things here are still rocking along. Not much has changed. Mark still has periods of being pretty with it and able to have some normal dialog (although limited for sure) and then periods where he is very confused. Sometimes he just doesn't respond to us at all, but his eyes are open, so we're not sure whether he's sleeping with his eyes open or what. It's hard to know. This morning I had the Today Show on in the bedroom and I was laying next to Mark watching it. They had some of the Haiti coverage on. Mark was lying face up staring at the ceiling and I didn't think he was alert. They interviewed an American who was trapped and had severe damage to her legs and ended up having her leg amputated and she was so positive and just happy to be alive and hoping that the others in Haiti were being helped. Mark said "How sad. That is a really sad story". I looked at him and asked "Are you listening to this?" and he said "yes". I asked if he wanted me to prop him up so he could watch, but he said "No, I just want to listen". I was amazed at how alert he was, but then later he was very confused about his IV pump and saying weird things.

Colton seemed a little better today. He got to come in and see his dad. He was upset knowing that his dad probably won't be here for his 10th birthday this year which is March 1st. Calen came in to visit Mark this evening as well. Mark gave him a baseball bat. Mark promised him a bat if he made the 8th grade baseball team. Of course, we don't know if he's made the team at this point, but we wanted to be sure Mark could present him the bat, so we went on the assumption that he would make the team. Brent was actually key in getting the bat here. He got all the specifications and found the one Calen wanted since Mark isn't able to. Thanks for doing that. The bat is very special to Calen. He was all choked up.

Pete, so sorry to hear about your son. Mark talked about you and your son to me and told me what good people you were. I know we've never met, but I feel in a way I know you. Like you, I am learning that we lose ones we love way too early sometimes and we have to know that there is someone much greater than us in charge and trust that there is a greater good being done. I pray that you feel the peace of God each day. I just found out today that someone that I knew from High School just died of metastatic breast cancer. She left behind a husband, a grown son and a 13 year old daughter. My heart breaks for them.

Thanks Debbie for stopping by and for thinking of the kids and their needs during this time. I can't thank you enough for that.

Congratulations Keven and Elizabeth on baby Ethan. What exciting news. Can't wait to see him.

As always, continue to pray for Mark and all those battling cancer. Please remember the people of Haiti tonight as well. They are such a poverty stricken nation already and this is so devastating for them. Please pray that their needs are met. God bless!!!!!

Jan 14

2010-01-14T21:26:00.001-08:00

Hello to all. Things continue about the same here. Mark is comfortable, but continues to get weaker. He hasn't eaten in many weeks now and only drinks sips of water. He has started getting dizzy when I roll him side to side in the bed just today. He tried to get a drink of water on his own last night and ended up spilling the water in the bed, so at 4:30am I was up changing the sheets and him. He felt bad, he is just too weak to hold the water glass up. I have continued going in to the office from 9-3:30 or so. Kathy and Brent take care of Mark while I'm gone. It is hard.

Calen had his first rec league basketball game Tuesday night. It was fun to get to watch them play and they had a lot of fun. Their team ended up winning, but really it was all about having fun and hanging out with friends which was nice. I hate that their games are so late. It started at 9. I had to leave Colton's practice to get Colton and Emily in bed and then drive back to watch the second part of Calen's game.

Colton and I had a heart to heart tonight. He is really having a hard time dealing with Mark dying. He cried a lot and just opened up a lot. He's afraid that he won't get to tell Mark goodbye, so I told him that each day he needs to go talk to his dad in the morning and tell him what he needs to tell him for the day even if Mark's eyes aren't open that Mark hears him. I think that will help Colton to feel that he can say goodbye. I talked to Colton about Mark's wishes to stay at home and I think Colton is okay with that. It's really hitting him hard and I pray that I handle this in the right way. It's so hard for all of us.

I am so sleep deprived and yet I find myself staying up half the night. It's crazy I know. I think my brain is turning into mush. ha

Thanks to all the Slammers families for the Tuesday night dinners. You have been wonderful to feed us every Tuesday night. Thank you all so much.

Thanks to all of you who continue to pray for us. Please continue to keep Mark in your prayers. Pray for all those fighting cancer. God bless!!!!

Jan 10

2010-01-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hello again. Things are about the same in the Bertus house. Mark continues to feel weak and tired and sleeps most of the time. He has very little time that he is awake and alert and he doesn't like to talk much. His voice is more of a whisper and he can't stand anything loud at all. He thinks talking in a normal voice in the room is being loud. He grimaces if things get too noisy, it seems to aggravate the pain and discomfort. He likes the light to be off with just the lamp on, but still leaves the tv on. Sometimes on mute. Go figure. I relate it to how I feel when I have a migraine and any stimuli at all causes the pain to increase, so I guess that must be in some way how it is with him.

Mark is still on the morphine drip to control his pain and it seems to be helping. He seems to be pretty comfortable for the most part. He can get extra medicine when needed and that is helpful. He continues to lose weight as he cannot eat anything. It is a helpless feeling. I miss that he isn't able to sit and talk or watch a movie with me anymore. I sit by the bed just to be next to him.

Basketball started last week for Colton and their team pulled off a narrow victory by 1 point. Calen's team will start this Tuesday without even practicing yet. It will be interesting, but I'm sure they'll have fun. I took Calen to see the movie Avatar. It was really good. I was trying to get him out to do some things with his friends this weekend. I think he feels like he has to be here for me and I don't want him to feel that way. I certainly want him to enjoy being 13. (Not that I minded going to the movie with him- it was nice).

We continue to pray that Mark remains at peace and pain free. I know that God is in charge and I don't understand this, but I am trying to stay strong and trust in Him. Please continue to pray for Mark and all those fighting this cancer battle. God bless!!!

Jan 7

2010-01-07T16:56:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone. Sorry I haven't been faithful about posting. The time gets away from me and I am losing track of days. It is crazy, yet peaceful here. Mark continues to decline a bit. If he were able to eat, I think he would be somewhat stable, but he is just so malnourished and can't use his gut at all for nourishment. He is still able to drink water and keeping up with his fluids for the most part and hasn't been nauseated or vomiting which has been an answered prayer for sure.

We started Mark on the IV morphine drip a few days ago to get his pain under better control. He seems to be better. On the second day, we removed the patches and went solo on the morphine. He has the ability to push a button and give himself extra doses as he needs it and then gets a continuous infusion as well. Well, the IV morphine bag went empty at 3:30am this morning and the pump started beeping. I jumped up to check it and sure enough, no morphine. YIKES!!!! I quickly slapped 3 patches on Mark and woke him to get him to take a pain pill since I knew he would soon be hurting and pretty bad. There was a little morphine left in the bag, so I figured out how to get the pump to run another couple of hours to get the remaining medicine in him and then we waited to get in touch with hospice. We now have a plan to avoid this happening again. It took a bit to get Mark comfortable again today, but he looks better now, in fact a little too sleepy. I think I need to take the patches back off.

Funny story and those of you who know Mark well will like this one. Through it all, he hasn't lost his humor. Julia, Mark's hospice nurse, was over to start the morphine drip a few days ago. She had to access his port through the skin with a needle. She was cleaning it off and talking to me and told Mark "there's going to be a little stick" but all the while Mark's laying there with his eyes closed like he's in la la land and not moving, so we keep talking. All of a sudden, Julia sticks Mark with the needle and he yells out with this loud booming scream "OUUUUCCCCHHHHHHHHHH". It was so loud and he sounded like he was in agonizing pain. Julia jumped back and Mark had this big grin on his face and said "ha ha just kidding". Julia and I started laughing at him. He is so funny sometimes.

Mark continues to have periods of confusion from the medicine and dehydration in combination with liver failure. He is very yellow. Most of the time he seems pretty with it, but out of the blue he will just say the weirdest things or start whispering like he's talking to someone who's not there.

I worked Tues, Wed and today as partial days in the office. It seemed to work out okay. It is really hard to leave Mark right now. I am just playing it by ear. The kids started back to school this week and seem to be doing okay for the most part. Brent and Kathy are here and are caring for Mark while I'm at work. That can keep you busy. I know they enjoy spending time with him though.

Thanks to all of you who continue to read this and pray for us and support us through this battle. Pray for all those battling cancer out there. God bless!!!!!

Jan 4

2010-01-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone. Calen and I were sick yesterday with some virus and it was a miserable day in the Bertus house. We missed mass. I'm just glad Colton, Emily, Kathy and Brent didn't get sick (or at least not yet). Mark continues to get weaker. He has started getting very confused. Last night he was just talking out of his head and confused all night. He made no sense at all. I think he was having hallucinations. He didn't take any extra pain medicine all afternoon. I turned the TV off hoping that would help. He asked me at 10:30 last night if it was morning or night even though it was dark outside.

The kids are getting ready to go back to school on Wednesday. I think they are ready to get back into a routine and see their friends again. I am supposed to go back to work tomorrow, but I don't know how that will work. Mark is very confused and I don't know that he can get out of bed at all anymore. We will see. Julia, Mark's hospice nurse, is supposed to come visit him again today so I will talk to her and see what she thinks.

Thanks again for the support and prayers. Continue to pray for all those battling cancer. God bless!!!

Jan 1

2010-01-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

Hello to all and Happy New Year. Mark is holding his own. He seems to have a pretty good handle on his pain which makes us feel better. He has been sleeping more and his awake times have been fewer and far between. Unfortunately he was due for his patch change yesterday which is the day he gets pretty sedated and missed the OU game. He woke briefly a few times and I gave him an update, but he didn't seem very interested in the game and just couldn't wake up to watch it. Mark's sister Eugenie is here again for a visit with her husband Mike and their 3 kids. We all stayed up, kids and all, to bring in the New Year. We had a little champagne and Mark was awake for it and even took a sip of the champagne. He was more awake last night and visited with everyone for a little bit. He seems to be more awake at night and is still sleeping with the light and tv on all night. (I am having a hard time adjusting to this as I am one of those people who needs total darkness and quiet to sleep. I use an eye mask to keep the light out, but the tv is impossible to ignore. I am starting to get a little used to it.)

Mark seems a little more awake today. He had about an hour this evening with me which was nice. He was also awake intermittently through the Auburn game. How do you summarize that game for him???? I just told him Auburn won several times in overtime. I missed Father Bill again today. I took Calen out for a haircut and Father Bill came over. Mark was sleeping, but Father Bill went in and said a prayer for Mark.

I got all the Christmas decorations down today, packed them up and put them up. Yeah!!! That is always a good feeling.

Thanks for all of you who continue to pray for Mark and support us through this cancer battle. I continue to pray for a miraculous cure. I guess it's a little like a prisoner on death row praying for a last minute stay of execution, but I still pray it happens. I just have to trust and have faith because I certainly don't understand this. It seems so senseless. Continue to pray that Mark experiences comfort and peace in these coming days. God bless!!!!

Dec 29

2009-12-29T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hello again. Well, I was hoping Mark would have another good day yesterday as it was his day in between pain patch changes, but I was wrong. He was pretty sedated and just feeling weak and puny. He didn't feel like talking or doing much and pretty much slept all day. Julia, his hospice nurse, came out to check on him. She brought a scale to weigh Mark and he weighed in at a whopping 143 pounds. He is so thin!!! He hasn't eaten in weeks and it just kills me to see him looking like this. They really didn't change anything in his treatment, just keeping him comfortable.

I took the kids to a movie yesterday afternoon. They are getting stir crazy in the house, so we saw Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was pretty cute.

We pray that Mark remains pain free. He has been resting for the past few days and staying pretty sedated. Please continue to pray for peace for Mark and that he remains comfortable. Pray for all those battling cancer. God bless!!!!

Dec 27

2009-12-27T17:38:00.001-08:00

Hello to everyone. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I know those of you in Oklahoma had a very White Christmas. Mark had an episode of pain on Christmas morning that was quite intense and it took a bit to get it under control, but since then, he has been pretty comfortable and doing well. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get up and watch the kids open gifts or spend any time with us Christmas morning. It is just too hard for him to get out of bed and he can't take much noise or commotion. The kids had a great time Christmas morning and were quite pleased with their gifts. We went to mass on Christmas Eve and even in our new BIG church, the parking lot was full and there were no seats in the inn. I guess that is a very good problem to have.

Mark had a good day yesterday. He was pretty alert most of the day and we got to spend quite a bit of time together. We watched some movies and stayed up until 2am. I was getting so sleepy and he said "Don't fall asleep. I don't know how many more days I'll have like this." I was really fighting to stay awake with him. Some of the time we were talking, it was just like old times and I'd almost forget he was sick. Yesterday was definitely a good day. We changed Mark's pain patches this morning and he's been very sedated all day and not really awake at all. They really knock him out. He is definitely more jaundiced and now having some bleeding from his gut.

Father Bill came over today to visit with Mark, but he was sedated and I had gone out for a bit. Calen forgot to tell me he was coming over and remembered to tell me at dinner tonight. That's a teenager for you.

Mark's parents are still here helping out and have been troopers. They haven't been home to Oklahoma in months now. I just can't image. Kathy got to spend a lot of time with Mark yesterday as well and I know she enjoyed that. We are hoping tomorrow he will be more alert again.

Thanks for the continued support and prayers as always. God bless!!!

Dec 23

2009-12-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone. I must say Thank You to whoever had the yard decorated with signs for Mark's birthday. It was great!!! Mark couldn't get up to see it, but Brent went out and took pictures of it and we showed them to Mark and he smiled. It was great and so thoughtful, so thank you!!!!

Today was Kathy's birthday. James the Elf was busy decorating again. He has been busy with decorating this month. Kathy had a bright and colorful glitter hat to wear today and we had a sugar free chocolate cake. We got her a ring with Mark's birthstone in it. I think she really liked it. She isn't really one for jewelry, but we thought she might wear this, so we'll see. The kids were excited to present it to her and of course, they had the "talking" card. Those are a must in our house.

Mark slept most of today and hasn't been feeling very well. He is more jaundiced and you can really start to see the yellow in his skin and eyes. He was vomiting some this morning, but luckily no more of that through the day. His bowels are totally blocked with tumor, so he cannot eat anything and only has sips of water. He was talking like he wanted to call hospice out tomorrow to start him on the IV pain medication instead of the oral medications. The pain seems to be getting a little worse for him. Luckily, the evening of his birthday, he had an alert time and he let me cut his hair and shave him. He had been in full beard for some time. He wanted all his hair off, so we took a 1 blade to him and he looks really different. No hair. He was alert enough to watch a movie with me as well, which was nice. He hurts too bad for me to get next to him and hug him or cuddle with him which I miss, but just spending time with him is nice.

The kids are excited about Christmas coming up. Colton and Emily were bouncing off the walls today. Wow!!!! Don't know what I'm going to do with those two if they don't settle down. Hopefully after the present high leaves, they will calm. Father Bill came over today to see Mark. He spent some time visiting with us and played bowling and tennis with Colton on the Wii. Father Bill is pretty good. I think Colton was impressed.

Many of you have asked about donating to Mark's Scholarship Fund. You can send money directly to Auburn Bank or to our home and I can take it for you. If you are out of town, the address to the bank is PO Drawer 3110 Auburn, AL 36831-3110.

Thanks again to all of those who continue to support us through this journey. Continue to pray for peace and comfort for Mark. Pray for all those fighting cancer as well. I wish everyone safe travels during the holiday season. Please have a Merry Christmas and hold on tight to those you love. God bless!!!!

Dec 21-Mark's 38th birthday

2009-12-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and Happy Birthday Mark. Today is Mark's 38th birthday. It certainly is not the celebrations of the past, but we are trying to celebrate in our own way. I think our dear friend Andy had the best gift of all for Mark. He set up a scholarship fund for Mark with Mark's name on it to go to a deserving Auburn student. What a wonderful birthday present and great honor!!!!! It is a great way to celebrate Mark's birthday, life, and love for Auburn University. Julie Reese sent over a HUGE card with many signatures and birthday wishes from the college of business. Mark was alert enough this morning to read it and I put it up in the room so he can look at it. I decorated the bedroom with a few birthday signs. He can't eat, so no cake or anything.

Karen, I got your email and it made me remember Mark's last birthday. What a great time that was and how different things were then. We went out for Mark's last birthday to Juliana Tokyo's with some dear friends and had dinner and drinks and a wonderful time. It doesn't seem like it was a year ago. How things change in a year!!!! I really do miss that.

Emily made Mark a picture this morning and each of the kids got a card for Mark and they found one of Mark's favorite movies to give him today. We will do that later this evening. The boys both spent the night with friends and haven't been home yet. Kathy, Brent and I all are contributing money to the Mark Bertus Scholarship Fund at Auburn Bank as Mark's birthday gift. I figure that there isn't really much we can get him at this point, so what a better gift and I am so glad Andy thought of it.

Thanks for all the sweet messages on the blog. There are so many of you who read this it sometimes amazes me. As always, continue to pray for Mark and all those fighting cancer. Please hold tight to those you love this holiday season. God bless!!!

Dec 20

2009-12-20T12:18:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone. Mark hasn't been doing well. He continues to decline. He does have a bowel obstruction. He hasn't had anything move in many days now. His abdomen is hard and distended. He was initially having a lot of pain, but the last 2 days he actually seems more comfortable. He is less awake and just seems to be in less pain. When he is awake, he doesn't really complain and takes less of his pain medications. He is looking jaundiced. He doesn't eat and drinks a little.

Today was Emily's 5th birthday. She was quite excited this morning as James, our elf, decorated the house for her birthday. It was really cute. She got a cute party headband and button to wear. She opened presents and we got Chili's takeout for lunch and we plan to have cake and ice cream later. I didn't plan a party for her with her friends yet. I figured I might wait until January to do that. Things have just been so day by day and it is hard to make any plans right now. We will see.

I am trying to get my Christmas shopping done. It is hard to get out and do that, but it is slowly getting done. I might even finish.

Thanks for all the support. We have made it this far because of so many of you helping us with prayers, love and friendship. God couldn't have put us in any better of a place than Auburn, AL. I ask for continued prayers for Mark that he be free of pain and feel God's presence. God bless you all!!!!

Dec 18

2009-12-18T16:36:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. The days fly by. Mark continues to struggle, but is hanging in there. His biggest hurdle besides pain control has been eating. We can't get calories into him and he has lost SO MUCH WEIGHT. He eats virtually nothing day in and day out. His spine protrudes in his back and he has virtually no fat left. Last night he woke me and said his abdomen was "as hard as a rock" and he was a little uncomfortable. That resolved somewhat through the night, but returned this morning and his ostomy has stopped producing any output which signals that his intestines are blocked. His abdomen is very distended today and firm. He feels worse when he drinks fluids. The hospice nurse, Julia, got orders for something for Mark to try, but so far it hasn't helped. I don't know that there will be much that they can do if he is obstructed since the cancer is everywhere in his abdomen. It is just hard seeing him like this. He has been sleeping most of the day and looks comfortable, so that is good. Julia offered him an IV drip, but so far he has declined this.

Eugenie, Mark's sister, left today to go to the airport. She is flying home to Texas to spend some time with the kids and prepare for their family's Christmas. Brent took her to the airport this morning.

Today was the kids' last day of school and they are excited for the break. I went to Colton's program at Cary Woods today and it was sweet. The kids all did so well. I somehow have to get Christmas shopping done and Emily's birthday is Dec 20th, so that will be here Sunday. Mark's birthday is Monday the 21st. Dottie, our angel of a receptionist at work, arranged for me to be off on Monday for Mark's birthday. Of course, Dr. Adams is also an angel for agreeing to see my patients as he was scheduled to be off and is now coming in to see my patients. It was so wonderful of them to do that for me. They are such wonderful people at The Orthopaedic Clinic!!!!! The entire office has done so much for me and my family.

Thanks to all of you who have written such sweet letters and emails. I have given them to Mark or read them to Mark during his awake and alert periods. He has smiled enjoyed them all. Many of them have brought me to tears (good ones-bitter sweet ones). Our dear friend Andy has been over here nearly every day spending it with Mark and our family, he has practically become one of us. Even when Mark doesn't feel like visiting, Andy is here, just for support. There will never be enough words to thank Andy for all he's given us in just being our friend through this.

Please continue to pray for Mark. Remember all those fighting cancer as well. Please remember the Parker family, the family of Laura Brown who recently lost her young life to ovarian cancer, and the family of Bennie Pierce who lost his young life to renal cancer in your prayers. God bless!!!!

Dec 14

2009-12-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Things are about the same in the Bertus house. Mark continues to have struggles with pain. He ran out of the pain pills Hospice brought by on Friday afternoon by Sunday morning and I had to call to get a refill on Sunday. We put an extra pain patch on him while we were waiting on the extra pills to arrive and that seemed to work well. I really don't know how he's still going on virtually no calories for the last few weeks. He occasionally will have a drink of OJ or fruit punch, but that is about it. He ate a few bites of a meatball last night which was very impressive and wanted some pineapple slices in the middle of the night. He continues to run fevers in spite of the antibiotics.

Mark's hospice nurse called this morning to see how the weekend went and will be getting an order for a stronger pain patch for the week in an attempt to cut down on the need for extra pills. I really hope it works. He sleeps a lot and can't stand to have any noise or stimuli.

Just as I was typing this, Mark was sleeping in bed holding his water glass and dropped it all over the bed. His immediate instinct was to jump up and out of bed since it was ice water. He started to fall and tried to sit in the chair which he did for a few seconds and then fell face down out of the chair onto the ground. Of course, all this motion caused his pain to escalate. It was awful. I had to quickly get the bed changed and cleaned up so we could get him back in it.

Last night, Mark wanted to watch our wedding video again. We watched it with Kathy, Brent and Eugenie. Matt left to go back to Oklahoma City last night. He has been here since before Thanksgiving and needed to get back home for a while.

Thanks again to all of you who continue to pray for us and support us in our cancer battle. God bless you all!!!!

Dec 11

2009-12-11T22:55:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Not much has changed in the Bertus house. Mark continues to have bouts of pain followed by periods of sedation after his meds are on board. There isn't much of a happy medium. He is weak to the point he can't really talk much. His voice is raspy. I wish I could say he is comfortable, but he really isn't much of the time and it makes me feel helpless. He does not want to go to the Bethany House to get IV pain medications, so we are trying to manage here. His hospice nurse was by today with refills of the pain medicines to get us through the weekend. Mark had a fever of 101.5 this evening as well. He is on a pretty powerful antibiotic already and Dr. Farmer plans to leave him on the antibiotic from now on and just not stop it since he has been getting peritonitis. I hope that is not a sign that the infection is gaining strength. Cancer itself can sometimes cause a fever. We will see.

Mark's cousin, Michael, came in today from Texas to visit Mark and will be here until tomorrow. It was good to see him and we enjoyed the visit. I wish Mark was feeling better and could actually talk with him some. Mark always loved Michael so much.

Father Bill was over today, but Mark was too sedated at the time to wake up and visit.

Calen went out bowling tonight with friends and I was glad to see him get out of the house for a little bit. Colton went to spend he night with a friend. I think it is a good break for him to get out of the house some. Emily was a firecracker tonight showing off for Michael. She couldn't sit still at all and wore herself out. Hopefully she will sleep late tomorrow. We will see.

Thanks again for all of you who continue to support us in so many sweet and kind ways. Your prayers and kind words are so appreciated. Please continue to pray for Mark. Pray for Marie Hoffman-I have no updates on how she's doing, but I'm sure prayers are always appreciated. Pray for the Parker family. They received good news at Carly's last visit to MD Anderson. Pray for the Pierce family who recently lost Bennie to cancer that they may find peace this Christmas. God bless!!!!!!!

Dec 10

2009-12-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Today has been a long day. Mark had a very rough night last night with a lot of pain and suffering. It took quite a bit of pain medication to get him comfortable and he refused to turn the light off last night for us to sleep, so we slept with the bedroom light on. I don't know why he insisited the light be on, but he did. He was moaning and groaning and just miserable. He ended up taking quite a bit of medication and then finally used some of the morphine this morning. He eventually got comfortable and it was good to see him rest and look peaceful. We thought for a while it may be his last day with us. His lips looked white and he was pale and mottled a bit. He was pretty out of it all day and not very responsive and had very shallow breathing at times. Matt went and checked the kids out of school just to be safe. Luckily Mark seems to be a little better now. He has a very weak voice, but is talking some. He is still using quite a bit of pain medication. I, of course, didn't go in to work today.

Dr. Farmer emailed me this morning just to check on Mark, so I informed her of what was going on here. She offered to put Mark in the Bethany House to get a better handle on his pain, but he wants to stay here. His hospice nurse, Julia, came by today and checked on him. His blood pressure was actually good. She is going to make sure he has enough pain medications to get us through the weekend. If he gets bad, the Bethany House is always an option, but we want to do everything we can to keep Mark at home. Mark hasn't eaten anything at all in 2 days now. He is drinking a little water and had a very tiny bit of orange juice yesterday and a small glass of fruit punch today, so not much in the way of calories.

Kathy, Matt, Eugenie, Brent and I spent most of the day sitting with Mark. It made for a long day today. Matt and Brent decided to take Calen to baseball tryouts this afternoon as Mark seemed to be doing a bit better and then Eugenie and Matt took the kids out to eat dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger.

Mark has been somewhat grumpy which is hard. I just want to hold his hand or lay with him and he hurts so bad and feels so bad, he just wants to be left alone and not be touched. We all just have to sit and watch him from a distance. I think that is the hardest part for me. I really miss his humor, hearing his laughter and just joking with him or having him tease me about something. I would really love it if he feels good enough to do that again.

I have to say Thank You to Tia. Your letter was so wonderful and touching. I would never have thought about doing a Build-A-Bear for Emily with Mark's voice message, so Thank You!!!! You are so kind and that will be something that Emily will cherish forever. God bless you!!! Thanks to so many of you for all of your wonderful support. Mark got a phone call from Gene Chizik-I don't know who asked him to call Mark, but thank you. My mother had Billy Sims, the former Oklahoma great and Heismann winner call Mark a few weeks ago which was a neat surprise. Thanks mom!!! Oh yeah, Scott we got your letter from New Zealand. Thanks!! It was great hearing from you and your letter was wonderful.

Please continue to pray for Mark. Pray that he will not suffer with pain. It would be nice to see him in a pain free state so that he could enjoy some more time with us and create some more memories. Pray for all of those suffering with cancer out there. God bless!!!

Dec 8

2009-12-08T21:15:00.001-08:00

Hello to everyone. I want to thank everyone for the wonderful birthday cards, wishes, gifts, food, flowers. It was overwhelming and awesome. I was totally surprised and felt so loved by so many of you. I woke to my house being decorated with "40" stuff everywhere and then my front yard was filled with cows and a sign "Holy Cow Ronda's 40" thanks to Debbie Brooks and Stacey Brandon, I hear. Mark wanted to make the day special for me and he got up out of bed several times. He took a couple of pictures with the family which was great. I think he was totally worn out and slept the entire day after my birthday. I felt guilty about that.

Angie, Matt's wife, flew into Birmingham the evening of my birthday and stayed until this morning and flew back to Oklahoma City. It was nice to see her and I think Matt has been missing her a lot. He has been here since before Thanksgiving. Eugenie, Mark's sister is in from Austin, TX now as well. Mark's parents have been here since Sept with the exception of a 2 week break they took when my mom visited. They are troopers.

The Hospice nurse was out to visit Mark on Monday. He is stable. He doesn't get out of bed for much of anything and is very weak. He eats very little if anything and our goal is to keep him out of pain. So far, he seems to stay pretty comfortable for the most part. He occasionally will hurt and not take his medicine like he should. He is still stubborn about things. The Hospice team has a child psychologist that is supposed to visit with each of the kids weekly. She is a very nice lady and Colton and Emily are fine with this, but Calen totally freaked out about it. He started yelling and crying and does NOT want to see her. He was very opposed to this on both occasions that I discussed it with him. I talked with Mark about it tonight and he thinks we should just not make him see her for now. I guess he is right. I just worry about Calen. He holds a lot in and seems to be withdrawn a lot. He doesn't do much with his friends like he has in years past. He told me he didn't want to see her at school because that was the only place he could be "normal" and maybe it is where he escapes from all of this. I also wonder if he is afraid he will break down at school. I will try to call them tomorrow before they make it to the Jr High and talk with her. I think he will need it eventually, but I don't want him to feel pressure.

I went back to work today after being off for the last few weeks since starting on Hospice. It was very hard for me. I feel like I should be home with Mark, but I can't be off forever either. It is a difficult decision. I only got to see Mark for a little bit the entire day since I had to take Colton to basketball practice when I got home from work, then get Emily into bed, read books with her and then read with Colton for 20 minutes. It eats up all of your time and before you know it, it's almost midnight.

We continue to pray for Mark and ask for strength to get us through what is to come. Please remember Mark in your prayers as always. God bless!!!!!

Dec 4

2009-12-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

Hello again. Mark continues to weaken each day. He was very tired yesterday and seems much more so today. He even seems somewhat confused this morning, but hasn't been awake much. He says he isn't hurting and looks much more peaceful than he has. We have spent the last week just sitting with him and talking, watching old movies and just hanging out as he feels he has the energy. I was laying with him last night and he fell asleep so I got up to go put Emily and Colton in bed. Mark woke and saw I was gone, he got up and walked into the living room and found his parents sleeping on the couch, so he WALKED UP THE STAIRS to find me. This is a huge thing for Mark to do, so I about jumped out of my skin when Mark came stumbling in to Colton's room last night. It scared me to death to see him upstairs. I was terrified he was going to fall back down the stairs. He said "I thought you were going to spend some time with me". He cracks me up sometimes. He hasn't lost his sense of humor through all of this.

Mark had a bad nightmare last night. He has been having many of them lately. They usually involve him being separated from the family. He started moaning really loudly and then yelling "No" over and over, so I thought he might be huring and I was trying to wake him up and he punched me right in the face. I am really glad he isn't nearly as strong as he used to be. We had to laugh about it. After he was more awake he asked "Did I hit you?". I told him I was going to call DHR for spousal abuse. I hate that he is having nightmares. I don't know if the pain medications are causing that or if it is just some of the fear he is experiencing. Maybe a combination of both.

I wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you to Dan Gropper for the wonderful letter you wrote and the pictures. There really aren't words to let you know how much the letter you wrote means to me, especially the part to our children letting them know what kind of a man Mark was in your eyes. I don't think I can ever tell you how much that means, but thank you!!! Thanks also to the MBA students for your card to Mark. It is good to know how many lives Mark has touched in so many ways. I have heard from so many of Mark's former students and it truly amazes me sometimes.

Tomorrow will be my 40th birthday. I had always thought Mark and I would celebrate it together doing something big like a trip or a big party. This certainly isn't the way I had ever imagined to be spending my 40th.

Hospice has been out several times. We have met his nurse, the social worker, chaplain and they have a kids counsellor who will meet with the kids next week. Father Bill continues to come out weekly and give Mark communion and did the annointing of the sick about a week ago with Mark.

Thanks to all of you who have continued to support us in all of this. There are too many of you to name, but we appreciate all of your love and support. Please continue to pray for Mark. God bless!!!!!

Nov 30

2009-11-30T14:42:00.000-08:00

Hello. Mark is hanging in there. He hasn't been out of bed except to use the restroom in the last week. We did not go to the Cancer Center for treatment today. He has decided to stop treatments. Hospice has been out and visited with us. They have gotten a more intense dose of pain medication from Dr. Farmer in an attempt to make Mark more comfortable so that he doesn't experience much pain. He hasn't eaten anything to mention in the last week either. He asked for some sushi for lunch and we were all impressed. Kathy and I went out in search of sushi today. Of course, Juliana Tokyos, Shoguns and Mandarin House were all closed. We drove to South College and tried Fuji and the sushi was really good there. We spread it all out across our bed and Kathy, Brent, Matt, Mark and I all had a sushi picnic this afternoon. It was kind of fun.

Mark has been progressively getting weaker and losing weight. He is having difficulty this afternoon holding his water glass up to drink which is new.

Mark hasn't gotten up and out of bed for most of the week. He can't tolerate much noise, light or motion. Calen came back last night and sat with his dad and they talked about baseball tryouts and just visited. After Calen went to bed, Mark told me he wanted to start talking with the kids tonight to start saying his goodbyes to them. He cried when he talked about Emily because he said that she wouldn't even remember him when she grew up. It just kills me to have to go through this. I don't want to say goodbye. I don't want the kids to have to say goodbye. I'd rather scream or punch something, but of course that doesn't change things. I know that God has a reason, but I feel selfish and want to keep Mark here with me.

Please continue to pray for Mark and all of those battling this illness. Pray for the Parker family who is going back to MD Anderson this week for another round of tests. As always, God bless!!!!!

Nov 27

2009-11-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hello. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. Sorry for the long absense in posts. Mark hasn't been doing well. He has been in bed for 3 days straight and hasn't been well at all. He didn't eat anything during that time as well. Dr. Farmer called to check on Mark and decided to send Hospice out. They haven't been here yet as it was right before Thanksgiving. They may be here today. Mark managed to get up for Thanksgiving and sat at the table for approximately an hour. He was up a little bit during the day yesterday and we got to listen to funny stories about his childhood told by his brother Matt and his parents. Mostly about their different pets and such, but we laughed and it was fun. Mark was totally worn out and slept good. He is really hurting today and can't eat or get up again today. I think today is the worst day I've seen him have yet. He doesn't want me to even touch him. It is a very helpless feeling.

The kids went to the Auburn/Alabama game. Once again, I gave up my ticket so as not to break tradition. I've given it up every year since we've moved to Auburn now. There was no way I could leave Mark today. The kids took their cousins Chris (who is in college) and Katie who is a High Schooler. Their uncle Matt also went with them.

Dr. Farmer talked like she may stop by the house Saturday or Sunday to talk with Mark. We will see. He is supposed to have an appointment Monday to be infused, but I doubt we make it in Monday the way things are going now.

God bless!!!!!!

Nov 19

2009-11-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

Hello again. Things have improved in the Bertus house. Mark is feeling better. The fevers seem to have gone for now. Mark ran a low grade fever later yesterday, but hasn't had any today, so I think the antibiotic is working for him. He felt like getting up and about today and he went to lunch with his parents and sister at Juliana Tokyos. He ate a little sushi, but had to be careful not to overeat. He did pretty good with the meal and felt okay until late afternoon and started having some stomach issues and had to lay in bed for several hours. He skipped dinner, but is up and about again now and seems to be feeling better again. We have plans to go see the movie Blind Side tomorrow if Mark is feeling up to it. Can't wait.

The kids and I have all gotten our H1N1 vaccine. Mark decided he didn't want to get one. He's just not been feeling great. Brent and Kathy took the boys to Auburn University today to get theirs done, so we are all officially vaccinated.

Calen has been busy working out for baseball tryouts. He's been doing a lot of extra after school activities and staying busy. This weekend he will go to Callaway Gardens and do the March of Dimes walk through the Fantasy of Lights with the St. Michaels youth group. Colton is gearing up for basketball. His first official practice will be Dec 4th. Emily had her Auburn/Alabama tailgate party at school today. They did it early since next week will be short at school. We made cookies and they had a big celebration. She wore her Auburn cheerleader outfit to school today.

We continue to take things one day at a time. We pray that tomorrow will be a good day for Mark and that his body will continue to heal itself. We look for God's direction and pray for his mercy. Please remember the Parker family, Marie Hoffman and all those fighting cancer out there. God bless!!!!!

Nov 18

2009-11-18T19:41:00.001-08:00

Hello to all. Mark had an awful night last night. I woke around 2:30 am with the sound of his teeth chattering and looked over to see him shaking uncontrollably. He wasn't feverish at that time, but I knew it was coming. He was freezing cold and covered up with every blanket possible and just couldn't quit shivering. About 30 minutes later, he was burning up with fever and had spiked a temp of 102.5. I had 2 antibiotic pills here, so I gave him one of them and some Tylenol to break the fever. He was better around 5:30 and the fever was gone, but he felt like crap and was having a lot of pain. We changed out the pain patch, but he continued to have a lot of pain today. I planned on just staying home from work today and having them cancel my patients, but Mark insisted that he would be okay and that his mom and sister were here with him, so I went to work even though it was hard to leave him like that. I was also quite exhausted from being up last night. I called Dr. Farmer's office about the fever and to let them know I gave him the antibiotic. They called in a Rx for more antibiotics and if he is still running fever by the end of the week, they need to know. He's been having some urinary symptoms so I don't know if that is the source of the infection or not. He hasn't been coughing or having any breathing problems. The shaking chill leads you to believe it is bacterial and not viral.

The tumors in Mark's belly continue to give him pain. I rub his belly in the evening time and there is a very large tumor much larger than a grapefruit in the center of his abdomen. It just has to be miserable for him.

Mark's sister Eugenie is here from Austin and will stay until just before Thanksgiving and Matt (Mark's twin) and Shaun (Mark's older brother) will be here for Thanksgiving. Shaun will be bringing his 3 children and the kids are excited to see their cousins. They are high school and college age.

Thanks to the Slammers families for dinner Tuesday night and last Tuesday night. It was very good and we appreciate all of your love and support. Colton got his basketball team assignment tonight and it looked like a mini Slammers team. He was excited to see Carson and Jackson's names on his team roster.

We continue to pray for healing in Mark's body. We certainly haven't gotten great news lately, but Mark hasn't given up and we haven't given up on him either. It is difficult seeing him suffer and have so much pain. Cancer is such an awful disease and I wish there were a cure for all those out there suffering with this illness. Please remember Mark in your prayers as well as all those out there fighting this disease. Remember Carly Parker and the Parker family as well as Marie Hoffman. God bless!!!!!!

Nov 16

2009-11-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

Hello. We spent the morning and half the afternoon in the infusion center today. Mark had his blood drawn and we planned to use the CEA to help determine his treatment plan for today, but the lab machine was broken that runs the CEA lab. We met with Dr Farmer and discussed things. Dr Farmer went over the three plans of action with us. First, provided the CEA stabilized we can stay with the Vectibix and ride it out as long as we can. Second, we switch therapy and try the FOLFOX with Avastin as a last ditch effort. She isn't convinced it will work and thinks it's only a 5% chance at best of success. Third, we can stop treatment and put Mark on hospice. Usually there would be an option for clinical trials, but unfortunately there aren't any trials nationwide for Mark to get into right now. That just goes to show you that we need a lot more money put into cancer research. The drugs and cures aren't here and neither are the trials going on to find the cure. It's really a helpless feeling. Since the marker wasn't back yet and Mark was feeling pretty good and his weight was up 1 lb to 162, we opted to give him the Vectibix again today. He got infused without any complications. This one really doesn't make him sick at all or give him side effects except for the acne rash, so all being said it wasn't a bad trade off. His magnesium was low again, which required a 2 hour magnesium infusion and kept us there until around 3pm.

After returning home, we got an email from Dr. Farmer with Mark's CEA coming back at 588. It wasn't great news for sure,but was actually somewhat better than I had expected. We didn't publish Mark's last CEA which was 473 and that was 5 days after his last treatment of the Erbitux and Camptosar and just before his first Vectibix infusion. It really skyrocketed in those 5 days, so only going up 115 points in 2 weeks wasn't devastating. Dr. Farmer will do another CEA in 2 weeks when we return for treatment and depending on that number, we will either get another Vectibix or go back to the FOLFOX with Avastin. The FOLFOX likely will make Mark a little sick, but HOPEFULLY will lower the CEA and start treating the cancer again after a long time of letting it grow uncontrollably.

The boys and I had another talk about Mark's illness after mass Sunday. We got out of the car and took a little walk at Cary Woods school just to get some fresh air. It is really tough for them. Colton asked me before bed that night "why can't I just have a normal life?". It was really hard. My heart aches for them. He says he needs his dad here to teach him things and he is right. I just told him to pray and we will see what happens, but God has a plan for all of our lives and his plan may not always be what our plan is.

Please continue to lift Mark up in prayer as always. We are hopeful that something will work although the options don't look great right now. Remember the Parker family in your prayers as well as Marie Hoffman who is having surgery this week. God bless!!!!!

Nov 11

2009-11-11T19:47:00.000-08:00

Hello to all. It's been a while since I've posted. Mark is hanging in there. He seems to have qute a bit of pain, but doesn't want to admit it, so he just stays quiet and withdraws. He will sometimes stay in the bedroom most of the day just laying in bed. He is just tired and weak and worn out, but continues to fight. He is still doing pretty well with his eating. He tries to graze and will do good for a day or two and then have a day where he hardly eats anything. It is frustrating for him and for us to sit and watch. He wants to feel better and we want to help him, so we all feel a bit frustrated. We go back for chemo on Monday. We will see how things look then.

Mark made it out to Calen's football banquet Monday night. It was just over an hour and was quite an outing for him. He had a hard time finding something to put on as all of his clothes are HUGE on him now. Tomorrow night is Colton's end of the year football party, so I'm not sure he'll be up for that one. We will see.

Thanks to all of you who continue to support us. Your words, cards and letters are very welcome and comforting. So many of you have touched our lives in ways that will forever change us. God has brought us so many special friends into our lives and we thank all of you for that. Please continue to lift Mark up in prayer. I ask that you continue to remember Carly Parker in your prayers also. There is one more special request tonight. I met a very special lady today who I believe was brought to me by God, for her messages were so touching and she is such a witness of God. She was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and will be having surgery next week to remove the mass. She has already battled and beat stage 4 breast cancer and is quite the warrior and a true believer in God's healing power. Please remember Marie Hoffman in your prayers during her cancer battle. God bless!!!!

Nov 5

2009-11-05T17:22:00.000-08:00

Hello and good evening to all. It has been a rather uneventful day. Mark seems to be doing okay. That is to say, he is holding his own. He still has pain and his stomach cramps a lot when he tries to eat, so the eating becomes a problem. He is trying hard to constantly "graze" on food instead of eating big meals and hopefully that will help. We are trying to fill him with every calorie we can get in him. He tries so hard. His mom constantly gives him back rubs to help with the pain and I rub his belly. You can feel the tumors now. They are pretty solid and I can't image what they must feel like to him having them intertwined with the intestines.

Mark's father has been busy helping the boys with their baseball. He takes Calen to hit at the batting cages and works on pitching with Colton and the boys are enjoying having him here to help. He is also becoming quite the taxi as the kids have multiple activities to get to and from.

Yesterday was Andy's 50th birthday, so we had reason to celebrate in the Bertus household. Mark sent me on a mission to decorate Andy's office door the night before and then we had dinner and a cookie cake with a party hat (compliments of Emily). We sat and watched the World Series (I'm pretty sure I slept through the end of it). It was a good evening and we enjoyed getting to spend some time with Andy on his birthday. I will try to post those pictures on facebook soon.

This chemo will be given every 2 weeks, so Mark's next infusion will be Nov 16th. We hope and pray that things will improve. If they don't look favorable, Dr. Farmer agreed to try the FOLFOX regimen once more. She doesn't feel it will be effective, but for whatever reason, every fiber of my being feels that it will work this time. It worked for so long before and it was only when Mark developed that allergy did it start puttering out. He has been off of it for nearly a year now, so he is naive to it for that long and it just may work again. Maybe I'm just grabbing for a lifeline, but I really feel strongly that we should try it. I have felt this way since Mark's surgery was aborted. In fact, I wanted to go straight back to FOLFOX instead of having to try the Erbitux stuff. I know I'm very opinionated, but I can't help it. I do fully trust Dr. Farmer. She has been very open and honest with us from the beginning and has said that she would try this if we want to do it. For now, I am waiting to see what the Vectibix does.

Once again thanks for all the prayers and support. We are very comforted to know that so many of you think of us and pray for us often. Please continue the prayers and remember Carly Parker and her family in your prayers as she is in remission now-pray that she remains cancer free. God bless!!!!!!!

Nov 3

2009-11-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Hello again. We made it to the Cancer Center this morning. We were thinking that we were set as far as blood work being done and that we'd just be a go with getting infused, but we were wrong. Mark got blood work drawn again and we had to wait on results (which is fine). His magnesium was low again which required another IV magnesium infusion before the treatment could start. Dr. Farmer also wanted to meet with us to discuss the treatment again and answer any questions. We are unsure that this is the right thing to do and she is as well, but it is our last option so we must try it. I know I sounded down on it the last blog or two. It is extremely similar to Erbitux which he took with the last chemo that didn't work and they are giving this as monotherapy, but Andrea (Mark's chemo nurse) said that she has had patients who failed Erbitux as Mark had and who responded to the Vectibix and that was what I needed to hear today. It gave me the hope I needed as I need so much to feel like we are helping Mark instead of letting the cancer take over. Mark's weight was down another pound to 161 from 162 last Thursday. That was not a great sign since we skipped the chemo and he still lost weight.

Mark tolerated the infusion well. He got sleepy because of the Benadryl they give him to prevent drug reactions. He came home this afternoon and slept. His stomach has been upset some tonight and he's been hurting some. He tried to eat the best he could, but it is really hard for him.

I was in the car listening to the radio and Rascal Flatts' song My Wish came on. It is the song I dedicated to my 3 children long before Mark got sick with cancer. It made me so sad and I had to cry as part of the verse is "your dreams stay big, your worries stay small, you never have to carry more than you can hold". That was so what I wished for my children and here they are facing stage 4 colon cancer in their 37 year old father. I wish somehow I could take the worry and pain away from the children, but that is impossible. I know that this is all part of God's plan and we have to journey through these tough times and look to him for direction and guidance. It is a true test of faith as you hand it all over to the Lord. (I am still human and the tears still flow).

Thanks so much to all of you who continue to pray for Mark and offer support to us in so many ways. We appreciate you more than you know. Please continue to keep Mark in your prayers as always. Remember Carly Parker in your prayers as well. God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nov 2

2009-11-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

Hello to all. We did not go in to the Cancer Center today for Mark to get infused. We found out Friday late in the afternoon that the pharmacy didn't have enough drug to infuse Mark and would have to order more which meant a Tuesday infusion. I felt bad for Dottie who does the scheduling at our office. She had just rescheduled my patients for Monday and then I show up Monday morning telling her I need to be off Tuesday. She smiled at me and started bringing in Tuesdays patients today for me to see. She is such a gem. She has done so much for me during this time I cannot even begin to tell you.

Mark seems to be doing a little better. It was nice having the time off of chemo. He didn't have the vomiting and nausea all weekend and was actually able to eat some. He woke this morning in more pain than I've ever seen him in. He was moaning out loud and just couldn't move. I got him pain pills and we changed his pain patch early. I just laid next to him and held his hand. It is really a helpless feeling. I eventually had to leave for work and his parents stayed with him. I checked on him at lunch and he was much better. It is so hard trying to work and having Mark be so sick. It just tears me up.

Mark wasn't feeling well enough for Trick-or-Treat. He stayed home and didn't even get up to hand out candy. I took Emily out who dressed up as Cinderella. She was so funny this year. She had a great time in the neighborhood. She got scared at a couple of haunted houses and we tried to avoid the scary stuff. Colton changed his mind about his costume at the last minute and dressed in his Slammers baseball uniform and went out with a bunch of his friends. Calen was too old to go out for candy, so he stayed behind and handed out candy. He's such a sweetie. I took a lot of pictures and put them on my facebook page.

I talked with both the boys about Mark's previous chemo regimen not working and that we were switching to something new. I was also honest in telling them that this was the last thing approved to treat dad's cancer. They were both quiet and didn't say much. I think they understand the situation. Emily will be harder to talk with. All she's ever known is her dad being sick. She sits and makes him get well cards all the time. She is really sweet.

We leave for the Cancer Center in the morning. Pray that Mark's cancer will respond to the Vectibix. We could really use some good news. Remember Carly Parker in your prayers as well. God bless!!!!

Oct 29

2009-10-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hello again. We went to the Cancer Center this morning as usual. Mark started vomiting this morning just thinking about going. We went ahead and had his CEA drawn. His magnesium came back low, so they started his magnesium infusion. His CEA level came back next and was much higher at 370. His previous reading was 240. It has really escalated on this regimen. Mark and I talked and decided that he shouldn't have this chemo today. I think it is just torture to put him through this when it doesn't appear to be working at all. He is miserable with the chemo-fatigue, nausea and vomiting and only the last 2 days of this cycle has been able to eat worth anything. Mark was in total agreement. We talked with Dr. Farmer. The problem is there is only one other approved chemo regimen that Mark hasn't tried and it is called Vectibix (?sp). It is almost identical to the Erbitux, but is fully humanized instead of using a mouse protein and he wouldn't have to take the Camptosar with it (which probably causes a lot of the nausea and vomiting and cramping). It is doubtful that it will be effective since the Erbitux wasn't. We both feel like we want to try the FOLFOX regimen one more time. This is the first regimen Mark was on when he was diangnosed. It worked for a long time and only stopped working when Mark developed the leukovorin allergy. He has been off of it for quite some time and his cancer may respond again. Dr. Farmer is doubtful, but said she would try it again if we really wanted to. She talked with us again about hospice.

Mark's weight was officially 162 which is down from his previous 168 at the infusion center. He did get it up a few pounds from what he lost at home from the last round of chemo. He is getting more pain and that is most likely from the cancer spreading in the abdomen. It makes it hard for him to eat as it covers most of the intestines and his pain now radiates into his back. The pain patches help a lot and he has pills for breakthrough pain. We haven't given up hope and Mark intends to try the rest of the chemo regimens as he is definitely a fighter. We will see what happens.

The kids will trick or treat tonight, so maybe Mark will feel like going out for a little bit now. If not, he may enjoy seeing some of the trick or treaters we get at the house.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support. Please continue to pray for Mark. God bless!!!

Oct 28

2009-10-28T21:17:00.001-07:00

Hello. Mark is feeling better just in time to get back for another chemo infusion. He has had two pretty decent days. He is trying like crazy to make up the calories and get in what he can. His weight on our home scale was down to 160 a couple of days ago after all of the sickness and inability to eat, he really lost a lot. Hopefully he has been able to put some of that back on. He is eating everything he can possibly get in. Calen was impressed with the amount he ate at dinner tonight. We hope it is enough to keep the chemo schedule on track.

Tomorrow morning Mark is scheduled for his last chemo in this cycle. He will get a two week break after this and we are all looking forward to that. We may move the chemo back to Mondays as that was his preferred day before so his feel good days would be on the weekends when he could do more with the family. It just makes sense. He wasn't happy about the kids doing trick or treat tomorrow night and he probably will miss it all.

Mark had a good visit today at lunch with Lee and Keven. He also enjoyed dinner last night with Andy. He has enjoyed having a little company when he is feeling better. It is nice to see him engaging in work conversations and talking spots, etc again.

Our sad news today is our guinea pig, Leppy, died this morning. I was driving her to the vet as she was having a hard time standing up and was very weak and she died in my lap on the way there. It was so sad. I pulled off the road and just cried. We had to tell the kids this evening. The guinea pig was more of Colton's pet as she stayed in his room and he was there the night she was born. He is very attached. He took it hard. We had to bury her and find a stone for her grave marker. Colton wanted to get out all of his pictures of him and Leppy and put them on his bulletin board. He cried for an hour before going to bed. It just breaks my heart.

Emily has a field trip to the pumpkin patch tomorrow and is very excited. She says she is going to pick out the biggest pumpkin they have. We will see. Calen is staying busy with sports and school. He has been working really hard this week. The kids made a Halloween cake tonight with their grandparents. It was chocolate cake with orange icing. They put edible ghosts, pumpkins, worms, and spiders on the cake as well as some nonedible "scary" spiders. This was Emily's doing. She thought up everything she wanted on a Halloween cake and her granny and granddad went out and bought the stuff. They had fun doing it and it took some of the stress of Leppy dying away. It was a good night to make cake.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support. We pray for strength each day to get through this and to find God's message in all that we face. We've become better listeners for sure. Please continue to pray for Mark. Please remember Carly Parker as well as all those battling cancer. God bless!!!!!

Oct 25

2009-10-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Hell to all. Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. It's been busy. Mark has been quite sick with this round of chemo. He did okay Thursday, but Friday he began vomiting and was up all night Friday night with violent vomiting episodes. This didn't stop until early Saturday morning and he finally was able to fall asleep and rest. Needless to say, he hasn't eaten much this weekend and is WAY down on his calorie intake. He is slowly starting to feel better, but still even today hasn't eaten much at all.

Mark's aunts from New Orleans, Aunt Maureen and Aunt Louise, made it here Friday for a visit. They came bearing gifts of shrimp po boys, muffalattas, and king cake. YUM!!!! We enjoyed great food all weekend. Mark was disappointed that he wasn't feeling better and only spent a limited amount of time visiting with them. It was a really rough weekend for him and he is just this evening starting to feel better. The kids enjoyed the weekend and Emily talked everyone's ear off. We went to mass this morning and had lunch and Louise and Maureen headed back home this afternoon. The kids are now looking forward to Mardi Gras as they want to go to New Orleans to visit their aunts and see the parades.

Colton kept us busy with football make up games and a baseball tournament. His football team lost, but the baseball team won the tournament. That was their last tournament for the fall season and we will now get a breather until spring.

Thanks for all the support once again. Please keep Carly Parker in your prayers as well. God bless!!!!!

Oct 22

2009-10-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone. We are here in the infusion center about to be finished with Mark's chemo. He is doing well. They were going to draw a CEA today, but Mark refused it and said he didn't want it to be done. He is so stubborn. He wants to wait until next week at his 4th infusion. arghhhhh!!!!! I did not say anything. I just smiled at his nurse and kept my mouth shut for it is his body and his cancer and I am just the wife and supporter. That was hard to do, but I thought I did an awfully good job today since inside I wanted to pinch him or scream at him. Anyway, we will know in due time. The reality of it is, Mark is doing better and no one can argue with that. He has had a very noticeable improvement over the past few days. Yesterday he asked his parents to go to lunch with him at McAlister's and they had a lunch outing. He also wanted to take a walk outside last night and we walked to the end of the block and back. These are HUGE improvements for Mark as he has pretty much been sitting in a chair all day or sleeping in the bed. His color is better, his pain seems to be less and you can just tell he feels a little better. When we walked into the infusion center today, Andrea (his infusion nurse) right away said he looked much better. His weight was stable at 168. We had hoped for a gain, but the fact that he didn't lose was encouraging.

Tonight is the Jr. High game against Opelika. Mark is hoping that he feels good enough to make the game tonight as it will be Calen's last football game this year. We will see how it goes. We should be finished here just after 3pm.

Thanks to all of you who continue to support us through this journey and have prayed for Mark. We feel very blessed. Casey, thanks so much for the email today. I was cracking up so hard while reading it today. I miss you guys so much!!!!! Please remember Carly Parker in your prayers. She had spots show up on her follow up chest CT and now they are waiting to find out what this means. God bless!!!!!

Oct 19

2009-10-19T19:59:00.001-07:00

Hello again. Not much exciting to report from the Bertus household. Mark is continuing to fight. He is tough and hanging in there. I talked with Andrea, his chemo nurse, to confirm his appointment for Thursday and she was asking about him. She was excited to hear about the rash and said that it usually means he is responding to the chemo. It was good to hear. Mark doesn't like the fact that he has acne, but we love it. His biggest challenge now is eating. He cannot find foods that won't cause him to bloat and feel distended and full. He likes to eat his usual diet stuff which probably isn't the best choice as far as that is concerned, but on the other hand, he needs a lot of calories. As you can see, it is frustrating. His pain seems to be a little better, but as soon as I say that, he may relapse and have a bad day. It is hard to predict.

Mark's parents are still here and helping out with the kids and caring for Mark during the day while I am working. That is a big help. His aunts from New Orleans may be up this weekend for a visit and Mark is excited about seeing them. Thursdays chemo will be here again before we know it. Pray that our number is a good one. God bless!!!!

Oct 18

2009-10-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Today has been a good day so far. Mark slept pretty late as he was just tired, but got up and had some breakfast. He seems to be doing a little better this week, so hopefully that's a sign that this chemo is helping. He has developed a pustular acne like rash across his nose and cheeks which is a common side effect of the Erbitux. I read one study which said that the patients who got the rash actually responded better to the drug, so we can hope that this is true.

Mark made it out for Colton's football game Saturday morning and it really did a number on him. It was cold and windy and he had a hard time with it. I think that those have been his only outings besides chemo and they are very hard on him, but he does it for the kids. Colton had a pretty good game, but his team lost. When we arrived home, we found a pizza delivery person in our driveway with a bunch of pizza and a surprise delivery from the Golson family just in time to watch the OU game. What a surprise. Thanks to the Golson family. That was so thoughtful!!!!

Matt, Angie, Jolene and Lauren left for Oklahoma City yesterday. It was nice having them here for a visit and we will miss them. We got up this morning and attended mass. Emily wasn't so sure about going to class, but decided to go and had a good time. We plan to have a restful afternoon with the family before gearing up for Monday again. Thanks to everyone for keeping Mark so lifted up in prayer. We appreciate all of the support. Remember the Pierce family as Bennie lost his battle to cancer this weekend at a young age of 13. He was diagnosed around the same time as Mark. God bless!!!!!

Oct 16-Two year anniversary

2009-10-16T06:54:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Mark and I went in for his second round of chemo yesterday. He has lost another 5 pounds in the last week and weighed in at 168 fully clothed and after eating breakfast. That is not a good thing. He has been trying his best to eat, but it is very hard for him and he simply isn't getting enough calories. His magnesium level was low and he required a 2 hour magnesium infusion before he could get the chemo. He vomited after getting the magnesium, but tolerated the chemo infusion okay. He slept through most of it and really didn't wake up. Dr. Farmer was, of course, concerned about the weight loss and was concerned about Mark's pain control. She wants to be sure he is comfortable at home and not suffering with pain. She is going to change his pain medications some to see if we can get a more stable dose of pain relief. Hopefully it will work a little better for Mark. She discussed having a hospice nurse come out to visit and make sure Mark was getting adequate pain relief, but Mark vehemently refused this.

Mark came home and crashed in the bed and was just exhausted after the chemo. He didn't eat or drink anything all day or even get up until around 10:00 last night. He finally got up and started drinking a little bit of fluids and around 2am decided to make himself a bowl of soup. The chemo actually seems to help relieve his pain for several days and I hope that this is a good sign. They didn't plan to draw another CEA number until he's had 4 rounds of this chemo, but she said if I really want to know she may draw one next Thursday a bit early. I really want to know what this chemo is doing.

I talked a little to Calen last night. He was very emotional and upset. I haven't talked to Colton much yet about how sick Mark is getting. I will try to do that soon. It is harder to explain to Emily.

We have not given up or lost hope, but are trying our best to deal with the situation at hand. We continue to pray for Mark and give him all the love and support we can. Mark's parents are here and his twin brother Matt has been here for some time as well. Matt's wife Angie and their daughters Jolene and Lauren came in for Fall Break and will be leaving over the weekend. We have been blessed with a lot of support. Please continue to pray for Mark. God bless!!!!!

Oct 13

2009-10-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Mark had an okay weekend. He felt pretty puny on Saturday, but had a good day Sunday and wanted to go watch Colton's baseball tournament. The Slammers were undefeated at that point and were looking good. Mark sat at the edge of the fence. Colton had a good tournament and the Slammers won the championship. The boys all brought the big trophy over to Mark and presented it to him after the win. It was so sweet. We took pictures. The outing wore Mark out and he didn't feel so good on Monday, but by yesterday evening he was getting the pain back under control and seemed to feel better.

We had a great dinner that was brought to us by some church members and Andy joined us along with Matt and Mark's parents, so it was a good evening. My mom has gone home for now. She had a few delays at the airport and one reroute, but eventually got home safe and sound.

We are gearing up for another chemo on Thursday. I am not sure whether they will check another CEA this time. I believe she will and I pray that it has fallen drastically. God bless!!!!

Oct 9

2009-10-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Sorry I didn't post yesterday. It was a crazy day. Mark did well with the chemo infusion. He was hurting when he woke yesterday morning and took 2 pain pills before we left for the infusion center and was still hurting, so he took another one when we got there (that is in addition to the pain patch he is wearing). After they gave him the Benadryl as the premedication, he went to lala land. We watched him closely during the Erbitux infusion since he was so sedated. I sat and stared at him and watched him breathe. The first 5 minutes are the most critical as that is the most notorious for having the anaphylactic reaction. It was stressful, but after the 5 minutes passed, I could relax a little. After the first 30 minutes, I felt better and then each passing minute got easier and easier. They usually run this infusion in over 1 hour, but it took 3 hours yesterday because it was the first one. After the Erbitux, he got the Camptosar infusion. We were glad to be done with the chemo. That was the first time Mark got to get unhooked and leave the Cancer Center without taking a chemo infusion with him. Boy was it nice. Mark didn't get nauseated which was a big plus. He felt extremely tired and his skin looked a yellowish gray color (if there is such a thing). He always does that with the chemo.

He didn't drink anything but a few sips yesterday. He ate a very small amount of food for dinner and then decided he wanted to go to Calen's football game last night. We were all a little shocked to hear him say that. He managed to sit through the game. It was a good one. Auburn beat Smith Station who was previously undefeated. After the game, Mark had a really difficult time managing the stairs. He had to climb up 4 steps and each one must have seemed like a mountain to him. He had to stop between each one and rest and pull himself with the handrail. I thought we were going to have to pick him up and carry him for a minute, but he managed to make it on his own.

He is up this morning and vomited once. He is tired and just worn out, but managed a Carnation instant breakfast. Hopefully we can push some calories in him today and get his activity level up.

Thanks for all the prayers. We feel God's presence at work. God bless!!!

Oct 7

2009-10-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Mark will once again start his chemotherapy. We are both excited about it and dreading it at the same time. He hasn't been feeling good today, so that makes getting chemo tomorrow sound even less appealing. Matt was here with him this afternoon and Mark was starting to hurt a lot. He wasn't due to change his pain patch until tomorrow afternoon, but they decided to change it a day early to see if they could get better control on Mark's pain and I think it has finally started helping. Dr. Farmer talked to us about doing this if we needed to, so we may have to change the patches more frequently. Mark's CEA marker was very high at 240. It was around 60 prior to surgery. We hope this chemo can get the marker to fall dramatically with treatment.

We are scheduled to be at the infusion center at 8:30 and the infusion should start shortly after that. They will give premedications first to decrease the chance of Mark having a reaction. They will give only a small dose of the Erbitux at first and infuse it slowly over 5 minutes. If there is a reaction, it usually happens within the first 5 minutes. If we get past that, they can speed up the infusion a little bit and watch him. He will have another drug to get as well, but it is one he's had before and we don't expect complications. It does cause severe nausea. Mark required multiple antinausea medicines and the electrical stimulator watch for nausea with this drug before, so hopefully we can manage (especially with his already poor nutrition status). We will have to do these treatments once a week for 4 weeks and then Mark will get 2 weeks off before we restart the cycle.

Mark wanted to watch the wedding video tonight. We used to watch it every year on our anniversary, but eventually got out of the habit and we haven't watched it in years. It was fun seeing it again. We look so young (like kids) and had so much fun. The kids in the wedding are now grown and in college.

Please continue to keep Mark in your prayers and say a special prayer for him tomorrow while he gets this new chemo agent. We hope and pray that all goes well. Remember Bennie Pierce who is fighting cancer and pray that Carly Parker remains cancer free. There is one more prayer request today for Joel Speigner who was recently diagnosed with GI cancer. He has started chemo and needs the chemo to shrink the tumor enough for the surgeons to be able to surgically resect it. Please remember Joel in your prayers as well. Thanks for all the love and support. God bless!!!!!

Oct 6

2009-10-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hello again. We had a good day today. Mark is starting to get a better handle on the pain. It is definitely still there, but he is learning how to manage it a little bit better and it is making life a little easier for him. The patches have helped and he is using pills for breakthrough pain. He looked much better today than I've seen him since surgery and it was a good feeling for me.

We visited with Dr. Farmer this afternoon. Matt, Mark's twin brother, went to the Dr. appointment with us. It really freaked Dr. Farmer and all the nurses out to see Mark's identical twin. They just couldn't believe that there were two of them. They all filed in to see them both and joked that they should charge admission. We discussed the upcoming chemotherapy and are still planning to start it on Thursday. Mark lost a pound and is down to 173, but actually looks better than he did last week, so I'm not too concerned about the pound weight loss. He has agreed to do the Carnation instant breakfast drinks (as opposed to the Boost or Ensure) and Dr. Farmer was glad to hear that he caved on that. She now asked him to do 2 daily. She's really pushing him!!!! (haha) Mark said he would try it. We again discussed the chemo agents and the potential for the Erbitux to cause anaphylaxis. Usually if it happens it will be on the first infusion and during the first 5 minutes. Boy am I dreading that!!!! Pray that Mark does not have an anaphylactic reaction to this medication. The other big side effect is a rash which is quite common and Mark will probably just have to deal with. The chemo will be weekly one day infusions for 4 weeks and then 2 weeks off and then he will repeat that cycle again.

Mark has started getting out of the house a little bit which is a BIG step for him. He went yesterday and today to Calen's football practice. He was considering going to Calen's football game this Thursday night, but now that chemo will get started, that may not be possible. We will have to see on that one.

We have had so many people helping out. Thanks to everyone who has brought food over. It is very appreciated. Also a big Thank You to Jason Price for your visit tonight and for fixing our fan. We love you so much!!!! Thanks to all of you who have continued to pray for Mark through this battle. We couldn't have made it this far without all of the support and prayers. Please remember Bennie Pierce and Carly Parker in your prayers as well. God bless!!!!

Oct 4

2009-10-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Mark had a rocky weekend. He managed to make it out to Colton's football game Saturday morning. He got to see Colton score a touchdown and make several good carries and many great tackles on defense although their team lost by a touchdown. It was a good game. Mark's twin brother, Matt, made it in from Oklahoma and will be staying a while and my mom is still here. Brent and Kathy (Mark's parents) will be heading back this weekend in time to get my mom back to the airport.

Mark's pain patch is helping to control the pain some, but he is still requiring the pain pills and then ends up sleeping a lot. He gets frustrated and is never truly relieved of the pain. It is pretty constant for him. He is trying his best to eat, but it is difficult because of the abdominal pain that it causes (bloating and distention). He got in a Carnation instant breakfast with his milk today for the vitamins and extra protein which helped and ate pretty well this evening.

Mark wasn't able to go to mass this morning, so Father Bill brought communion to Mark this afternoon and visited for a short time. It was very nice of him and we appreciated the visit.

I will start back to work tomorrow. It will be very difficult for me to leave Mark. I'm sure I will be very distracted, so I don't know how that will go. I am going to give it a try.

We see Dr. Farmer Tues afternoon and hopefully get to give the new chemo agents a try on Thursday. We are praying that this new chemo will be helpful for Mark and that he will not develop an allergic reaction to it. We pray for strength for Mark to continue this battle. It is really wearning him down. It is hard for us all to sit and watch Mark suffer so much and not be able to help more. We all feel a little helpless and somewhat frustrated. We hope to see brighter days in the near future for Mark.

God bless!!!

Oct 2

2009-10-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Good news today. We just got back from Dr. Farmer's office. She was impressed with how much better Mark looks today. He hasn't had any more fevers. He gained a few pounds and is up to 174 now. She wants to get his pain under better control so that we can get a few more pounds on him, so she is putting him on a long acting pain patch. We will start that today and see how it does. Hopefully it will be just what Mark needs. She wants him to drink supplements like Ensure, Boost or Smoothies, but he won't. (I've been trying that since his surgery. Glad it's not just me he won't listen to.) She says he needs the vitamins to heal, but he is so stubborn!!!

We will see her again on Tuesday afternoon for an appointment and to discuss the chemo again and then she plans to start his chemo on Thursday. YEAH!!!!! The chemo regimen will be different and this one will be given weekly for just one day. The down side is that 1 in 5 patients has an allergic reaction to the drug and sometimes it is an anaphylactic reaction. She said they had to code a patient who started this a few weeks ago with chest compressions. Not what we wanted to hear. They did resuscitate him.

We are glad to be moving in this direction and pray now that Mark will have success on this new chemotherapy and not be one of the patients who develops an allergy. We have to think positive. Continue to keep Mark in your prayers as always. Remember Bennie Pierce who is also battling cancer and pray that Carly Parker remains cancer free. God bless!!!

Oct 1

2009-10-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today was a mixed day again. Mark saw Dr. Johnston yesterday who was covering for Dr. Farmer. They just wanted to make sure the increase in Mark's pain level wasn't something worrisome like peritonitis or something else. They were confident that it is just cancer pain after seeing Mark. Mark, of course, gets there and plays it off like he's doing okay and not having that much pain. It must just be a man thing. I am about to fall on the floor because we haven't been sleeping at all at night since he is up totally miserable, moaning all night and can't eat or function because he is in so much pain and he is sitting there telling the doctor "oh it's not that bad right now". I wanted to punch him and make it hurt. Of course I opened my mouth and started telling the doctor that he wasn't sleeping, etc, etc. to get all of it out there. Mark says "I really just think it's gas pain". Oh I wanted to shoot him. Anyway, Dr. Johnston increased his pain medication quite a bit and more frequently so that he can be comfortable. It was helpful, but Mark still wakes frequently with pain and has to take more pills (every 3 hours) and doesn't get a good night's sleep. We discussed using a patch which would give longer pain relief and I think we may discuss this with Dr. Farmer tomorrow when we see her.

Mark didn't eat dinner at all last night or any breakfast this morning because he was having too much pain. (But it's not that bad and just gas pain according to Mark. Imagine steam coming from my ears). We got him more comfortable by lunch and he was eating again. He was able to eat dinner tonight and we are trying to talk him into a late night snack now. We need to play catch up with the calories.

Calen had a Jr. High football game tonight against Eufaula and Mark was not able to make it. (Auburn won 40-12.) He is simply too sick to go. He goes from the bed to the comfy chair in the living room and that's pretty much his day other than trips to the bathroom. We tried to talk him into a walk outside today for sunshine and fresh air, but he refused.

Mark's parents are back home in Oklahoma. They are resting up and gathering Fall clothing for a return trip soon. My mom is here for reinforcement and Mark's twin brother, Matt, will be here Saturday morning.

We see Dr. Farmer early tomorrow morning and hope that we get good news about being able to restart chemo. Mark is weak and chemo will certainly make that worse, but there aren't other options at this point. We've got to push forward if we want a chance to reduce the tumors and reducing the tumors may give Mark pain relief and allow him to eat without pain. Pray that Mark can regain his strength and gain his weight to withstand the chemo. Thanks again to everyone for the support. God bless!!!

Sept 30

2009-09-30T11:38:00.001-07:00

Hello again. Mark seems to be just a little bit better today and I am happy to see that. He had a really rough night with a lot of pain and we were both up most of the night. He couldn't get control of the pain, so we started giving him 2 pain pills at a time which started giving him some better relief. I rubbed his back or belly half the night. By early morning, he was able to fall asleep and get some rest. This morning he was up and having a pretty normal conversation with his parents, my mom (who flew in yesterday) and me. It felt like the old Mark and was great. His pain is much worse now and the 2 pain pills aren't touching the pain. He has been pretty miserable. We have a call in to the doctor's office to see if we can get something stronger to help control Mark's pain. I think if we can get that under control, he will be able to get up and do more.

He has managed to gain a few pounds back and we are so excited about that. He is almost up to the 170 mark again. He has been drinking chocolate milk to give him extra calories and protein and ate a PB&J sandwich for breakfast.

Mark is a fighter and is trying his best to battle this awful beast. We really need to be able to restart that chemo as it is our only hope at this point. Please pray that Mark is able to get pain control and to regain his strength to endure more chemo.

There are not enough words to say Thank You to so many of you who have been so kind to us. Your words, phone calls, dropping in with food, coming to do yard work, and leaving kind words on the blog site or just praying for us means so much to us. Thanks to all of you who have been so kind. Please continue to pray for Mark. Also, Bennie Pierce is not doing well and is also battling cancer. Please remember him in your prayers also. God bless!!!!!

Sept 28

2009-09-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hello. It's been a few days since I've posted. These seem to be harder to write. Mark isn't doing so good. He continues to struggle with the simple things. Getting up and down are chores for him. He has not been able to get enough calories in to maintain his weight. He is down another 5 lbs to 165 lbs now. Unfortunately he is experiencing quite a bit of pain as well which requires him to take pain medication. He sleeps a lot which makes us feel better-seeing him resting comfortably is better than watching him hurt. He starting vomiting some last night and this morning, so hopefully that is past us. He hasn't had any more of that since he woke this morning.

He did manage to make it to Calen's football game last Thursday night which was quite a chore. He missed Colton's baseball tournament Sunday as he simply didn't have the strength or stamina to go and will probably miss Colton's football game tonight as well. He really hates that, but at this point it isn't really an option.

Thanks again to everyone for all of the love and support during this difficult time. We really appreciate it all. Continue to pray for Mark. God bless!!!!

Sept 24

2009-09-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

We met with Dr. Farmer this morning. It was nice to see everyone in the Cancer Center again. We got hugs from Nancy, Andrea and Alveda who have all taken care of Mark throughout his cancer battle. Dr. Farmer also greeted us with bug hugs. She was not excited to see Mark in the shape he is in. She is still concerned about the low grade fevers he seems to run. They are only about 99.0 degrees now. She is switching his antibiotics to stronger and broader spectrum ones and also ones to cover anaerobes in the gut. She also wants Mark to work on putting weight on. Starting back on chemo at this point would be way too dangerous, so we have to wait which isn't good either.

It was a tough visit to say the least. We have a very tough road ahead.

Mark wants to try and make the 8th grade football game tonight in Russell Co. We will see how that goes. I hope he can make it.

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

Sept 23

2009-09-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again. It's been good being home, but Mark is still struggling with his recovery. He has lost down to 170 lbs and cannot maintain or gain any weight back (in fact, he continues to lose). He is down 25 lbs so far. He doesn't have any appetite and when he eats, he feels very sick and boated, so it's no fun for him. He is weak and extremely tired. It is hard for me to see him like this. He is struggling to do the littlest of things.

I haven't gone back to work yet. I am an emotional wreck right now and don't think I'd be very therapeutic seeing patients right now. I don't really know how I'll do it next week, but I will have to figure it out somehow.

We see Dr. Farmer tomorrow in the morning. We will see what will happen next. Mark really needs to start on chemo quickly to see if we can start fighting this cancer, but he is so weak and malnourished right now, I'm afraid she won't want to start it yet for fear it will make Mark even worse. I am praying that I am wrong.

Continue to pray for healing as Mark needs this right now. Thanks to all of you for your continued support. God bless!!!

Sept 21

2009-09-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah!!!!! We are finally home and it feels great. Things certainly didn't go as planned, but do they ever??? We arrived home around 10:45 pm central time long after our expected arrival home of, say 4pm.

We checked out of the Family House and made it to the airport without any difficulty. Mark required wheelchair service through the airport, so that was a little challenging. I had to leave him sitting in the chair with one bag while I carried all the others to the KIOSK to check in, then ask someone in line to watch my bags (which I don't think you're supposed to do) and walk over to get Mark and push him to the line. We got checked in and then came security. Wheelchair security has it's own line and they were pretty nice folks, but Mark got frisked from head to toe and he was a bit sore around the abdomen. We thought that was the hard part. WRONG!!!! Our flight got delayed 1 hour at first. We thought "no big deal". Of course, Mark's dad had already left Auburn for the airport by then. We finally got to board an hour late and then got told we were going to have another hour of delay while sitting on the plane. NOT FUN!!! Mark was quite uncomfortable trying to sit in those seats. Well, then comes the third announcement of yet a 3rd hour of delay while sitting on the plane. YIKES!!! It's looking pretty bad now. We remained calm. They passed out some snacks and water, lucky for Mark as he was getting a little sick. The next announcement was that our plane couldn't take off for 2 more hours because of the weather in Atlanta. They at least let us deplane at that time and get something to eat. All the while, Brent is sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting on us. 5 hours of flight delay, who would have thought. We finally made it to Atlanta and the flight wasn't bad. By then, Mark had taken some pain medicine and was resting a bit easier. After landing, there were too many planes and not enough gates, so we spent another hour on the tarmack waiting to deplane. We were never so happy as to get off of that plane and to find Brent and our luggage and get the heck out of there.

By this time, we'd missed both of the boys' football games. In fact, Colton and Emily were already sleeping when we arrived and we still haven't gotten to give them hugs and kisses. Calen greeted us at the door with big hugs. He was quite happy to see us. It was GREAT walking through the door. Mark's office sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers and dinner over. We heated up the food and it was very tasty and hit the spot. They also had made a welcome home poster with a picture of all of them at the last tailgate. Too cute!!! Thanks guys!!!! We loved it.

Ahhhhh. Our own bed tonight. It's so soft and comfy. Much better than the recliners, hospital beds and beds at the Family House. We are so glad to be home and now we can work on getting Mark better and restarting the chemo.

Dr. Farmer has been great through all of this. She has been keeping up with Mark through emailing and texting me throughout Mark's hospital stay. She even gave me her phone numbers while she was on vacation in case we needed her. She is so sweet and great to Mark. She wants to see Mark this week and hopefully formulate a new plan of action. I am telling you, we will definitely have to work on Mark's nutrition status and stamina, as he has had dramatic changes since the surgery and prolonged hospitalization. I know Mark is a fighter and can do this. I have faith in him.

Thanks for all the continuous prayers from all of you while we were in Pittsburgh and needed them so much. Continue to pray for God's blessing on Mark's health issues. God bless!!!!

Sept 20

2009-09-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost here. We fly home tomorrow and are quite excited about that. Today has been a slow day for us. Mark wished that we wouldn't have taken the Dr.'s advice and just flown home today. I think it was good that we were cautious. I have started packing some of our things and have started giving away items at the Family House that we won't be using anymore.

Mark wanted to take a cab to Chili's last night for dinner. We had a good meal and had planned to see a movie after dinner, but Mark didn't feel well and we ended up coming back to the Family House instead. I think he has high expectations for just having gotten out of the hospital. He doesn't have much stamina at all and is still quite thin. You can definitely appreciate the weight loss and loss of muscle mass on him.

We woke this morning and walked to Starbucks which is just next door. That was a nice outing for Mark and just the right distance. I picked up lunch and brought it in and then for dinner, we ordered Chinese. It was good. Mark's fortune was to start an exercise and nutrition program to enhance his health which I thought was very fitting. Mine was Live and let live.....Live and HELP live, which was also appropriate. Maybe they pick certain fortunes to send to the Family House??? I don't know.

We leave on the airport shuttle at 11am eastern and our flight leaves for Auburn at 1:30 eastern. YEAH!!! I can't wait to get home and walk through the door again. It has been soooooooo long!!!! Mark is anxious as well. He really cannot wait to get home. Both of the boys have football games tomorrow night. Colton has a rec league game and Calen's makeup game with Opelika Jr High is tomorrow as well. Mark wants to try and make it. I'm not sure he'll have the stamina, but if I know Mark, he'll try.

Thanks again to all of you who continually pray for Mark and our family and to everyone for the help and support during this time. We appreciate it more than you know. Now we have to get Mark strong enough to get back on a chemo regimen. Pray for that. God bless!!!

Sept 19

2009-09-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

Hello. Well, Mark is officially a free man. He was discharged around 2:30 eastern today and didn't waste a minute getting out of there. He didn't even tell his nurse he was leaving. As soon as the IV team showed up to unhook his port, he was outta there. We walked to the family house (Mark still with his Fall Risk band around his arm). He was excited that the OU game was on TV and that he hadn't missed any of it yet.

He was discharged on Indocin which is an antiinflammatory which should prevent fevers caused by the tumor as well as antibiotics. Hopefully that combination will do the trick. Indocin is notorious for tearing up the gut, so we will see. (I use it a lot in Rheumatology, so I am quite familiar with this med). It is also hard on the kidneys, so we will have to really push the fluids and not let Mark get dehydrated.

Mark insisted that I go ahead and book our flight home, so we are officially flying home Monday afternoon. We are supposed to check in with Dr. Barlett's office as well, but Mark does not want to waste any time getting home. Pray that there are no set backs this time and we make it to Auburn safely.

God bless!!

Sept 18-evening

2009-09-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well, Mark got his staples removed this evening. He now has steri strips in their place. The doc told him he is still at high risk for the wound opening up since he has tumor in there. The last time Mark had surgery, he did open up and had to heal from the inside out, so we hope that doesn't happen this time. We were glad to have one more step behind us.

Mark got his first dose of oral antibiotics at 9pm. The ID doc didn't feel like Mark needed antibiotics at all. That was what he recommended. When the surgery doc rounded, he disagreed and ordered the antibiotics himself. He thinks Mark will need 2 weeks of oral antibiotics when we leave the hospital. If Mark does well overnight and tomorrow morning, we will probably be discharged. YEAH!!!!! However, they want us to hang out in Pittsburgh until Monday to make sure Mark isn't going to have any more trouble as they wouldn't want us to get home and get into trouble and have to explain the entire case to new docs, etc. We will have to hang out at the Family House Saturday and Sunday. I can think of worse things. At lease I'll have a bed over there. YEAH!!!! (Still no cot for tonight-the hospital has some sort of cot shortage. Who knew?????) I will be glad to say goodbye to this recliner tomorrow for sure.

Mark took a short walk with me today. He didn't want to go outside or do a lot. His appetite seems to be getting a little better. He has lost A LOT of weight and muscle mass. He is very thin!!!

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

Sept 18

2009-09-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Mark continues to improve. He ran a couple of fevers last night, but no shaking chills. They stopped the routine Tylenol, so we saw the fevers again. He continues with the IV antibiotics. The surgery team has rounded twice today so far. They wanted to switch Mark to oral antibiotics to see how he would do, but wanted the infectious disease team to make the recommendations on the antibiotics. When the surgery team came back around lunch time, they were disappointed that ID hadn't been by yet to change things. It is now 4:30 eastern and still no ID and Mark is still getting the IV antibiotics. We are hoping the ID doc comes by soon. He is very dry and not much personality. Mark says he reminds him of the food critic in Ratatouille, and I would have to agree. He looks and acts just like him. It is hilarious and now hard to keep a straight face when he comes in to the room. (I guess we have been here too long when we are figuring out what characters our doctors look like). haha

Mark's favorite doc has been a Texas graduate. Can you believe it??? They sit and talk football a lot. There is another doc from Tampa that has been very good to us. The surgery team has been great!!! Dr. Bartlett went to Germany for some lectures and Dr. Pingpang is filling in. He is a very nice guy as well.

Mark is getting stir crazy and is ready to get out of here. We are hoping for tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. I am really hoping they find a cot for me to sleep on tonight as well. So far, no luck. I went to the Family House to shower this morning and laid on the couch and fell asleep for 45 minutes. It felt sooooooooooo good to lay flat!!!! I've slept in the recliner for 3 nights in a row now (or a few hours in Mark's bed which had the head raised to 45 degrees).

We keep hearing about all the rain there in the South. We haven't gotten any. It is beautiful up here. Too bad we are stuck inside this hospital. We hope to be on a plane to Auburn in the very near future. Thanks to all of you for the support. We cannot say thank you enough. God bless!!!

Sept 17-evening post

2009-09-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Mark had a pretty good day today. He went downstairs with me and we walked outside the hospital and sat on a bench and enjoyed some fresh air. It was nice. We haven't had any rain here in Pittsburgh. It is sunny and pretty nice, only a little chilly in the early mornings and evenings. Mark really enjoyed getting out. It made him really want to get out of here and get on a plane home.

They made evening rounds and decided to leave him on the IV antibiotics and antifungals through the night and will change him to pills in the morning. They also stopped his routine Tylenol. Well, Mark is now running a fever again. He may be running fever that is related to the tumor itself. If that is the case, he will have to constantly take Tylenol. However, they still believe Mark has a subclinical infection as he looked very toxic when he was readmitted. He was gray, his eyes were rolling back in his head, he had shaking chills and he looked bad. He doesn't look anything like that now, he is just running fever, but otherwise okay.

I still have not been able to snag a cot since we've been readmitted. These recliners are extremely uncomfortable to sleep on. I woke up so stiff, I couldn't walk. I got up last night in the middle of the night and told Mark to move over and I crawled in his hospital bed with him and fell asleep. The doctor walked in this morning with both of us fast asleep in the bed. I'm sure we looked pretty silly.

We are really missing the kids terribly. Calen sounds so down when I talk to him. Emily blows me kisses through the phone and Colton really seems to be handling it okay. I can't wait to hug them all. The Bertus' are doing a great job taking care of them and getting them everywhere plus dealing with all of the things that pop up here and there. We couldn't be here without them, so thanks!!!!

Continue to pray for Mark. We hope to be home soon. God bless!!!!

Sept 17

2009-09-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Mark is having a good day again. They added an antifungal IV medication to the 2 antibiotics he was on just to cover all bases. He seems to be responding well. The nurse was just in to discontinue the continuous IV fluids, so now it is up to him to drink enough fluids to keep him from becoming dehydrated. The doctor rounded this morning and wanted to continue IV antibiotics for now. He will probably stop by for evening rounds again, so we will see if he makes any other changes.

The nurse was encouraging Mark to walk outside for some fresh air. He hasn't decided yet, but hopefully he will decide to get out of bed and walk around some today. Now that he is unhooked from the IV pole, he has no excuses.

His highest temperature last night was 99.0. They are giving him routine Tylenol which would mask fever, so I'm not sure when they will stop that.

Overall, Mark is better and I am quite pleased. I am hoping for a quick discharge as the last 2 nights sleeping in this uncomfortable recliner is really a pain. They say they are out of cots. I really hope one frees up soon. My entire body is sore.

We are missing the kids terribly. We haven't seen them since Sept 1st. Calen has been sick twice now. Brent and Kathy have had to take both Colton and Emily to the dentist for their cleanings and I think they are getting run ragged with all of the schedules. Colton lost a tooth. I would love to be able to give them all a big hug right now.

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

Sept 16

2009-09-16T08:50:00.001-07:00

Hello again. Well, I am a little more sane this morning. Mark is doing better. His color has turned from gray to pink and he is at least 80% better. The IV fluids and antibiotics have made a tremendous difference. He really does look like a different person this morning. Eugenie and I were talking about that this morning and Mark's nurse chimed in from across the room and stated she thought he was "checking out" last night when she was admitting him as he looked so bad.

The resident came in today and was also impressed with how different Mark looked. They plan to continue the antibiotics IV for now and are sending an infectious diseases specialist around to see Mark today to see if these antibiotics are sufficient or if they think there should be any changes made. We are still waiting on the culture results which may take 48-72 hours. Nothing has grown yet. Mark's white count was elevated though. The CT scan showed fluid around the tumor.

Mark's roommate did turn the TV off last night, so we were able to get a little rest. The recliner I slept in was way uncomfortable, but I made due. I finally got to sleep sometime this morning and woke with Mark and Eugenie staring at me. Not a great feeling. haha.

Today is Eugenie's birthday. She is scheduled to fly home today. She tried to change her flight until tomorrow, but it was difficult as the airline was creating havoc and we told her to go on and get home to her husband and children. She has a vacation planned in a couple of days and needs to get back. I think I can handle this solo for a while. Hopefully we will only be here a few more days. Our flights were cancelled and we will rebook when we get a discharge date.

Mark's roommate was discharged this morning. Poor guy. His wife couldn't stay with him last night and he was here by himself without an interpreter. I think he ran into a few difficulties.

We plan to get Mark up in a little while and see what he can do. He was able to eat a little bit this morning which is an improvement. I keep praying for strength and guidance (and patience). Thanks for all the support. God bless!!!!

Sept 15-late update

2009-09-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

This will be my last update of the day. I'm a little calmer now. Mark is resting and seems a little more comfortable. He spiked another fever since readmission to the hospital. It was greater than 103. Dr. Bartlett came to see him with his resident. They were questioning Mark. I interjected my personal take on things. When I mentioned the fever of more than 103 this morning and then the shaking chills to the point that Mark was shaking the hospital bed this afternoon, they seemed quite concerned and decided to give him broad spectrum antibiotics. Of course, it is 11:00pm eastern and we have not started them yet. (SIGH). I am working on being patient. They actually plan to start 2 antibiotics. They are quite puzzled as all of the previous cultures were negative, however, this fever is concerning.

Mark has a metal stent in his bile duct. Some of you may remember when he became very jaundiced when first diagnosed with cancer and was having liver failure. We went to UAB and had a metal stent placed in his bile duct. They pondered as to whether that could be the source of infection. That would be a real nightmare as there is really no way to remove it. Regardless, they have recultured him tonight.

He looked pretty pitiful for a while. His eyes were rolled back in his head and he was dehydrated as he just wouldn't drink and was sweating bullets when he broke his fevers. They made him a "Fall Risk" as he looks so weak they didn't think he could walk to the bathroom. Eugenie and I just looked at each other and laughed since he walked in here to be admitted.

Mark has lost about 10 pounds or so since admission. He hasn't been eating and his appetite is poor. He began vomiting after we got to the hospital today. As much as I hate to admit it, this is the best place for him and we may not be flying home tomorrow. We will wait and see what the new day brings. For now, we will pray and let God lead the way.

Thanks to all of you for the continued support. God bless!!!

(I forgot to tell you about the roommate. There were no more private rooms this time, so we have a deaf roommate. He is literally deaf, but listens to the TV with the volume full blast. UGHHHHH!!!). I'm trying to smile.

Sept 15

2009-09-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Well, I'm writing this one from Mark's hospital room. Yes, he was readmitted to the hospital. We fought with Dr. Bartlett's office about it. We tried to get them to let us just come in for blood work to see how sick he was and let us fly home to let our Drs. there take over, but they were insistant that we come over here and get checked out. Mark was a little nervous that he might get sick in the plane and so here we are. Dr. Bartlett's office insisted that things would move fast, that orders would be here, etc, etc and that we might get out tomorrow in time for our flight. Well.........we sat here forever waiting to get vital signs done. Mark is still in his street clothes 3 hours later. They haven't drawn blood and just took him to XRay (they told us CT scan from Dr. Barlett's office). I think this is a different picture than we were painted. I know I sound impatient and mad. I think I've been here too long and am ready to get home.

Whew!!! That is my venting for the day. My feelings as a medical professional are that they should have given him broad spectrum antibiotics when he started spiking fevers after surgery and I think they would have not only shorted his last hospital stay, but prevented this one altogether.

I know I sound like I'm close to the edge, but trust me I'm not. I am hanging in there and taking it as it comes. We may have to cancel our flight home tomorrow. The most important part is taking care of Mark and that is what we are here to do.

Please keep Mark in your prayers, as he needs them now. Pray that this fever will go away and that we can safely get him home to Auburn. God bless!!!

Sept 15

2009-09-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hello again. We spent the night in the Family House with Mark after discharge. He made a few trips downstairs for meals and seemed to be doing well. We booked our plane ticket home for tomorrow. However, this morning Mark was feeling very nauseated and spiked a temperature. I walked down to the grocery store to purchase a thermometer, Tylenol and some Pepcid. Mark's temperature was 103.2. We called Dr. Bartlett's office. The nurse feels we will be readmitted to the hospital. She is working on this and will call us back, so for now we are waiting. This was not the news we wanted to hear.

I want to ask if we can just get Mark home and treat him in the hospital there, but we will see. Dr. Farmer is out of town this week, but she did leave us her cell phone number and email to get in touch with her.

Continue to pray for Mark. We are so ready to come home, but we don't want to bring him home if he's not ready. God bless!!!

Sept 14

2009-09-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Good news today. Mark has been discharged from the hospital. He had the drain pulled from his abdomen and he was sent home. He decided he wanted to walk to the Family House instead of being pushed in a wheelchair, so we walked out of the hospital and across the street to the Family House. He made it just fine.

He is resting now and waching Top Gun on TV. He continues to have pain and his appetite is poor, but he's definitely made improvements.

We will fly out on Sept 16th and be back in Auburn that afternoon. YEAH!!! Home Sweet Home. I cannot wait. I am so excited to get home and see the kids.

Thanks to all of you who have continued to support us and pray for Mark. It has been a remakable recovery thanks to your help and a lot of help from above. We hope to get started back on chemo asap. We will talk with Dr. Farmer about that next week as she is out of town this week.

God bless!!!!

Sept 13

2009-09-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Mark has definitely turned the corner and is doing better. He has been fever free for more than 24 hours now and has been off antibiotics for more than that. He looks good. His pain is improving some, although he still requires pain medication. The drain in his abdomen has slowed substantially and they may be able to pull it tomorrow.

We should be talking discharge plans in the next day or so if things continue to go in this direction.

Lee and Andy will both leave for Auburn tomorrow and it will be Eugenie and I here with Mark once again.

For lunch today we went to Primanti Brothers which was featured on Man vs Food and is famous in Pittsburgh. It was good. We brought food back for Mark. He refuses to eat ANYTHING here in the hospital (he is just a bit spoiled). That's okay because the hospital food here is really bad.

Brent took Colton to his baseball tournament today while Kathy stayed home with Emily and Calen. Calen has been sick. I really hate being away from the kids for so long. I miss them terribly.

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

Sept 12

2009-09-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Mark is doing better. I think having Andy and Lee here have helped. He has friends to discuss work, papers and football with. Not that Eugenie and I don't know our football, but I guess it's not the same as having guy friends around. Lee spent the night with Mark.

Mark had a good night. He is off antibiotics now and his highest temperature was 100.8. He seems to be feeling better. He still has pain in his abdomen, especially from the new drain they put in yesterday. The drainage has slowed down. They will try this afternoon to pull out the catheter and may stop his IV as well.

Mark's appetite is slowly returning. He ate a small sub sandwich last night and we are getting ready to eat Popeye's red beans and rice. Andy and Eugenie took a Cab to get this for him.

Mark is bummed that the Sooners aren't on TV tonight. We are watching football today in Mark's hospital room. He took one lap around the halls today and we hope to get him around for a few more laps later on.

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

Sept 11

2009-09-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Mark spiked another temperature last night. Eugenie stayed the night with him. They finally decided it was time to stick a needle into his abdomen and get some fluid out to look for infection and drain the fluid. They took him down to radiology this morning and pulled out 125cc of fluid and put in a drain to pull out more fluid. So far, it has put out another 300+ cc and is still draining. Mark had some pain at the end of the procedure. We will have to wait and see what the culture shows and see whether this is the source of infection.

Lee and Andy just landed at the airport (two of Mark's colleagues from work) and are on their way to visit Mark. They were very brave to fly on Sept 11. He is looking forward to seeing them.

Mark will be on bedrest until 4:30 this afternoon, but we are hoping to get him up to walk or sit in the chair some this afternoon. He didn't get out of bed at all yesterday as he just felt too bad.

Happy Birthday Thad. We may not get the time to call you today, but we remember you and wish you a Happy Birthday. Love you.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support. God bless!!!

Sept 10

2009-09-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Mark is doing better today. He finally had his CT scan done last night. They took him around 9:30 pm and he got back to the room around 10:30. I wasn't kidding when I said they were moving at a snail's pace. The CT showed some fluid in Mark's abdomen. The cancer itself causes that and it is hard to tell whether it is purely the cancer causing it or if an infection has set up there. The good news is that the contrast didn't leak out into the abdomen which tells us there aren't any holes in the bowels.

Mark is already on antibiotics, so this makes sorting out the fevers much more difficult. He spiked another fever last night and they pancultured him (cultured the blood from his port and 2 peripheral sites and cultured the urine). He had another fever this morning. He does seem to run the fevers after he takes in fluids orally which is a little concerning.

Today was the first time they let Mark try something other than clear liquids. (He's only been taking scant amounts of water anyway). He asked for a parfait from Panera, so I walked there and got him one. We scraped off all the granola and fruit and he basically ate yogurt. (Could have just bought him yogurt, but oh well...).

They took him off the PCA pump today and gave him oral pain medicines. He still has the catheter in. I am not sure when they will try taking that out.

Mark's brother Matt left this morning for the airport and Eugenie, Mark's sister, will be in this evening for backup.

Overall, we are making progress. Thanks so much to Lisa and Lynn for the help yesterday starting the prayer chain and everyone sending prayers our way. Mark really turned the corner yesterday. I can't tell you how miraculous the change was. I will never forget that day as long as I live. Thanks again and God bless!!!!

Sept 9

2009-09-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Mark has improved a lot today. Thanks to all of you prayer warriors out there. He looks so much better. He is sitting up in the chair and talking and was even joking with the nurse this afternoon. He let me clean him up and he shaved. He is 100% better than this morning. I can't tell you how he just transformed in front of our eyes. Matt is my witness. Mark even said he felt a little hungry which he hasn't said since he came out of surgery. He still hasn't had much, but did manage a couple of sips of water this afternoon which is an improvement.

We are still waiting on CT scan. Things do move at a SNAILS pace around here. We are trying to be patient.

Thanks again to all of you prayer warriors. We can feel the love and support and saw a great transformation take place today. God bless!!!!

Sept 9

2009-09-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone. Today has not bee a good day here in Pittsburgh. Matt spent the night with Mark and said he had a rough night. He's been in a lot of pain with his abdomen. He doesn't use his pain pump much as he states it just doesn't control his pain like it should. He is getting a lot of pressure in his abdomen. The XRay that they did late last night was okay.

They ordered the CT of his abdomen this morning. That was the one I had a gut feeling about several days ago. I wish they'd give me temporary privledges here while Mark is a patient. It's hard being a medical professional and sitting here not being able to write orders. Matt is having the same problems I am. I don't know if they will find anything in the CT, but we at least need to look to rule out possibilities. It may be the cancer only, but we won't know unless we look. Now we have been waiting all day for them to take him to CT.

Mark still refuses to drink anything. He won't even drink water. It makes his abdomen bloat and gives him more pain. He is losing a lot of muscle mass and is getting very weak. It is hard for Matt and I to sit and watch. We both feel so helpless. I just sat and held Mark's hand today and cried as there was nothing else I could do.

He is sleeping a lot. He's just worn out. We may have to talk with Kathy and Brent about coming out and bringing the kids. We will see.

Keep praying that Mark turns the corner. God bless!!!!

Sept 8 evening

2009-09-08T18:04:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone. It was a bit of a rough day here. Mark ran a low grade temperature again this evening. They are just now as I'm typing this taking him down for his abdominal XRay which they ordered early this morning. It's been a frustrating day for everyone, especially Mark.

Mark has been having a lot of abdominal discomfort. His abdomen is distended and gives him pain and occasionally makes it hard for him to breath. He cannot lay flat. They tried clamping his catheter twice today for 4 hour increments to see if they could pull it out. Neither time did he get the urge to urinate on his own, but he got very uncomfortable in his abdomen. I think they plan to send a urologist by to see Mark tomorrow.

His would is healing okay. He has staples from his lower sternum to his pelvis. He refuses to drink anything as it makes the abdominal distention worse, so without protein, he will probably have some delayed healing. The nutritionist was by today trying to encourage him to at least sip on some liquid protein drinks they send by, but Mark would hear none of it. He will take only a sip of two of water during the day.

He got up towards evening time finally and made a lap around the halls and sat up in the chair with his brother, Matt. He did this while I went to the Family House to do laundry, run on the treadmill and shower.

I talked with Mark's parents and the kids tonight. They sounded like they were making it okay. Calen sounded like he may be getting sick. I hope he's not coming down with the flu. We will see.

Continue to pray for Mark. He really needs to start feeling better and to get some relief from this abdominal pain. God bless!!!!

Sept 8

2009-09-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Mark is doing better today. He slept well. He was making fun of me saying I slept so well he had to keep waking me up all night. He told the nurse I "drugged myself" and couldn't wake up. He is so mean. I was just exhausted and he DID wake me up several times to tell me he was "almost" ready to get up in the chair, but not yet. So I'd say "wake me up when you're ready to get up". Of course he never got up. He just kept waking me up saying he was almost ready to get up. It was a mess!!!!!

They stopped Mark's nerve blocks today and are pulling them as I am writing this. He is just on IV pain medicine now. He hasn't gotten out of bed yet this morning to walk or to get in the chair. They clamped the Foley for 4 hours to see if he would get the urge to urinate on his own and he didn't. That was a big issue last time and he ended up coming home with a catheter in and it was left in for several months. Mark is terrified that it will happen again. We are praying that it won't be the case, but it's not looking positive this far. He still isn't eating or drinking anything except a few sips of water now and then. He is cleared to be on a clear liquid diet, but he chooses not to drink as it makes him feel distended. We are still waiting on the XRay of his abdomen. That hasn't been done yet.

No fever and he is still on his antibiotics. Things are moving at a snails pace here.

Angie will be leaving for the airport in just a little bit. Matt will be here a few more days and Eugenie will fly in for backup. We will definitely miss the support.

Thanks to all of you back home doing so much to help Mark's parents out. Frank Plan, Brad Meadows, The Hillyard family have done so much more than we could ever repay. Thanks from the bottoms of our hearts you guys. You have brought tears to our eyes with your kindness. We truly appreciate you guys. Thanks to everyone for the kindness, thoughts and prayers. God bless you all!!!

Sept 7 evening

2009-09-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Just a quick update. Mark is doing a bit better today. He got up and did 2 long walks in the halls. He was a little quicker (not fast by any means) the second time around. He sat in the chair 3 times today as well. He is currently awake enough to be watching the FSU/Miami football game which says a lot.

He hasn't been running fever this afternoon, so we are hoping the antibiotics are doing their trick. (Of course, they are giving him Tylenol around the clock, so who knows). He still isn't eating or drinking anything to speak of. He had a couple of sips of gatorade today. His abdomen is still very distended.

We will see what the Dr. says on rounds tomorrow. We hope Dr. Holtzsmith is back on duty for Dr. Bartlett. The guy covering the last 2 days we weren't really happy with.

I went to the Family House this evening and ran on the treadmill. It felt great to just RUN!!!!!! It is hard to just sit for so long. Matt and Angie sat with Mark. I showered and gathered my things to stay the night with Mark and came back in time for pizza. Matt had gone to get a pizza for dinner. Mark isn't the least tempted. He has no appetite.

Angie will be leaving for Oklahoma tomorrow and we will miss her. Thanks Angie.

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

Sept 7

2009-09-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Mark had a little bit of a rough night. He didn't sleep well. Angie stayed the night with him. He tossed and turned a lot and ran fever. They continued the Cipro for his antibiotics. He had some anemia this morning and they redrew the blood to make sure it was true since his count fell so much. We're waiting to hear on that. He is getting potassium, magnesium and sodium infusions today along with his usual IV fluids since his electrolyes were abnormal. He isn't eating or drinking anything and his abdomen is really distended.

He is having some pain still. They have left in the spinal blocks (he has 2 of these) to control the pain and he also has the PCA pump.

He got up and took a pretty long walk in the hall with Matt and I this morning. He was very weak and slow, but steady and endured. He is psyching himself up for another walk now. It takes some doing.

We video conferenced with the kids yesteday. It was great for me. I was really missing the kids and I got my kid fill. I loved seeing all of them and wanted to hug them all so bad.

Thanks to the Finance Department for the HUGE basket of goodies both here and to our home in Auburn. That was so nice of you guys. It was very heavy. Angie carried it over to Mark's room. He was surprised to see it.

I will try to keep you updated. It seems to be slow progress here, but Mark is hanging in there. Keep up the prayers. God bless!!!

Sept 6 evening

2009-09-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Mark had a bit of a rough day. It started out pretty smooth. He got up and took the walk in the hall and got spiffed up. He started running temperatures again this afternoon. His temp spiked to 102.8 once more. They cultured him again. He is already on an antibiotic, so we're not sure where this fever keeps coming from. His physician couldn't decide whether or not to give Tylenol since he really hasn't been taking much by mouth except a little bit of water and his abdomen is pretty distended. They finally gave him some and his fever broke. He is resting better now. They came and did a Chest XRay and the nurse reported that it was normal, so it doesn't look like pneumonia or anything.

We are waiting on the second dose of antibiotic tonight and some culture results. I think they may decide to do a CT of his abdomen tomorrow when they round (just my own gut feeling). We will see.

We video conferenced with the kids tonight and talked with Mark's parents on the internet. It was great seeing and talking with the kids. They got to look at Mark, although he wasn't too talkative. Emily sang me songs and was joking with her Uncle Matt and Aunt Angie. Colton went to get Leppy the guinea pig to show me. They are so funny sometimes.

Continue to remember Mark in your prayers as always. God bless!!!!

Sept 6

2009-09-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Good morning to all. Mark had a good night. We stayed and watched the OU game and were disappointed to see Bradford get hurt and the Sooners lose. Mark was able to stay awake for the entire game. He rested well after the game. Matt, Angie and I stayed in the room until midnight and Matt decided to stay the night with Mark. Angie and I headed back to the Family House for some rest.

The recliner in the room is not much to rest in, so it makes for a long night. I think Matt was ready to go get some real sleep this morning when I arrived. He stayed until the doctors rounded and then headed off for some sleep.

Mark has a urinary tract infection and they've started some antibiotics. They haven't tried to pull the catheter out yet. He still has the PCA pump for pain control as well as the spinal pumps on each side infusing pain medicines as nerve blocks to his abdomen. They are keeping him comfortable for the most part. The pain team rounded and sounded like they weren't ready to pull the spinal catheters yet, so they will be in all day today. They can't pull the PCA yet since Mark isn't eating yet, so that should remain today. They decided to feed Mark just a few liquids. He doesn't have an appetite yet at all. He has only drank a little bit of water. His abdomen is really distended and hurting.

He got out of bed this morning and we went for a SLOW walk. He did well. He was pretty weak and leaned a lot on me and the IV pole. I washed him up and gave him a shave and he smells like a rose now. He immediately fell asleep when I got him back in bed.

We pray for a good day and lots of healing and pain relief. They say it may be 6 weeks before he can start chemo again. We are really hoping he can start it sooner as we feel this is valuable time we are losing now. Mark seems strong and knows what he needs to do. Continue to pray that the Erbitux will kill this cancer and pray that new therapies continue to emerge. God bless!!!!

Sept 5

2009-09-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon. Mark is holding his own today. His urine is looking infected. He still has the catheter in, but there is question whether or not they actually drew the sample to test for infection, we've gotten conflicting answers and can't seem to get any action as far as proceding forward. There haven't been anymore temperatures. Mark's saturations dropped into the 80s and they had to put him back on oxygen.

The attending physician came by and made rounds. They are going to give Mark some additional medicine to help with the abdominal cramping. They did a lot of tugging and pulling to fix the large ventral hernia that Mark had from his previous surgery and there was a lot of scar tissue that they had to dissect through to do this surgery, so a lot of reason to hurt. He is cut the entire length of his abdomen again.

Matt and Angie have sat with Mark and taken care of him from mid morning through this afternoon. I was totally beat and went to the Family House for food, rest and a shower. It was nice.

We are hanging out in Mark's room watching football. Mark was determined to watch the Oklahoma game, but I really think he'll be too much in and out of it to remember. His parents are taping the game for him, so we can watch it again later (provided they win).

Once again, thanks to all of you who have been so supportive. I can't tell you how much it helps us to get through this. Keep up the prayers. God bless!!!!

Sept 5

2009-09-05T06:31:00.000-07:00

Good morning to all. Mark is doing well this morning. He had a pretty good night. He woke briefly as they were wheeling him in to his room yesterday and asked me why he wasn't in the ICU. I think the long pause told him what he needed to know. He actually didn't take the news too hard. He was pretty calm as we knew this might be a possibility. He is so strong. We talked about what they found and what the doctors told us.

Mark is having some pain and cramping in his belly and they had to increase the pain medicine through the PCA pump and through the spinal blocks last night and they finally got him pretty comfortable. He rested pretty well last night. He was in and out of it. He spiked 2 fevers last night and they had to draw cultures. His highest temp was 102.8, but he is afebrile now. One of the doctors has been around this morning and we are waiting on the other.

The doctor this morning was pretty positive about the Erbitux and said that he's seen some cancers respond so well that they've been able to surgically resect after treatment.

Dr. Farmer will be getting Mark back on chemo shortly after we return to Auburn and will start the new chemo agents. His chemo schedule will be different.

That is all I know for now. I am tired as the recliner I slept in last night was horrible and I will be heading back to the Family House soon for a shower and maybe a little nap.

Thanks for all the encouraging messages and prayers. God bless!!!!!

Sept 4

2009-09-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this one. Mark is out of surgery. He has too much disease to resect. His surgeon thought it would be too dangerous to procede. They punctured several holes in the intestine just trying to navigate and the tumor just blanketed the abdomen and is around the liver, but not in the liver. There is a lot of disease in the pelvic region as well. There aren't surgical options at this point. We are just devestated.

Our only options at this point will be chemotherapy. Mark is still under the anesthesia and hasn't been told this yet. We are trying to collect ourselves so we can be supportive for him.

They think we will be here about 5 days for Mark to recover from the surgery they did. We will keep you updated as much as possible. Continue to pray for us.

God bless!!!!!

Sept 4

2009-09-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

Mark is officially in surgery. We walked over from the Family House this morning at 5:30 am and got checked in. They took Mark to Pre-op. Matt, Angie and I have been doing a lot of sitting around and waititng. We got to go see Mark for a little bit and then got kicked out so they could put in Mark's spinal blocks. They gave him some pretty good pain meds for that because when we went back in to see him, he was feeling good and pretty funny. His eyes were rolling back in his head and he was feeling no pain and having no anxiety whatsoever.

We are in the waiting room and I will try to update as soon as we hear something. God bless!!!

Sept 3

2009-09-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

All things are a go from Pittsburgh. We spent the morning in CT scan. Mark had to drink that nasty stuff and wait a long time, but got through it. We saw Dr. Bartlett this afternoon. Our visit this time wasn't quite as scary and the news seemed better. He says there is a lot of "thickening" around the liver. He's not sure exactly what he'll find when he gets in there. It may be all scar tissue from the previous surgery and chemo or new disease. We will have to wait and see. That seems to be the most diseased area. There is still the possibility of changing the ileostomy to a colostomy, but it won't be decided until they actually get in there and see what needs to be done. They did decide to use Oxaliplatin as the chemo agent this time. It was initially what Mark's cancer responded to. The last surgery was done with Mitomycin C. Mark had labs drawn to get units of blood ready for the surgery tomorrow and then we had to go to the hospital and meet with the ostomy nurse to get "the best placement" done in case they decide to do the colostomy.

Dr. Bartlett is so easy going and laid back and really puts you at ease. It's amazing to sit and talk with him knowing all the research and wonderous things he's done. He's really a humble guy.

We are back at the Family House now and waiting on Matt and Angie to arrive.

Mark is doing his bowel prep. He's so excited!!!! We have to be at the hospital at 5:30am eastern time. The surgery will start at 8:30 eastern.

Please remember that there is a prayer vigil for Mark tomorrow at St. Michael's from 8:30-11:30. There will be a card for everyone to sign who stops by. The chapel is located in the building behind the sanctuary. If you can't make the service, just pray where you are.

We heard great news out of Houston today. Carly's surgery went well. We will continue to follow her site, too.

God bless!!!!

Sept 2

2009-09-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

We spent the day exploring Pittsburgh. Mark didn't have any appointments today, so it was a day of freedom. It was also Mark's last day to eat real food before the surgery since he will be on clear liquids tomorrow.

We ended up eating at a place called Harris' Grille for dinner last night. It was located near Carengie Mellon and Univ of Pitt, so it had a good college feel to it. We ate there on our last trip here and loved the food. It was good and just reading the menu is a hoot. We walked there and back (1/2 mile each way).

We found Deluca's. We realized it was a breakfast place, but it was the one featured on the show Mark saw. We took a cab since it was about 3 miles and located in an area of town called the strip. The place was a real dive, but crowded and evidently famous. The breakfast was great. We walked all through the strip and found some neat shops. We decided to walk back for exercise. Dinner was Italian, but now it will be gatorades for Mark.

Mark will have a CT scan in the morning at Hillman Cancer Center which is just down the street from us and Dr. Bartlett sees him at 1pm. We will get all the details about surgery Friday. Mark doesn't seem as nervous this time. I think he pretty much knows what to expect.

The kids all sounded fine. Calen has his first football game tomorrow night and we will miss it. He is taking all of this the hardest. Colton had football practice tonight and Emily talked for a few seconds on the phone and was off running around again. I think Brent and Kathy are holding up okay this far.

Please remember Carly Parker tomorrow morning as she has her surgery at MD Anderson. Her surgery starts at 7:30 am.
God bless!!!!!!!

Sept 1

2009-09-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

We are here in Pittsburgh. The flight was smooth and we landed on time. Out trip has been uneventful. We got checked in to our room in the Family House. We were lucky and got the Family House across the street from Mark's hospital which will be great for us.

Many of you asked for the address at the Family House and here it is:

5245 Centre Avenue
Room 507
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

The phone number to the room here is 412-802-4877 and I can be reached by my cell phone which is 334-750-4431 if anyone needs to call in for an update. I will try to keep the blog updated as much as I can.

We are looking for the address of Deluca's now. It was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. We may try it for dinner tonight.

God bless!!!

August 31

2009-08-31T20:40:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 27

2009-07-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well, ordinarily today would have been Mark's chemo day, but it was held today. We met with Dr. Farmer on Friday afternoon. She had talked with Dr. Bartlett's PA, Heather, who feels that Mark's cancer is back as they see seeds through the abdomen like before. The good news is nothing is in the lungs or liver. The colonoscopy was clean as well. His CEA was higher at 32. Heather feels that Dr. Bartlett would be open to do another surgery on Mark in Pittsburgh. He is out of town now and should be back this week sometime. They probably won't use the heated chemo again, but would do more of a debulking surgery where they go in and get out everything they see and then we hit it hard with chemo again. We will have to change chemos since this one is not working well.

Mark has (or will have) been off of the oxaliplatin for more than 6 months by then and we can try this again or go to third line therapy.

We have to hold chemo 5-6 weeks before surgery since Mark has been on the Avastin again and that makes him less likely to heal. We hope to hear an answer from Pittsburgh this week when Dr. Bartlett returns. So much is up in the air right now.

Mark got a terrible virus yesterday and his temperature went up to 104.5. He got shaking chills and felt awful. He wouldn't go get looked at, but wanted to wait it out. He was actually better this morning and the fever is gone. I guess it was a good thing they cancelled chemo because they would have had to hold it anyway.

We haven't told the kids much about any of this yet. We are waiting until we know more definite plans before we break the news to them. I know they will be devestated about all of this, so I think waiting is better for now.

Keep praying for Mark as always. God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 20

2009-07-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. The beach trip was fun for all. Mark was a little wiped out, but managed okay as he always does. He couldn't go out on the beach because the neuropathy he has in his feet left over from the first chemo makes the sand painful for him. He skipped the beach and took naps in the room in the afternoon which worked out okay. Colton's team did well. They were 5 wins and 2 losses for the tournament. Their 2 losses were close and both by 1 run. The boys all played well. Most of them got buzz cuts and then shaved their numbers in the backs of their heads. It was pretty cute.

Mark got an email from Dr. Farmer today. She heard from Pittsburgh. They feel that the CT scan did show metastatic disease in the abdomen and it wasn't just inflammation and thickening. Mark's surgeon is out of town and won't be back for a little while. There is a possibility that they can go back in there and surgically remove the disease again. We will see. He has a lot of scarring from the previous surgery and heated chemo. We are praying that this is possible and very do-able. Mark is feeling pretty good right now. He still has some pain now and then, but he is getting to his feel good time in the chemo cycle. We live for those.

Mark is planning a big cajun cookout here this weekend for Colton's baseball team with all the cooking being done by Mark, including a cajun boil, jumbalaya, red beans and rice and gumbo so you see he is feeling pretty okay. He chose to do this!!!!!! Sounds just like Mark doesn't it.

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

July 16-Flex Sig

2009-07-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Mark just finished his colonoscopy. He is still sitting here recovering as I am typing. He is a little goofy right now, but was glad to hear that the colon looked clean. Dr. Gilbert did his procedure and didn't find anything at all except a small residual fistula from the previous surgery. He said the colon looked good and there was nothing that appeared to be pushing in on the colon wall from the outside as before. It was quite a relief to hear.

Mark will have to sit here for a little bit and recover. When he is released, we plan to pack and head to Orange Beach to join Colton and his team for the Global World Series. They played games today already and will continue the tournament through the weekend. He got a buzz cut and his coach sent us a picture of it. Apparently a lot of the boys went and got the cuts, but Colton being blonde almost looks bald. Too cute!!

Mark is still feeling puny from chemo, so hopefully he will sleep on the drive down tonight and will have some recovery time before game time tomorrow morning.

God bless!!!!

July 14-Chemo

2009-07-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Mark went in for his chemo as usual yesterday. There was a scheduling mix up and we ended up waiting until almost noon until his blood was even drawn and it was close to 1:00 when the chemo was started which meant getting out of there at 5:15 pm. It was a LONG day!!!! Mark did his usual course. He slept after he was given his premedications. He got to talk to Dr. Farmer about the pressure he's been feeling in the pelvic area and getting the urge to go to the bathroom in spite of the fact that he has the ileostomy. She has him set up for a flex sig on Thursday afternoon. It is a shortened form of a colonoscopy where they will just look until they get to the sigmoid colon. We will see how things look.

Mark has been sicker than usual with this chemo. He has his patch on and is using the watch, but has been vomiting quite a bit today. I gave him some pills to help and to make him sleep and he seems a lot better now. He somehow made it up this morning and taught his classes. I don't know how he does it. He is tough for sure!!!!

We didn't have a CEA drawn this time, but will get that blood test with Mark's next chemo. That will be the deciding factor as to what we do next along with the news we get from Pittsburgh (we still haven't gotten their take on the CT scan) and what the colonoscopy shows of course. Dr. Farmer is doing a few more tests with Mark's tumor pathology to see what other chemos he could be a candidate for.

Colton left today with the Plans for Orange Beach. His team is playing in the Global World Series starting Thursday and they will have an opening ceremony tomorrow. We hate that we will miss it. I'm sure the other moms will take lots of pictures. We will leave for the beach on Thursday after Mark's test as soon as he is feeling like riding in the car. (Like I said, he's tough).

Emily is taking private swimming lessons. She is such a daredevil she about gives me a heart attack at the pool. Her teacher now knows what I mean. She will just jump in over her head and tell the teacher to "let go of me, I can do this myself" even though she is about to drown. I hope she learns this swimming thing quickly or I'm in big trouble.

Calen is finished with baseball now. Last weekend was his final tournament and they will have a year end party next week. He is already full speed into football workouts for school ball. It never ends, but he loves every minute of it. He went out and helped with Colton's baseball practice the other day because he was already missing baseball.

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

June 30

2009-06-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a tough day for both Mark and I. We went in to the infusion center and met with Dr. Farmer. Mark's CEA was higher at 28. His CT scan showed some possible activity, although it could be just inflammation from his surgery in the abdominal wall. The only sure way to know is to do a biopsy and we don't plan to do that just yet. The films will go off to Pittsburgh for another look and to get their opinion. There aren't many more chemo options since this one doesn't seem to be working well, but we discussed what options are still available. The good news is that Mark's cancer should respond to the Erbitux. There is another one similar to Erbitux that we may be able to use as well and after we've been off Oxaliplatin for at lease 6 months, we may be able to retry it to see if we get a response again. He responded well to this at first. Dr. Farmer also discussed getting Mark into some clinical trials at some of the larger research centers. Hopefully we don't need to go that far. He was very down yesterday to say the least. It really took all the wind out of his sails.

Emily was sick last night running fever and woke up with it, so I am home with her today. I guess it worked out okay because I think Mark could use some extra TLC today at home.

We are not giving up hope and will continue to fight this awful disease. We seem to be in a valley right now, but hope to climb to the top of the mountain again soon. Keep Mark in your thoughts and prayers as always. God bless!!!!!

June 28-Update

2009-06-28T19:35:00.001-07:00

Hello. It's been a while since the last update. Mark had his CT scan done. We got mixed results. They saw microscopic disease in his abdomen with some fluid present. He has a lot of scar tissue from his previous surgery and intraabdominal chemotherapy which can make reading the film difficult. He had one prior CT that was done after surgery so they have one film to compare to. The good news...there wasn't a large mass in the abdomen, nothing in the lungs and the spots on his liver haven't changed any so they still feel that is just a benign finding. The CT films were sent off to Pittsburgh to get their opinion on them as well, so hopefully we will hear something in the next week. For now, Dr. Farmer plans to stay with the same chemo regimen. We will see what the CEA looks like tomorrow when we go in for Mark's treatment.

Mark is feeling well overall. He gets fatigued easily in the heat and has to rest sometimes, but usually does okay in his off week of chemo. We took him out to eat at Ariccia for the Father's Day Brunch last week and got his golf clubs regripped. He is now ready to hit the golf course.

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

June 15-Chemo

2009-06-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone. Mark had another round of chemo today. He certainly wasn't looking forward to it this morning. He did pretty well through the morning and was able to work on a paper most of the day. He got so tired and sleepy around 2:00 and fell asleep sitting straight up in the chair with his laptop on his lap. It's been downhill from there. We put the antinausea patch on him Saturday and started the watch which uses the electrical stimulations this time. I don't know whether it's helping. Mark ate some lunch today which he usually won't do, but hasn't had anything to eat or drink since then. He has vomited a couple of times, but still seems to be much better than previously.

His CT scan will be next Wednesday (the 24th). Pray that we don't see anything ugly. Dr. Farmer will decide after that and his next CEA number what to do with the chemo. The good news is that his cancer testing came back good. That is, his type of cancer would be a good responder to the other type of chemo drug they could put him on. We were really happy to hear that news in case we need to go there.

Colton came home today after spending 9 days in Florida with the Plans on vacation and for a baseball tournament. We missed him terribly and I think he was a little homesick. It is good to have him home again. He was excited to see Emily (which is unusual). He took her outside and taught her how to hit off the tee. It was really cute. She didn't quite share the same enthusiasm for the sport that Colton has, so it frustrated Colton a little.

Thanks to all of you for the continued support. God bless!!!!!!!!

June 3

2009-06-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well, another chemo cycle is over for Mark and he is glad to be finished. He was unhooked a little early today. The chemo started leaking from the port, so he went in to the cancer center and they finished the infusion a little quicker than usual. He carries around a spit cup and constantly spits. He looks like someone who dips although he doesn't. His mouth is sore to the point it hurts to swallow the saliva and it tastes bad to him, so he'd rather spit. That should be gone in another day or two.

The patch really is helpful and the later part of the infusion seems to get better with the nausea and vomiting. He looks better today and was up more than usual for a Wednesday. I ordered the wrist watch yesterday. We should be able to use it with the patch next cycle, so we will see if it helps any. Pray that it does.

Mark celebrated his one year anniversary of the BIG surgery on May 30th. It was a weird day for both of us. I think we just had a lot of relived memories of the day and the process. I remember all of us waiting in the waiting room from the start of the day to the very end of the day watching all the other families come and go. We were the first ones there and the last ones there. I still remember how tired Dr. Bartlett looked when he came to talk to us and how relieved we were to hear the news that he had gotten all of the cancer from Mark. Mark, of course, has different memories and they involve a lot more pain and suffering, but certainly joy as well with what the doctors were able to do for him in Pittsburgh. It was a long recovery process for Mark and there were times we questioned whether it was the right decision, that's for sure. We both now know that it was the right place for us to be and the right thing to have done and we are glad we did it. Life became real again for us after Mark healed from that. He got several great months off of chemo before he started back in November and we hope and pray for more time like that.

I think I may have written once before about this, but I felt so much like we hit a brick wall on October 16, 2007. Our lives just stopped and stood still for so long. I clearly remember the day I realized that life was still going on around us. It was in April 2008 and I opened the front door to go outside for the mail and saw two ladies walking in the neighborhood. They were just walking, talking and laughing like they didn't have a care in the world and it was that moment that I realized that all this time life had still been going on around us. I was finally able to stop living October 16th over and over again and to move forward.

Mark's CT scan has been scheduled for June 24th. Please pray that it is clean and there is no disease present. Thanks again to all of you who continue to support us. God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 2-Chemo

2009-06-02T17:24:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay in updates. Mark had his chemo started yesterday. We went in for his usual round. He used the nausea patch again this time which he put on Saturday. It really is helping, but he is still vomiting. His CEA came back at 23. We weren't too bummed since the last one was 21.8. It seems to be staying around there for now. We talked about doing a scan and Dr. Farmer wants him to have one more cycle of this type of chemo before the scan to make it a total of 8 cycles. His 8th cycle will start June 15-17, so the scan will probably be later that week or the following week to give him some time to recover. If the CEA continues to rise, or something shows up on the scan that we don't like, she talked about changing the chemo regimen again. There is another biologic agent similar to the Avastin Mark gets called Erbitux. They have found that only certain tumors respond to this medication, so Dr. Farmer is having Mark's pathology sent off now to see if his cancer would be a responder to this medication. I don't know how long that will take to find out, but she is checking now so that we'll know.

Mark is doing a little better today than yesterday. He threw up several times yesterday, but only a few times today so far. He craved mashed potatoes and gravy from KFC again, so that's what I got him for dinner tonight and so far it has all stayed down. He looks good and just seems to have a little more energy than he usually does. He even gets out of bed now and then (not just for the vomiting).

Dr. Farmer also gave us some information about a wrist watch that uses electrical impulses to control nausea. It is FDA approved. I will check into ordering one for Mark to try for the next cycle of chemo. It may be a good addition to his patches. It somehow works centrally to "trick" the brain.

Colton is in a soft wrist splint instead of a hard cast for his fractured wrist. We are watching him closely, but by doing this he has been able to swim. We have 2 splints and can change them out and let one dry. We will have another xray this week to make sure it is healing properly or to see if they need to put him in a hard cast. Hopefully he will be healed up in another couple of weeks.

Emily is staying busy at her "school" and will have water play on Thursdays this summer. Calen is still busy with baseball and football practices will start June 22nd. We are trying to decide when to take a summer vacation since there are so many limitations on our schedule. We want to take the kids to the Dominican Republic if possible.

Again thanks to all of you who continually pray for Mark and support us with your positive words and prayers. We appreciate it so much. God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 25

2009-05-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. We are doing fine. Mark is feeling good. He just has some cramping now and then in his abdomen and his usual problems with the ileostomy, but we are thankful for a good week. The patch was quite helpful overall.

Colton gave us some unwanted excitement yesterday. He fell out of a tree at church yesterday and we had to take him to the ER. There is a buckle fracture in his left wrist. He will need a cast and will probably be in it for 3-4 weeks. We will see the orthopedist this week for more clear information. He won't be able to play baseball or swim for a while. Hopefully that will teach him not to climb in trees. We had just told him not to climb the tree and did he listen?????

The kids are looking forward to summer and being out of school. Of course, swimming will be out for Colton for a bit.

Thanks to all of you who continually pray for Mark and give us support through his fight with cancer. We appreciate it more than you know. God bless!!!!!!