June 12

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

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

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

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

Thanks for all of the support.

God bless!!!!