July 30

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

We will keep you posted. God bless!!!

July 29

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

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

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

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

July 27

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

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

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

July 24

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

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

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

July 23

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

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

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

July 22

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

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

July 21

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

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

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

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