Mark Stalberger

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. Because we have family and friends so far away we are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. Mark is very private about his health and I hate misinformation and gossip flying around out there so  we feel this is the easiest way to keep people informed.  We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

As many of you know Mark had a liver transplant July 8, 1993.  YES!  Over 27 years ago.  He has been on anti-rejection medications for all those years.  Those medications are hard on the body and make you immunosuppressed.  We found out last August that Mark has kidney disease and upon a visit to the nephrologist this past September learned his kidney bloodwork had drastically changed for the worse and his kidneys are functioning at 75%.  

Mark has been feeling run down the past month or so and on October 7, 2020 he started running a fever along with diarrhea.  This was the last day he worked.  On Sunday evening, October 11 when his fever got to 104 I took him to the ER in Detroit Lakes.  They admitted him to Essentia Hospital in Detroit Lakes, drew a ton of blood and started him on IV fluid and antibiotics.     He was discharged Oct. 14 on antibiotics with the diagnosis of the Cryptosporidium parasite in his bowel. 

Friday, Oct. 16, 2020 Mark was in extreme pain in his back right side.  Since he has had kidney stones before I thought it was kidney stones again and took him back to the ER in Detroit Lakes.  They did a CT Scan in the ER and found that he did have stones in his kidneys and bladder but they weren't obstructing anything.  The Dr. sent him home on Morphine and told him to contact his transplant dr.  I called his transplant coordinator and she reminded me that if his fever gets over 101 he needs to go to the ER as that could be a sign his body is rejecting his liver.  At 6 p.m. Mark woke up with 104 fever again.   Since the dr. in DL didn't do much for him we decided to go to the ER at Sanford in Fargo.  After waiting in the waiting room for 4 hours we finally got back to a room to have a dr. look at him.  Again, they took blood but couldn't find anything that would be causing the fever and pain.  Finally at 6 a.m., after almost 11 hours in the ER, the dr. admitted him to Sanford on Broadway.  We didn't find out until a few days later he was being treated for sepsis!   Again he was started on IV fluids and antibiotics.  He also had an ultrasound of his kidneys and bladder and heart.

Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 4:30 p.m. he was again discharged from the hospital on another antibiotic.  We are to follow up with his primary care doctor in 1 week.

Monday, October 26, 2020 he is off all oral antibiotics.  When he woke up he noticed that the lymph node by his left collar bone is swollen and tender to touch.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020 follow up appointment with his primary care doctor in Detroit Lakes.  He reviews everything that has been going on and starts looking at his hemoglobin and red blood cell numbers and notices that they have been dropping since January.  I mentioned this to a couple different doctors over the past 2 weeks and they told me it's because he's on IV fluids.  Dr. Lawrence then feels his lymph nodes and orders an ultrasound of Mark's head and neck area.  The ultrasound shows very enlarged lymph nodes.  Dr. then orders a CT scan and more blood work.  Dr. Lawrence reviews the CT results with us - it is not good.  It is cancer and we need to get a biopsy tomorrow to determine the type of cancer and he will refer us to Roger Maris Cancer Center in Fargo.  

Wednesday, Oct. 28 Dr. Stolee in Perham did the biopsy.  Sadly, it will take a week to get the results.  We are crushed, heartbroken and so sad.  I'm not sure why the C word has so much power but it does.   We have great faith in our Lord and take comfort in knowing this is his plan and in his timing.  We have so many blessings in our lives.  We ask for your prayers and/or good vibes for the doctors to develop a good plan to fight this, and for strength for our family to get through this.