Filatov last Wednesday (June 10th) and he scoped me and was concerned
about some swelling on the left side of my neck where the original
lump was located. He had Dolores look at the area and feel the
affected area. They both felt that there was some swelling but,
neither one of them was overly concerned. Dr. Filatov ordered a CT
Scan and I had that yesterday afternoon in Prince George. This
morning at 11:00 I saw Dr. Filatov at St. John Hospital in Vanderhoof
and he reviewed the CT Scan on line. Dolores was with him while he
looked at the pictures and the swelling seems to be a slightly swollen
muscle. There is nothing growing within the muscle so he says there
is nothing to worry about. I am relieved by the results but, I will
say I have been a little on edge during the past week while I waited
the CT Scan.
Other than that little blip, I am extremely well and fine. I am
feeling much stronger by the day and my stamina is improving
noticeably. The trachea tube is a nuisance but happily the coughing
has decreased at night. The hernia is bothersome and it is irritating
much of the time. I can do just about every thing except lift heavy
weights. Coughing hurts the most.
I have been helping Dolores with the garden, planting and watering
etc. It is a very large task and it will continue to be so for most
of the summer. Weeding and watering are daily chores which I will be
involved with. We now have 90 new meat birds and they require frequent
attention for watering and food. During the first several weeks they
are very sensitive to the temperature inside the coop. Right now the
temperature must be maintained at 90 F and will drop to 85 tomorrow
and 5 degrees cooler each week. We have 70/75 new laying chicks and
they also require the same amount of attention. We got the chicks a
week ago today (Friday last week) and they were one day old. You can
really see the difference in size in that one week. The meat birds
grow much faster than the laying chicks.
Our weather has been beautiful lately. Warm and sunny with enough
breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay. We finally had rain the day
before yesterday and that was very welcomed. The fields were
beginning to dry up and the rain came at the right time. We've had
showers on and off yesterday and today. We can expect more rain and
showers through next next Tuesday. The temperatures will remain in
the high teens to the low 20's.
There is only one cow that has yet to calf. We are still feeding the
2 babies, one is an orphan and the other is a twin which was rejected
by the mother. They are both growing nicely and are really friendly.
They come to us when we call them for feeding 3 times a day. It is
more fun to feed them than doing chores. My permanent daily morning
chore is to water all the numerous flower gardens as well as a small
potato patch. That takes me the better part of an hour and a half and
then it's off to the wood pile to split wood until lunch. I have
helped Dolores with the planting of the vegetable garden which is
about 3 acres. It has been a lot of work but a real learning
experience. My cousins Harvey and Irene Wrightman in Ontario
and he reviewed the CT Scan on line. Dolores was with him while he
looked at the pictures and the swelling seems to be a slightly swollen
muscle. There is nothing growing within the muscle so he says there
is nothing to worry about. I am relieved by the results but, I will
say I have been a little on edge during the past week while I waited
the CT Scan.
Other than that little blip, I am extremely well and fine. I am
feeling much stronger by the day and my stamina is improving
noticeably. The trachea tube is a nuisance but happily the coughing
has decreased at night. The hernia is bothersome and it is irritating
much of the time. I can do just about every thing except lift heavy
weights. Coughing hurts the most.
I have been helping Dolores with the garden, planting and watering
etc. It is a very large task and it will continue to be so for most
of the summer. Weeding and watering are daily chores which I will be
involved with. We now have 90 new meat birds and they require frequent
attention for watering and food. During the first several weeks they
are very sensitive to the temperature inside the coop. Right now the
temperature must be maintained at 90 F and will drop to 85 tomorrow
and 5 degrees cooler each week. We have 70/75 new laying chicks and
they also require the same amount of attention. We got the chicks a
week ago today (Friday last week) and they were one day old. You can
really see the difference in size in that one week. The meat birds
grow much faster than the laying chicks.
Our weather has been beautiful lately. Warm and sunny with enough
breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay. We finally had rain the day
before yesterday and that was very welcomed. The fields were
beginning to dry up and the rain came at the right time. We've had
showers on and off yesterday and today. We can expect more rain and
showers through next next Tuesday. The temperatures will remain in
the high teens to the low 20's.
There is only one cow that has yet to calf. We are still feeding the
2 babies, one is an orphan and the other is a twin which was rejected
by the mother. They are both growing nicely and are really friendly.
They come to us when we call them for feeding 3 times a day. It is
more fun to feed them than doing chores. My permanent daily morning
chore is to water all the numerous flower gardens as well as a small
potato patch. That takes me the better part of an hour and a half and
then it's off to the wood pile to split wood until lunch. I have
helped Dolores with the planting of the vegetable garden which is
about 3 acres. It has been a lot of work but a real learning
experience. My cousins Harvey and Irene Wrightman in Ontario
will appreciate what it takes to plant and maintain a garden of this size.
Dolores has the big green house (12'x40') just about fully planted
with tomatoes, cukes, green and red peppers and a variety of herbs.
The little green house (8'x10') is bursting at the seems with many
different types of lettuce. She picked the first lettuce for salads
the day before yesterday. Yummy. The garden provides enough
potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, squash, broccoli, cauliflower,
cabbage, Swiss chard, parsnips, peas and beans so that we do not have
to buy any all year. It has been a real big learning curve for me.
We also cleaned out the raspberry patches, Janet helped with that, then
the tay berry and blackberry patches as well. The strawberries are in
flower and it will be only weeks until they are ready to be picked.
Dolores has the big green house (12'x40') just about fully planted
with tomatoes, cukes, green and red peppers and a variety of herbs.
The little green house (8'x10') is bursting at the seems with many
different types of lettuce. She picked the first lettuce for salads
the day before yesterday. Yummy. The garden provides enough
potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, squash, broccoli, cauliflower,
cabbage, Swiss chard, parsnips, peas and beans so that we do not have
to buy any all year. It has been a real big learning curve for me.
We also cleaned out the raspberry patches, Janet helped with that, then
the tay berry and blackberry patches as well. The strawberries are in
flower and it will be only weeks until they are ready to be picked.
I am getting stronger and stronger with every passing day and my stamina
is noticeably better as well. I am eating bigger meals and enjoying the food.
I still have some trouble swallowing certain things and talking is difficult.
The airway to my lungs is really restricted by the skin granulation/web
covering the top of my larynx. Dr. Filatov has referred me to Dr. Anderson in Vancouver who will do the surgery to remove the web. I expect to hear more about this in a month to 6 weeks. I will have to recover from that surgery before Dr. Filatov will even be able to consider removing the trachea tube. When that is finished and done with I will have a hernia operation here in Vanderhoof.
So long for now. Love yo everyone.
Rick
