What it is really like!

Good evening everyone,

We're at home. I was discharged from Vancouver General Hospital Tuesday afternoon (April 10th) and we spent Tuesday night and all day Wednesday at the Cancer Lodge with me resting up for the return trip to Vanderhoof. We left Vancouver at 9:30 AM Thursday morning and drove to Williams Lake where we stayed the night. On Friday the 13th we did the remainder of the trip home. We stopped in Prince George and visited Dolores' sister-in-law Janice at Prince George Regional Hospital where she had been for 6 days. Her blood pressure was extremely high and her electrolytes were very low. She was in good spirits and looking to be discharged later in the day.

The trip was terribly long and I suffered with severe pain in my left shoulder for most of the trip. But, It is really good to be home. Now for the best news of all. I am able to eat, yes eat pureed food and drink thickened fluids. I still have three tubes a day all when I'm sleeping at night but I eat breakfast, lunch and supper. The operation was a success and we will only have to go back to Vancouver to see Dr. Yee if after three months my throat/esophagus is swollen. The Dr. says this complication arises in 1 out of 10 cases like this. I am enjoying the sensation of eating and tasting my food. Swallowing is sometimes challenging because my epiglottis is still so swollen but, it is manageable.

Most everything here at the farm is good 83 of the 86 cows have calved and are healthy. There have been some calf deaths but, that is to be expected. The farm well system is not working as it should and we will have to have the well looked at by the professionals. Yuk! is the only way to describe the water situation. Mother is well and fine at 93 and perking along her usual vigor and Milton is well and looking forward to going back to Camp in June.

I will have 6 to 8 weeks of rehabilitation for the surgical wounds and the pain in my shoulder to get better and most of my daily chores are on hold during that time. Dolores is is fine and once again she took really good care of me while we were away. Today we both had a very lazy day recovering from the trip home. I will have to walk 3 or 4 times a day to the hay yard and back (approx. 1/2 a km). I,m taking Hydromorphone for the pain so no driving for me in the near future. But, I will still be eating.

That's it for now. Love and Hugs to all.

Rick

current stay at Vancouver General

Hi folks,
This is Dolores blogging for Rick. He was admitted on Thursday last week for the reconstructive
surgery on his tracheo-esophageal fistula. We have been fortunate to have two of the best surgeons in the province doing his surgery. A muscle was needed to repair the esophogus so they decided to take it from his left pectoral muscle. they stripped a 1 inch strip about 8 inches long ,left it attached at the breast bone for blood supply. Then the breast bone was spared from being split and theytook one of the lumps at the base of his neck and sawed it off. the collar bone was unattached to make room for them to do the repair. The trachea ot the wind pipe also needed
to be repaired but it is not as flexible as the esophogus so they cut it off, took out the fistula and then reattached the two pieces. They had 4 units of blood on hand,but didn't need to use any.
He was kept in post anaestheic overnight for one to one observation.Many tubes and wires for fluids and telemetry. All was well, he was moved to a step down unit on the twelveth floor A side.
Here he has close observation for 5 more days as this is a very tricky surgery and things can go sideways in a heart beat. He has sequential compression stockings on to help prevent blood clots,a
central line for fluids as he is a hard i.v. start,foley catheter for you know what, continuous
humidified oxygen for the trach,intrathecal for pain meds. All in all they have looked after all aspects of his care. Dr.Yee the thoracic surgeon is pleased with his progress. If all goes well we hope that he will be out of there by Saturday or Sunday.I am thankful for the reiki and prayers that people have sent on our behalf. We may be able to have Rick eat by years end. What a great thing that would be and we healthy folk just take it for granted. We had him up walking today, not far but a start of all good things. Take care Dolores