July update

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Sorry to be so long in posting. All is well here in Vanderhoof. I'm

doing fine, gaining weight (174 lbs) and eating 3 meals a day. Some

of the vegetables I can eat with out putting them through the blender

but nearly all meat except for fish have to be ground up.

Over the past 3 weeks I've weened myself from the narcotic pain

killers and I have become more aware of my surroundings and stopped

sleeping 4 to 6 hours every day. I am now out walking three times

each day, up to 6 kms, and next week I'll start riding my bike. My

left shoulder is still sore and very weak and my upper left chest area

is numb and painful to touch.

The two 6 inch scars are nicely healed and cause no trouble and are pain free.

Biggest news is the trachea tube is coming out Aug. 3rd here in

Vanderhoof. I'll be admitted overnight for observation only. The

removal takes less than 30 seconds and 5 to 7 minutes to stitch the

hole in my neck. Since the operation in April, the cough has gone and

I have not thrown up at all. The operation appears to have been a

complete success. I saw Dr. Filatov five weeks ago and he thinks

my ability to swallow will improve once the trachea tube is removed.

As it is, I must thicken all liquids, water, milk and juices, so that

I can swallow them easily.

Dolores and I travelled to Kamloops (678 kms) June 21st and spent the

night at the Sleep Centre at Royal Inland Hospital to see if I still

suffer from Sleep Apnea. I wore a plug over my trachea tube and was

wired up 7 ways to Sunday. I tried to get a normal night's sleep but

the technician said I didn't achieve REM sleep all night. On Friday

this week I'm going to see Dr. Campbell here in town and she will give

me the results of the test.

As you can see, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into

place. We may have to go to Vancouver in October to have my food tube

removed and while we are there I will have a Video Fluoroscopy,

swallowing assessment. That may not be necessary if I continue to

improve with what I can swallow particularly the fluids.

Dolores and the rest of the family are well and keep encouraging me to

be more active. It doesn't look like I'll ever be able to chop wood

again so we are going to buy an electric wood splitter and I will get

my exercise using it and stacking the wood in the wood sheds."

Last week (Friday, July 8), I had two cyst like lumps removed. One from the

left side of my forehead and the other from under my left eye. The

tissue samples were sent to the lab for analysis and the results from

the forehead lump came back positive. It was "Basel" cell cancer.

Luckily this type of cancer does not migrate, it always stays in the

same place and never "metastasizes". The tissue sent indicated that

all of the cancer cells were not removed and on July 25th I go back to

the hospital and they will open up the area around the first incision

and clean up that area and hopefully get what cancer cells are left

around it. The second lump was a benign cyst.

The results are back from the sleep lab. While not conclusive, the

Doctor at the sleep lab suspects that I have severe sleep apnea. Dr.

Filatov will have to decide if it is safe to remove the trachea tube

in light of this new information. He has said in the past that he

does not know weather I could tolerate a "C Pap" machine because of

the radiation damage and the lack of thin saliva glands. Once again

we will have to wait and see what transpires.

The weather here has been cold and wet, so wet that David has not

been able to get the hay off the fields. Environment Canada says that

this will change in the next week or so and it will be warm and sunny

until September. Everyone here hopes that that is true. Without hay

there will be now feed for the cattle during the winter. If that happens

the cows and calves will have to be sold at the fall auction. I will

keep you posted.

That's all for now.

Love and hugs,

Rick