Christmas and Update

   Grand-kids on Christmas Day.  L to R:   Katie, soon to be 14, Caleb, 9 months today, Brittany, soon to be 17, and Jackson, soon to be 10.

 

First of all, praise God that last night was probably the best night’s sleep in 2-3 weeks. And today I feel more “normal” than in quite some time. I have learned a little about managing the itch, since it won’t go away until after the Whipple surgery.

 

Yesterday we saw my beloved cardiologist, Dr. Jackson, and he cleared me for surgery, which is scheduled at Vanderbilt Jan. 15. I will go off the Plavix on Jan.6.

 

We had a wonderful Christmas with all the kids. The picture is of all 4 grandkids on Christmas Day.  Today is Dave’s 36 birthday and they will all be here soon to celebrate.

 

I cannot thank you enough for all your prayers and concern. I will post again before than, but please keep the prayers going up until and through my surgery.

 

Pray for:

            * Continued improvement in sleep and managing the itch.

            * That our faith, trust and hope in our great God remains strong. He is teaching me so much, and I love the songs and worship in the night as I fall back asleep.

            * That the surgery on Jan. 15 will go as God directs and that I will recover quickly.

 

God bless each of you.

 

Latest Update

  I'll try to keep this brief today, but I want to keep all my blog readers up to date on what's going on.
  Since my last post a week ago, much has happened. In brief, after 2 more episodes of passing out, 2 more ambulance rides to the ER, a 2 night stay and a procedure, things are advancing. The jaundice and itching is worse than ever, so my beloved cardiologist, Dr. Jackson conferred with Dr. Parikh at Vanderbilt; they agreed this itching & jaundice must be controlled before my Whipple surgery for the mass in my pancreas. They enlisted Dr. Shondra who Friday performed an endoscopic procedure to put a stent in my biliary duct. It was successful and I only had a moderate sore throat for a day or two.(They stick a tube down your esophagus and through the stomach!!)
  However, today is day 4 and the itching is still at max level. Dr. Shondra said yesterday that it will subside, but a little longer yet. Please pray for relief because the itching is a huge issue right now, and no medications touch it.
  Other good news is that the Jan. 28 confer date with the Vanderbilt surgeon has been scrapped and they think they can do the surgery in about 3 weeks That is an answer to prayer.
  I continue to thank the hundreds and thousands of people praying for me. It is simply amazing...a God thing. I am trying to keep a timely spiritual journal of what God is doing and share it after the surgery.
  Rita cared for the chickens today, Steve is coming any minute to feed 2 more round bales to the cows, neighbor Grey, the vet, stopped to talk with Rita at the mailbox last evening and offered concern and support, wonderful church family and friends have stopped by or called or visited the hospital to offer support and pray with us. Family, friends and bloggers have called, emailed messaged in various ways and I love and appreciate all of it.
  I want to conclude with the words from Rita's favorite card that she sends to friends in need...

I Know That Spot.

The one in life where

you find yourself wondering

if God is still watching,

still listening, still caring.

God is always faithful-

I know that for sure.

And maybe the only reason 

we can't see Him sometimes

is because He's holding us

right up close.

  He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you can hide. His truth will be your shield and protection. Psalm 91:4 NCV

Update and Pictures

  This picture was Thanksgiving dinner, another wonderful time to give thanks with all 10 family members present. Rita and I center, son Dave left and beautiful granddaughter Katie right.
  Just a little medical update: I am feeling great after the stent implantation. The itching from the jaundice is worse than ever and in itself can be quite exhausting. To be able to sleep, Rita rubs me down with anti-itch lotion and we put a flat freezer pad under the mattress pad under my back. With the house at 68 I sleep with just a sheet covering me. Cool feels good and when my body heat gets going, the itch becomes greater. I wake up about every 2 hours to reapply lotion. My next appointment with the surgeon is Jan 28 when they will do another CT and then he will review it with me and set a surgery date on the pancreas. I wish it were sooner, but I have to finish 30 days on Plavix and then let it clear from my system. I am trusting God in all this.
  I have a 5 pound max limit on what I can lift, so my chores are minimal. I just returned from gathering the eggs and visiting with my red headed poultry friends, but Rita, Steve or Wendy has to feed and water. Steve came by yesterday to take the cows 2 more round bales. Mucky job since we received 3.5" of rain in the past week. Thanks again, Steve. You are a good son-in-law.
  I am journaling my spiritual life during this time and I will blog about it one of these days. God is so good and is teaching me so much.
  My beautiful bride of 46+ years is the world's best home health nurse, especially when the patient is me! (Rita worked as a LPN in Idaho, Oregon and Washington). My appetite remains good, for which I am thankful. I am on a low fat & low sodium diet for the rest of my life, but I am eating like a king, because my nurse is also a great cook! My total weight loss since 1 year ago is now approaching 50 lbs. The good news is that I had it to lose, and after the surgery I am hoping to lose another 10-20.
  Please pray for relief from the itching and for healing because God is able.

Another picture from Thanksgiving, left to right: Steve, Jackson, Dave,Katie,me,Katie, Brittany and Wendy.

Me (yellow grandpa) with a Duck Dynasty birthday card.

  8 1/2 mo. old Caleb with his mama, Katie.

Caleb with big bro Jackson

Beautiful flowers from our wonderful church family

Medical Update Saturday

Hello family and friends,

 

A quick update this evening. Some of you may have already received some news via text or email from Rita, but I will send this to all. So many thousands of people are praying for me; I feel so blessed.

 

I had experienced no symptoms of any heart problems, but the Vanderbilt doctor doing my pancreas surgery requested clearance from a cardiologist before proceeding, as the surgery is 5 hours and stressful. After a heart CT and an angiogram, it was determined that I had a 90% blockage in the LAD artery, the “widow maker”. That was Thursday afternoon. I stayed overnight in St Thomas Rutherford in Murfreesboro and was transported by ambulance Friday to Vanderbilt in Nashville. God again had prepared the way; the excellent surgeon Dr. Joseph Salloum was waiting and I was taken in directly for a stent implantation. With today’s amazing technology, the procedure took 40 minutes, they accessed the heart through a wrist artery, I was awake the entire time and had zero discomfort. I stayed the night and came home today. I am tired and still itching from the jaundice, but am so happy to be home. I just praise our great God for His unfailing love, mercy and grace. Looking back, I can see so many things that at the time seemed bad but He has turned for good. I trust Him completely for the coming procedures.

 

Since I must take Plavix blood thinner for 30 days, the pancreas surgery scheduled for Dec. 18 will be pushed forward. Please pray for peace during that time, and that the tumor will not spread.

 

Thank you all so much for your prayers and concern,

 

Ray

 

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life."   Psalm 143:8 NIV

More medical updates

  Just a quick post today with no picture, but I want to bring my blog readers up to date. So much has happened it can be overwhelming.
  After the visit to the Vanderbilt specialist, I was scheduled for surgery on Dec 18....a Whipple procedure that would remove the mass in the pancreas as well as the gall bladder, lymph nodes, part of the biliary duct and maybe other pieces. It is a 4-5 hour operation so as part of the pre-op I went to a cardiologist to be sure my heart was up to it. Well.....a heart CT yesterday showed significant arterial blockage, so tomorrow I will have an angiogram and the heart blockages will need to be dealt with before the Whipple surgery can be done.
  In addition to all that excitement, I passed out at home last Saturday evening and spent 2 days in St Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro. No fun, but we met so many wonderful doctors, nurses, aides, etc.  Just amazing that we could connect with so many compassionate, believing people in one weekend hospital stay.
  To think that just a few weeks ago I thought I was pretty healthy and I felt great. A doctor visit  less than 1 month ago to check on my early jaundice led to all this, so now we are facing heart surgery as well as cancer surgery. 
  Son-in-law Steve is feeding hay to the cows; 2 round bales every week or 10 days. He and Wendy are also helping with the chickens as needed. Son Dave and Katie brought me 2 books in the hospital which are wonderful: "Jesus Calling" devotions and Max Lucado's "You Will Get Through This". 
  More family, church members, blog readers, old friends and new friends are praying than we can possibly know or count. Thank you all. God is good, all powerful, he knew about all this before I was born and He will see me through.
  I will post with updates as I am able.Stay with me fellow bloggers!

  "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life."   Psalm 143:8 NIV

Goodbye Obie

  I thought my next post would be to pass along the results of my visit to the Vanderbilt cancer specialist tomorrow morning, but life has a way of throwing curves. We lost our little dog Obie today.
  His breathing this weekend had been fast and shallow. Rita had a Dr. appointment at 1:00, so she dropped him off at the vet on her way. I had intended to go, but I didn't sleep much last night because of the terrible itching that accompanies the jaundiced skin, so I tipped back in the recliner after breakfast with Obie on my lap and we fell asleep. Next thing I knew, Rita was taking Obie and heading out to town. The vet gave him an antibiotic and said he likely had congestive heart failure. Rita had no sooner gone back to the car and left the parking lot when he died, laying on the car seat. Needless to say, she was pretty shaken.
  Obie was a teacup poodle rescue dog. Some friends of friends found him 7 years ago in winter, weighing 2.5 # and in very poor shape. They all had dogs already so we agreed to keep him until they could find him a permanent home. That was 7 years ago! At first we thought he was a puppy, but the vet estimated him to be at least 6 at the time, so he was now at least 13 years old. He weighed 3.5 to 4 # when we got him back into shape.
  He was very difficult to photograph....kind of camera shy. The top picture is in my office, perched on the pillow on a chair where he could see out the front window, and the 2 pictures below show him in his sweater, tucking, which is what I called it when he tucked up as close as he could get, and a quick shot out on the grass earlier this year. He was the epitome of a lap dog. All he lived for was for someone to sit down so he could curl up on a lap. When you walked through the living room, he would try to "herd" you to a chair and grab some lap time! There was never a sweeter, more loving little dog.
  So, goodbye little Obie. aka Obis, Mobie, Mr. Mobis, Obiator and many other nicknames. You loved and were loved and will be greatly missed.

Preliminary Diagnosis

  This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago, fog hanging around in the morning with blue sky above.

  The focus of my posts is going to shift over the next weeks as I want to blog about my new "journey".  I'm hoping some of you faithful readers, and maybe some new ones, will walk with me.

  After the CT last week, the preliminary diagnosis from my surgeon was that there is a mass in my pancreas, most likely cancerous. She offered that it doesn't appear to have spread and that we may have caught it early. She is referring me to a specialist at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, whom we will see next Tuesday, Nov. 26. I am so grateful that we are near a hospital with the credentials of Vandy and that I have been referred to a top notch specialist. I know that the road ahead will not be easy, whatever the final diagnosis and treatment, but I am so encouraged by a loving wife, children and grandchildren, sisters and bro-in-laws, cousins, church family, and friends of long standing as well as recent years, including blogging friends. It is impossible to know how many prayer lists I have been added to the past week; it is wide and far ranging and I am eternally grateful.

  I have so enjoyed this blog during this first year; even though the focus will change now for a time. It is my prayer that I will enjoy the birthdays of all 4 of my grandkids in January, February and March when they will turn 17, 14, 10 and 1. And that I will be planting new garden in the spring and enjoying the births of 5 new Angus babies in the next few months and blogging about it.

  "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life."   Psalm 143:8 NIV

Birthday and cartoon

  Today is my 68th birthday. I will "celebrate" by having an extensive CT scan focusing on the liver, gall bladder and pancreas. Your prayers are appreciated very much. In 45 minutes I get to "enjoy" the first of 2 barium banana shakes!
  I enjoyed this cartoon on the editorial page of our local paper yesterday.

"But if you like your head, you can keep it"

"You buying this?"

Checking in....still here

    I haven't posted in a week and a half.....busy with other things, but I don't want to lose touch with ya'll.

  This beautiful red maple in the back yard looked like this 10 days ago; nearly bare today and tomorrow is forecast at 43/23, so that should get the remaining leaves.
  I've been busy with medical tests recently and request your prayers as we try to zero in on the cause. Several varied symptoms coming to a head last week with jaundiced skin. Had blood tests Friday and echocardiogram and ultrasound this morning. I feel well in general, but obviously, something isn't right.
  Thanks for your prayers.

Grandson Update

  Time for a pictorial grandson update. (I need to do a granddaughter update, but teenage girls are harder to corral for photos than little boys!)

Big brother Jackson - age 9 (almost 10), and little brother Caleb - 7 months. They are great buddies!

The whole family ate out Sunday for Rita's birthday. Caleb fell asleep in Grandma's arms after enjoying some ice cream!

Pretty cute little noggin (Caleb, not me!)

And, hangin' out with Uncle Steve & Auntie Wendy

Frost...but Hangin In There

  As many of you around the country did, we had our first frost last night. About 25-27, depending on where you were. The hybrid poplar trees lost their leaves early but this tree topper is hangin' in there!

  The maple trees are just starting to color up, but this frost should hurry that along.

  Here are some pictures from yesterday...pre-frost. Zinnias, roses and purple sweet potato vine

This bee was very sluggish but eventually flew away.

The loropetalum is blooming nicely.

A brave Stella D'Oro daylily still blooming

The new mailbox

Knock Out roses are still blooming

But this morning, post frost, a different look.

  We are due for another freeze tonight, about the same 25-27. High today 52. Then by next Tuesday we will warm up 25 degrees or more to 75 hi - 55 lo. 

Feels like October

  We're having a beautiful 65 degree day after a very foggy beginning.

  You can barely see the cows and bull at the hay rings in the center of the above picture. We haven't had frost yet. Wednesday we had a nice .70" rain. The forecast for the remainder of October calls for highs in the 60s and lows in the 30s. First frost should be sometime between next Tuesday and Halloween, which is just about normal.
  I picked a few peppers today, but the tomatoes have really slowed the ripening process, so we'll likely be picking the green ones off soon. We have eaten tomatoes every day for many weeks and we'll miss them.
  The Canby thornless raspberries should arrive any day. Remember the fiasco last spring when we discovered that the Canby raspberries were actually Japanese Wineberries, so I pulled them out. I am hoping Willis Nursery sends some nice replacement plants so I can give them a good review....otherwise.........!!!
  I fed the first round bale of hay a week ago, so the winter feeding season is underway. We are expecting a new calf in about a month, so life goes on!

Fall Garden Projects

  We are having beautiful Fall weather....high 70s to low 80s. perfect for outdoor projects. With the garden reduced to a few tomatoes and peppers still ripening, there is time for other things.
  I am really happy with the progress of the strawberries in the hugelkultur tires.

  The plants are getting established quickly with large healthy leaves. Just 3 plants in each tire and these were small rooted runners from previous older beds of berries. I have kept all the runners clipped off these new ones. I'm really anxious to see how they yield next year.
  I decided to build a large cold frame/raised bed and use the same hugelkultur method as the strawberry tires. I demolished the old compost bins I had built 3 years ago. They didn't work well....I had moved the compost pile out by the corral and these bins were just a catch all and hard to keep neat. So down they came.

  I had used primarily salvaged materials to build these and was able to salvage about 90% of the material again.The soil is from a 2 x 12 foot raised bed that was on the back side of the compost bins. I'll use it in the new bed.

  I started by marking out a 3.5 x 16 foot space for the new bed. I stripped the sod off it in squares.

  I used it and some of the dirt to make dams that will shunt rain runoff toward the pasture. I have had too much water on the garden in heavy rains.Still work to be done on that project before winter.

  This is the bed after "excavation".

  Now comes the fun part! Adding the hugel mass. I have a pretty good sized woodpile and some of it has turned "punky"...soft and rotting...perfect for the hugel mass.

  You can google "hugelkultur" and read some interesting things about the concept.  I'll post later with the final steps in completing this bed. After building the frame around it, I'll water in a mix of soil, compost and aged manure around the hugel mass and then fill the bed with topsoil and compost. I'm going to divide it into four 4' beds and make removable lids with corrugated panels (recycled from an old greenhouse at Steve and Wendy's place). So I can use it for a cold frame for early starts or late fall crops, but remove the lids in the summer.
  I have enough room here to make 2 more beds this size.........that's a project for another year!

Still here!

  I haven't blogged in several days. It's been a little busy with some doctor and medical things to attend to. In fact, I am having breakfast withdrawal as I write....I have a doctor's appointment at 11:00 AM and they will be taking a blood sample, so no food until noon. What a sacrifice!
  This might be a good time to post recent pictures of the herd. Here is Buster...not the best picture, but he is developing into a good looking herd sire.

  He sired the two calves I sold in August, Baxter and Bogart. He has 5 more calves on the way....in November, January, February, March and April.  Here are the 5 cows / heifers due to calve.

  We have been quite dry for several weeks and have missed many area thunderstorms, but yesterday we got 1 inch of needed rain. Hopefully that will give the grass a little kick and I can delay starting hay feeding by a week or two more.
  The storm front brought in cooler temperatures. Saturday was 89 for a high; probably the warmest day we will have until next April or May. The next 2 weeks are forecast in the 70s with lows in the 40's. The first frost at this point is forecast for Nov. 10, which is quite late. The average first frost date is Oct. 17. So we have a month of beautiful Fall weather to enjoy.

Fall Lunch and Fall Garden

  It is definitely Fall, even though daytime highs are in the 80s and lows 50s and 60s. I love this time of year. Nearly pumpkin pie time! Three days ago Rita whipped up this fine lunch....a big pot of vegetable soup, using many homegrown veggies, and a pan of yummy muffins!

  We should get tomatoes all the way up to first frost, which may be 2-4 weeks away. Also have a few sweet peppers coming on as well as okra, but the cucumbers are all done. 

  I have lost at least a couple of weeks of outdoor project time recently. I was "down in the back" for about 10 days and then last Tuesday I had minor outpatient surgery which claimed a couple of days. So it was fun today to get outside and get a few things done. I finally seeded 3 beds to crimson clover as a winter cover crop. I fully intended to get the seeding done this year by early September, but.....

  These 3 beds will be in onions and sweet corn next year. I also mulched the strawberries. This is bark mulch I get free for the hauling from the county. They tub grind all the tree trimmings from the city and county and Davey Tree and anyone else can drop off trimmings and even trees that have been taken down. Every March, the public can get the "good stuff" which has been ground twice and piled to heat over the winter. I hauled several loads last March to mulch the flower and shrub beds and hauled some to our kids as well. Next March I want to stockpile more of it to use as garden mulch. Here is what I dug into today to mulch the strawberries.

  Here are my new strawberry beds....Hugelberries. This is a special way of growing strawberries that I am trying. I can't give you all the details because it is from Herrick Kimball's book. Herrick was my introduction to agrarian blogging and I have the utmost respect for him. He is self employed now and I highly recommend his book. You can read about the strawberry method as well as find out about his book here:  strawberries-of-largest-finest-quality

  I have 6 tire beds in now, 2 Chandler, 2 Sweet Charlie and 2 Quinault. They look really good so far. If they are as successful as I expect, I will take all the others out and finish this row with more tires.
  Many more projects to complete this Fall. With October just around the corner, I'd better get busy!