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Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Skin Cancer V2.0
Sometime in 2001 I was diagnosed as having skin cancer on my right
shoulder. I had it removed by Dr Newell in Bowling Green and lived with
the slight depression left in my shoulder blade area of my back. It
would bleed occasionally and most of the time was not a big deal.
Last
year, the depression started filling in and it began bothering me more
and more.
This summer the area started to grow outward and become an
open sore that would bleed and then scab over and this became a
recurring lesion. I wanted to wait until boating season was over before
starting treatments.
After Labor Day, I went to see Dr Rice and let
him take a look. I told the doc that it had been diagnosed as a basal
cell carcinoma in 2001. Basal
cell carcinoma is a type of non melanoma skin cancer. Dr Rice's
observation was, "Boy, that's a hoss! It's too big for me to work on
it." He sent be to see a surgeon in Bowling Green named Dr Weirson a few
days later. Dr Weirson had the same reaction and said he needed to
discuss the lesion with a plastic surgeon. He called the plastic
surgeon, then returned to the exam room and told me he was passing the
work to Dr Atalla. I went to see Dr
Atalla the next day, also in Bowling Green.
Dr Atalla examined
the lesion and said it was large, but not the largest he had worked on
and that it appeared that it would be no problem. He mention that he
would do a 'rotational flap' to cover the hole left in my shoulder area
from the removal of the lesion. We discussed a few other points about
the surgery and I agreed with his plans, so we set a date for the
operation.
I went to the Medical Center in Bowling Green on September
27th for the pre-surgery screening process. It took over two hours with
a blood test and EKG amongst the tests they did on me. I had to go over
my medical history with three different people to make sure I didn't
forget anything and they didn't miss it. Finally I was cleared for
surgery.
Tuesday, October 2nd Linda and I met Brent who took Stacey
with him to his house. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 AM. They
quickly put a wrist band on me and took me to the ready room. As soon as
I was dressed in the bare back hospital gown, Linda was able to rejoin
me in the room. The nurse started an IV with a drip and taped it to the
back of my hand. Now the hard part, we waited and waited, I was Dr
Atalla's second patient of the day. At 10:20 the nurses came in the
room, gave me a mild sedative shot in the IV tube and carted me to the
operating room. When they wheeled me into the operating room, several
people descended upon me, one at every limb and one at my head. Blood
pressure cuffs were placed on one arm and both of my legs, a mask went
over my mouth and nose, they asked my name and birth date, then said
"here comes the good medicine" and I was out.
I had been
told by the doctor earlier that I would be sedated for 2 to 3 hours so
that he could remove the lesion, then cut some slices, have them frozen
and sent downstairs to be analyzed, then repeat that process until he
had 'clean slices' with no cancer cells.
The next thing I knew, I was
being told to wake up and cough, then breathe deeply. They were doing
something, but I was having trouble focusing on what, coughing was easy
to do, it felt like my lower lungs were full of something. They wheeled
me out of the operating room and to recovery at 1:45 PM. The nurse began
giving me water to drink through a straw and he kept checking as the
pressure cuffs were inflating and taking their readings. The drinking
water felt great as the air tube they had put down my throat and removed
had made it sore. My oxygen levels were a little low so I was told to
breathe deep and they had a tube blowing up my nose. After about an hour
and 15 minutes they moved me back to the ready room and Linda was able
to rejoin me again. She had talked with Dr Atalla while I was in the
recovery room and he had filled her in on how the operation had gone.
She said he was satisfied with the outcome and that he believed he had
removed all of the cancerous tissue. The ready room nurse gave me a
Pepsi to drink and told me I had to drink something and be able to
urinate before I would be allowed to leave. The Pepsi was a little harsh
on the raw throat, but other than that I was feeling fairly well. I
think the anesthesia was still affecting my pain threshold. I went to
the bathroom and also finished the Pepsi, then the nurse removed the IV
about 3:30 PM. Linda helped me dress and the nurse took me out to the
parking lot in a wheelchair. Linda brought the car to the door and we
left. She drove to Brent's house where we picked up Stacey and went back
to the farm. I took a half of a pill for pain, then another half about 2
hours later, finally another half before going to bed about 11 PM.
This
morning I felt pretty good when I woke up, stiff and sore over my body,
but the actual surgery location didn't hurt much at all. We went back to
the doctor's office at 11 AM and let him take a look at how his work had
turned out.
He
was pleased, the incision location wasn't bleeding, the bandages were
almost without blood and he wanted to see me in two weeks to remove the
stitches. We met Pauline, Brent and their kids at Applebee's for a late
lunch. Stacey, Linda and I headed home when Pauline left to go back to
work. Brent took Julie and Kyle home with him. When we were home, I took
another half pain pill. It seems that as I set still a while, my body
stiffens up.
Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2012
Stacey Wins Again
The Cumberland River Cruisers held their last show of this season at
Alex Montgomery Chevy/GMC today. The forecast had been for 60% chance of
rain and as daylight arrived it was windy and cool. The rain had already
passed through the area, but the clouds were still lingering around.
Linda drove her 65 Mustang and I drove the 56 Chevy to the dealership
and then we helped other club members setup the tables to register
vehicles. As the clock approached 10 AM registration time the weather
was looking better. Carol Neff and Linda signed in the owners as they
arrived and gave them dash plaques and numbers for their vehicle
windshields. During the day, people voted for their 3 favorites and our
club collected the ballots. Alex Montgomery employees cooked hot dogs
and passed out cold drinks or coffee while the votes were tabulated. The
club drew raffle tickets for the door prizes the dealership had to give
away and handed those out to the winners. A long distance award was
presented, then the Top Ten trophies were passed out to the vehicle
owners with the highest vote totals. James and Terry picked EB Groce's
1941 Cadillac as the Dealer's Choice winner and presented that trophy.
Terry Riley then presented Stacey Norris with the Best of Show trophy
for receiving the most votes for our 1956 Chevy.
After
drawing for the 50/50 money, we packed up our stuff and went back to the
farm. I took a picture of the car with the trophy while I was waiting on
Linda to park her Mustang in the barn.
Posted on Sunday, October 14, 2012
Farm Fest 2012
Our family members began arriving Friday afternoon. Linda K and Imon
were first to get to the farm with Airianna and Trevon, then Shelly and
Jeff came with their dog and their camper. Last to arrive were Pauline
and Brent with their kids and dogs. The little kids began playing
together like they had always been around each other. Imon and Brent
took two of the old cars to town for a small cruise-in during the
Heritage Days activities Friday night.
Saturday
after lunch, we took a hay ride to Salem Park and let the kids climb on
the playground equipment. It was a nice slow ride through the country
for the adults and a chance for the kids to take naps on the the way
back to the farm. We had a bonfire and roasted a few hot dogs and
marshmallows once the day light was gone.
Sunday
morning after breakfast, we all painted our hands and put our hand
prints on a piece of black paper, then signed our names near our print.
Linda is going to turn this into a print to hang on the wall I guess. We
had a small whiffle ball game in the back yard before everyone began
packing their things.
When
the game was over, I called for a 'team photo' and was able to get them
to line up before leaving for the ride home.
We
hugged everyone and said good bye. It was fun for us and some have made
campsite reservations for next year.
Posted on Sunday, October 21, 2012
Foothills Car Show
We took the 56 Chevy and went to the Foothills Festival Car Show in
Albany, KY around 10 AM. It worked out fairly well, I had something to
do while Stacey and Linda went to the center of town and checked out the
Foothills Festival. I hung around the car show and talked with Henry
Holly and others.
When
the car show was over, we returned to the farm, put the Chevy in the
pole barn and cut up the two pans of brownies that Linda had baked to
take to the hog roast at Garmon's cabin on Jone's Ridge. Our timing
worked out well, we arrived about 20 minutes before time to eat, so we
had a little time to chat before getting in line for the pot luck
dinner. There was probably 70 or more people that had brought dishes and
were enjoying each other's company.
We
stayed about an hour after we had ate to continue talking with friends.
Sunday
morning, Linda drove the Mule with the biggest hay wagon behind it and I
drove the tractor with the scoop and we went down the road to Sue
Baker's place. Tommy Baker had told me earlier in the summer that I
could have a 20' piece of black culvert pipe that the road relocation
crew had left a year or so ago. I pulled the black pipe out of the weeds
and rolled it over a chain, then Linda hooked the chain to the tractor
scoop and I used the tractor to lift the pipe onto the hay wagon. Linda
drove the Mule back up the road while avoiding mail boxes and guard
rails with the black pipe hanging over the edge of the wagon. I traded
to the small tractor and Linda hooked the wagon to the front of it and I
drove the wagon into the barn hallway. I will store it in there until I
figure out where I want to use the pipe.
Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Culvert Rebuild
When the TVA crew was working on the power lines hanging above our hay
fields, they replaced a metal culvert where we enter into the field from
the side road. This first picture is from June when they were doing the
work.
I
asked if I could have the old metal culvert they were removing and they
obliged by leaving it laying at the edge of the field. Brent and I
hauled it over near the old barn and I left it lay there until
yesterday. The weather has been great for working outside, between 75
and 80 degrees during the day and no rain, so I have made the best of
it. I took the tractor with the back hoe and scoop and dug out the old
plastic tile that was too short and failing. I replaced the plastic tile
with the metal one and covered it up with the dirt I had dug out.
Next,
I dug around a well casing that was sticking up above the ground. I used
the back hoe to push and pull the pipe back and forth until I was able
to snap it off about 3 feet below ground level. I then used the tractor
scoop to push the dirt back into the hole and level the area. After a
couple of hard rains, I will return with the tractor and finish the
leveling.
I
also cleaned out the small ditch that directs water run off from the
hillside through the pipe and towards the creek.
Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2012
Evening Walk
Linda and Stacey started walking around the hay field while I was
working on the ditch. Now they are taking Daisy to walk with them. Maybe
to ward off the coyotes that have been seen in the fields.
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2012
Holly's Hoe Down
Bonnie and Henry Holly had invited us to their annual "Hoe Down" at
their place on Jone's Ridge. It was a costume party with a bonfire and
pitch in dinner. They asked if we could bring a tractor and hay wagon
and provide hay rides to the people that came to the party. We agreed
and began getting the stuff we needed for the hay ride. Linda helped me
add some rope lights to the hay wagon and we took a battery out of the
FarmTrac tractor to use to power the wagon lights with a power inverter.
It was misting rain and cool at 4:30 PM when I headed up on the 'ridge'
for a 30 minute ride with the tractor and wagon, so Linda and Stacey
came up a few minutes later in the pickup truck. Right around 6 PM,
probably 60 people had showed up and they began the party with a short
prayer, then people started going in the garage to load up their plates
with food.
The
first hay ride trip, the hay wagon was mostly loaded with young kids, so
we just rode out a deserted road that ran along the top of the ridge and
then returned. Then we hung around the fire pit laughing and talking
while Teresa had the kids playing games and going on rope walks through
the woods. They crowned a king and queen, had a husband calling contest,
and a few other odd events.
The
second hay wagon trip had more adults and as we came to a wooded place
without any lights around, I slowed the tractor, then I turned to the
people in the wagon and took their picture. A few seconds after the
flash, Jacob and a couple of his buddies, that were hiding in the woods,
threw lit packs of fire crackers under the hay wagon. When those fire
crackers started popping, the people on the wagon began screaming like
they were going to die. LOL! I had been in two way radio contact with
Jacob and our plan worked perfectly.
We
stayed a while and then headed home about 10 PM. Linda and Stacey
followed me home in the truck and I parked the tractor and wagon at the
back of the barn. We rolled the wagon in the barn and put the tractor in
the shed, then went inside the house. I think it had actually warmed up
as it got later, the wind had died down and the misting rain had
stopped, so overall, it was a nice time at the 'hoe down' and we had fun.