View Full Version : Medical Update on shelterbuilder
shelterbuilder
11-02-2008, 16:17
Hi Folks! I thought that I'd post a quick note to let everyone know what's happening. On Monday, Nov. 3rd, I go into the hospital in Allentown, Pa. for more surgery. You may remember that, in May 2007, I underwent a total laryngectomy to remove a cancerous growth in my larynx. The laryngectomy was a success in terms of stopping the cancer, but it left me with a hole in my neck that refused to close on its own. (Because of this, I've been unable to eat solid food, and have had to use a feeding tube and eat "liquid nutrition" for the last 18 months - quite a challenge on backpacking trips, especially in the wintertime!)
ANYWAY -- tomorrow, my surgical team is going to attempt to close the hole for good, so that I can resume eating solid food and get back to "normal backpacking". After a 10 to 12 hour operation, and a 1 to 2 week stay in the hospital, I'll be home to recover for a while, but by Thankgiving, I should be able to start getting back into my normal routine (or at least parts of it).
Thanks to all of you who have expressed concerns and good wishes during the last 18 months, and a special "thank you" to Shades of Gray, who very graciously came to my aid at the BMECC's cabin last weekend and helped me fit a very LARGE pane of glass into a picture window frame. (Without your help, Peter, I'd STILL be up there, covered in caulking compound, and with more than one cut finger!)
General Macarthur said it, but I'll borrow it - "I shall return".
Thanks to all of you who have expressed concerns and good wishes during the last 18 months, and a special "thank you" to Shades of Gray, who very graciously came to my aid at the BMECC's cabin last weekend ...
No problem! Glad to help someone who has done so much for the AT in Berks County.
General Macarthur said it, but I'll borrow it - "I shall return".
Do what you must to get yourself well. There are many more adventures to be experienced. I look forward to spending more time together and we will visit St. Anthony's Wilderness as soon as you are able.
shelterbuilder
11-02-2008, 16:41
No problem! Glad to help someone who has done so much for the AT in Berks County.
Do what you must to get yourself well. There are many more adventures to be experienced. I look forward to spending more time together and we will visit St. Anthony's Wilderness as soon as you are able.
Hey, that sounds like a plan to me!!!:banana:D:banana:D
I wish you the best,good for you for not letting this keep you off the trail. Stay strong. My father in law went through the same ordeal about 30 years ago,and He is still going strong. Take care.
Good luck! My thoughts and prayers will be with you.
Blissful
11-02-2008, 21:46
Praying it goes well!! Take care.
I had no idea that you had such a serious health challenge. I'll be praying for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.
Good luck with a speedy recovery and i'll pray all goes well for you.
trailangelmary
11-02-2008, 22:55
You are awesome Shelterbuilder. Keep up the positive attitude. I will pray for a successful operation and speedy recovery.
shelterbuilder
11-02-2008, 23:28
Thank all for the thoughts and prayers - I'm in good hands (both with the surgeon and with God) so I have no worries, but it's nice to know that others are pulling for me, too.
I'm looking forward to no longer being a "human dribble glass", and since they want me at the hospital at 5:30 AM Monday, I think that I'll sign off for now.
(Blissful: SOBO in 2011? Way to go!!! Good luck with that.)
Mr. Clean
11-03-2008, 06:16
Hope all goes well for you so you can eat your favorites again.
StarLyte
11-03-2008, 06:57
We are stronger than we know.
Think good and positive thoughts, keep them in your environment :sun
...and know that many people care.
nitewalker
11-03-2008, 07:22
:sunthree hoo raas for shelterbuilder, hooo raaa, hooo raaa, hooo raaa...i hope all goes well for you..
peace out my friend, nitewalker
River Runner
11-03-2008, 15:46
Just now read this - I hope the surgery has went well shelterbuilder, and that you are on the road to recovery.
Jack Tarlin
11-03-2008, 15:48
Very best wishes for your continued recovery.
After a 10 to 12 hour operation [today], and a 1 to 2 week stay in the hospital, I'll be home to recover for a while, but by Thanksgiving, I should be able to start getting back into my normal routine ...
I emailed the link for this thread to Dave's wife and requested she update us until Dave is able to do so himself.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery! Hopefully you're healed enough come Thanksgiving to partake in some turkey and stuffing. :)
Toolshed
11-03-2008, 18:27
Will say a prayer for you. My father had the same thing 15 years ago and is still going strong in his 80's. PS my wife works over there - You are in the best care in the region (or several area regions for that matter).
shelterbuilder
11-14-2008, 09:49
...well, sort of, anyway. I got home from the hospital yesterday evening, and settled in for an evening of doin' nuthin'! My wife - bless her heart, taking care of 4 wild Siberian Huskies and herself has been about all she could manage - met me at the door to tell me that the truck had been towed! (Apparently, the police put up "No Parking - Moving" signs, but since I was in the hospital and she doesn't drive, I'll have to spend all day and $200 to get the truck back!) Gee, sounds like "same old, same old" to me....
Surgery took about 12 hours. Procedure simplified: they took a strip of skin, blood vessels, and muscle from my right thigh and used that to: 1) reconstruct my esophagus so that I'll be able to swallow food again; 2) close the external hole in my neck that matched the hole in my esophagus. I spent over 7 days in ICU hooked up to all kinds of fancy laser monitors that required me to lay dead-still most of the time, while they poked and soaked and did all kinds of crazy things to me. Saturday (5 days post-op) I started to have airway issues (from swelling that "blew up out of nowhere"), and I asked the docs to re-trache me, which they did. (The trache is still in until we're sure that there won't be any recurrances.) That, thankfully, was the only real complication this time. A few more days in ICU, and they moved me to a regular surgical wing, where I spent a few days trying to build up some leg strength (some but not enough), and then yesterday, the ENT surgeon came in, said "you're going home today", and that was that.
I still have PT coming around for the leg, there's still A LOT of swelling in the reconstructed areas of my neck, and it'll be a while before I'm out backpacking again, but most of the flap apprears to have survived the grafting process, so it looks like I might be able to get rid of all of those "silly little cans" of liquid nutrition and take REAL FOOD with me on my next backpack trip. For now, I'm still on liquid nutrition and using the feeding tube, but if the esophageal reconstruct looks good from the inside next week, I'll start adding small amounts of liquids BY MOUTH to my diet. This Thanksgiving may still be a liquid meal, but Christmas! that'll be a FEAST!
Thanks to all of you who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers for these last few weeks - we seem to have turned the corner.:banana:banana:banana
that's great news.....hoping for a speedy, non-problematic recovery
Sounds like a rough go... but, glad things are looking up.
You have a lot of folks prayin' for ya!
I was beginning to wonder when some information might be forthcoming. It's especially good to hear it directly from the source.
It's especially good to hear it directly from the source.
Agreed.
Blissful
11-14-2008, 14:36
Glad to have you back. Speedy recovery!
TJ aka Teej
11-14-2008, 14:43
This Thanksgiving may still be a liquid meal, but Christmas! that'll be a FEAST!
:D Keep looking at the bright side of life, SB!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
rainmaker
11-14-2008, 22:10
Shelterbuilder,
Best wishes for a speedy recovery and please take care of yourself.
Rainmaker
Hope you'll be well enough to make at least the last of the sled dog shows at Hersheypark!
Glad to hear you're doing well! Keep us posted.
Wise Old Owl
11-16-2008, 23:49
Thanks for the PM glad youre back!
Ziggy Trek
11-17-2008, 00:14
:bananaChristmas dinner will be this year's Katahdin for you!:banana
shelterbuilder
12-02-2008, 21:20
Well, I had 2 doctor's appts. today - one with the reconstructive surgeon and one with the head/neck surgeon. Both are very pleased with my continuing progress. A small section of the external graft did not survive, but I'm told that this is fairly common, and that the living edges should grow together. The swelling is down about 70%, so I've been able to lose the trache tube that was holding my airway open.
The head/neck surgeon stuck a scope down my throat, looked around, and told me to go home and start drinking liquids and cream soups BY MOUTH!!! After a cup of water went down okay, I tried a small can of V-8, which also went down well. So I got adventurous and had a serving of cream of broccoli soup - no problem!!! (To put this into perspective, it's been almost 19 months since I've eaten or drunk anything by mouth. It's all been nutrition by feeding tube.)
I SEE A LARGE CHRISTMAS DINNER IN MY FUTURE!:banana
AND REAL FOOD ON MY NEXT BACKPACKING TRIP!!:banana:banana:banana
Very Cool! Glad to hear the great news! I wish you all the best.
CrumbSnatcher
12-02-2008, 22:31
great to hear the good news, have a merry christmas shelterbuilder!!!
I SEE A LARGE CHRISTMAS DINNER IN MY FUTURE!:banana
AND REAL FOOD ON MY NEXT BACKPACKING TRIP!!:banana:banana:banana
Must I remind you what you said not long ago about people and food?:D
Ziggy Trek
12-02-2008, 22:39
...and the things I take for granted:-? Merry Christmas.
shelterbuilder
12-03-2008, 08:28
Must I remind you what you said not long ago about people and food?:D
It must be the effects of the anesthesia - I don't remember...refresh my memory.
Talk about getting excited about oatmeal.
Happy swallowing!
StarLyte
12-03-2008, 09:54
HEY! PASS THE GRAVY !! :banana
I don't remember...refresh my memory.
I can't quote you, but the comment I referred to was in response my asking whether you attended BMECC's recent banquet.
I would have attended the hike which preceded it were I not preoccupied with other things. The meal afterwards didn't excite me either. Eating, well, I do that several times a day and I'd rather prepare my own.
Cookerhiker
12-03-2008, 14:41
I was away most of November and missed all this. Sounds promising at this point and I hope you can partake of that "real" Christmas dinner. Man, I don't know how you managed these past 18 months.
Blissful
12-03-2008, 15:08
Good news. Take care!
shelterbuilder
12-03-2008, 22:10
I was away most of November and missed all this. Sounds promising at this point and I hope you can partake of that "real" Christmas dinner. Man, I don't know how you managed these past 18 months.
Ah, you just do what you have to do. I found ways to get around the problems associated with tube feeding, even in the winter time. (For winter backpacking, I bought a soft-sided cooler that fit in the top half of my old frame pack. I loaded up with enough cans of liquid nutrition to last for a weekend plus an emergency ration, filled a rubber ice bag with hot water and put that in the middle of the cans and closed the cooler. When the water cooled off, I got out my stove and re-heated the water. This kept the cans from freezing.)
Surprisingly, this last week (when I was waiting for the surgeon to give me the okay to resume eating/drinking normally) was worse psychologically than the preceding 18 months: I was actually MISSING real food. Now, it's a mix of real food and those "silly little cans", but I'm okay now. (Well, I'll be pushing faster than I should to get solid food worked back into the diet, but that's just me!:D) No problems so far....
fancyfeet
12-04-2008, 04:06
Good luck with your continued recovery. Here's to a Christmas feast for you. Reading about your canned trail food diet makes me appreciate Ramen noodles. My thoughts and prayers go out to you. Take care.
shelterbuilder
12-22-2008, 22:39
More good news, folks: last Friday, during my visit with my ENT surgeon, I asked him to remove my feeding tube, since I had been eating just about everything, and wasn't using the tube anymore. He removed the tube right there in the office! The tube-site still has some healing to do, but from now on, it's real food all the way!:banana:banana
The down-side to this, of course, is that, since I'm eating everything in sight (!), I've managed to gain about 10 pounds already - although my family seems to think that I look better with the extra weight. I guess that if I'm going to eat like a hiker, then I'd better start hiking more and typing less!
BRING ON THE FIGGY PUDDING! (and all the rest of the trimmings):D
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
Yes. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
But try to resist that eating temptation. My wife was on a feeding tube -- and mostly unconscious for five months. She recovered and in many ways is more healthy than I am. But her urge to eat has resulted in a weight problem. She once climbed Katahdin. Today, a one hundred foot walk to the top of our driveway is about her limit.
Weary
cowboy nichols
12-23-2008, 00:34
Happy to hear you are doing so well, Have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the food.
Wise Old Owl
12-23-2008, 00:40
Merry Christmas - Shelterbuilder!
shelterbuilder
12-23-2008, 09:15
Yes. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
But try to resist that eating temptation. My wife was on a feeding tube -- and mostly unconscious for five months. She recovered and in many ways is more healthy than I am. But her urge to eat has resulted in a weight problem. She once climbed Katahdin. Today, a one hundred foot walk to the top of our driveway is about her limit.
Weary
It's ironic, but I was able to lose (deliberately) over 70 pounds when I had the tube. All that I had to worry about was counting calories - taste never entered the picture. NOW - boy, does food taste good!:o
Of course, I'm still off of work and sitting around the house on disability (the right leg is still a little weak from where they harvested the grafts for the reconstructions). Once I'm back to work, I'm hoping that having my hands full of tools will mean that I can't hold any Twinkies!:D And, as the leg strength returns, I'll be able to do more walking/hiking.
Two Speed
12-23-2008, 09:44
Good timing to get back to the eating scene, what with Christmas goodies all over the place.
Go for it, boy. You earned it.
you see...there's really is a santa claus!!
merry christmas and enjoy!!!
How are you doing now that Christmas has passed?
Hope you didn't overdo.
I would have in your shoes.
Me too! I just PMed him to tell him we are awaiting a report. I suspect he may be without internet temporarily or waiting until after an extended holiday break to check back in.
Hope you didn't overdo.
I would have in your shoes.
Too much food is a common human problem. Face it. We evolved -- and produced civilization -- from a species that survived because it had the ability to eat heavily during lean times, starve during famines, and to recuperate during friendlier occasions.
It's a formula that got us to this point. But may not get us much further. But I keep trying.
Weary
Hope your eating to your hearts desire!
good luck shelterbuilder. I glad to hear you are felling better. Since we are both from PA I hope to meet you someday.
Panzer
shelterbuilder
12-28-2008, 22:14
I'm currently out-of-state (southern tier NY), spending time at the in-laws and talking to a man about a dog (yes, we bought the dog, so now there are 5!)...internet access is limited to an old Windows95 terminal (God, does this load s-l-o-w), but I am here.
No turkey, but LOTS of delicious ham, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and my wife's famous PUMPKIN PIE...and, I'm filling in around the edges with cookies, chocolates, fudge, and other holiday goodies - it's a wonder that I can get close enough to the keyboard to type!:D:D
At least I'm getting some exercise by walking the dogs several times a day....not enough snow up here to use the dogsled, but I should wait a while before pushing too much in that direction, I guess.
It's been great to relax with my family and celebrate a "normal" holiday for a change. Thanks for all of the good wishes, and I hope everyone else got everything they wanted for Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza!:D
shelterbuilder.
Glad to hear you are eating well. Soon it will be time to hike!
My daughter saw a dogsled on TV and I think wants to try it out. :) Any shows in your future?
I was away from the computer too, went from one location in area code 607 to another, moving from lamb to ham in the process. Initially, the only melted snow was in the snowmobile tracks, but that changed over the weekend. Whereabouts were you?
I am at home recovering from OHS and my post-op appetite has kicked in and I am struggling with it. Kinda wish I had 70 lbs to play with but I gotta watch it. Enjoy!!!!
shelterbuilder
12-29-2008, 15:11
Glad to hear you are eating well. Soon it will be time to hike!
My daughter saw a dogsled on TV and I think wants to try it out. :) Any shows in your future?
I was away from the computer too, went from one location in area code 607 to another, moving from lamb to ham in the process. Initially, the only melted snow was in the snowmobile tracks, but that changed over the weekend. Whereabouts were you?
Dogsleds: no shows/demos that I can think of, but check www.pennsleddogclub.com (http://www.pennsleddogclub.com) for a list of club-sponsored events and demos. Don't forget about the demos in Hershey next year, too.
If we ever get any run-able snow, I'll have to drop you a line. There's a group of "local" PSDC members who like to train at St. Anthony's Wilderness (off of Gold Mine Rd.). That valley holds the snow for up to 2 weeks longer than anywhere else in the local area. If you showed up some Sunday, I'm sure that we could work something out. BTW, how old is your daughter? Bike helmets are recommended for kids under the age of 12, in case of spills or tumble-offs.
Right now, I'm in Bainbridge NY (another lovely "607" location), which is famous for the annual General Clinton Canoe Regatta, held every Memorial Day weekend on the Susquehanna River. The Finger Lakes Trail also runs through the center of town. Lovely area, but the job market and the tax structure are lousy here.
She's now 5yo. 'Tis true that Upstate NY has everything but an economy. Once I thought of doing a 100 mi section of the FLT from Bainbridge to Cortland (where I'm originally from) - hasn't happened yet!
607 - dang does that ever bring back memories - its been almost 40 years but I still remember that phone number
boarstone
12-29-2008, 18:16
So glad to hear of your steady progress in the right direction....keep up the "labored" progress...your doing great! Just don't OVER do...
boarstone
12-29-2008, 18:22
Which reminds me...in February we have the annual "100 mile sled dog race" from Greenville to Brownville and return. You can check it out at: www.trc.maine.org