When it Rains, it Pours, or When it Showers it Leaks

 Several years ago we noticed a water stain appearing on the ceiling of the bedroom below our master bathroom.  We obviously had a leak.  When I noticed it getting the carpet wet on the floor in the hallway adjacent to the shower I decided I better do something.  The grout around the floor of the shower was cracked and I supposed that was where the water was getting through, but how it was escaping from the shower pan I had no idea.

I removed all the grout that was cracked and replaced it with new, and that solved the problem for a while.  A few years later we noticed the water mark on the ceiling below getting bigger and decided something more permanent needed to be done.

I knew it was going to be a costly repair so I contacted our insurance company and found we had a $7000.00 deductible and they wouldn't cover it because it had been leaking more than two weeks.  I am going to change insurance companies.

To the insurance companies credit they did agree to send out a plumber to diagnose the problem, and he tore into the ceiling and told me what I already suspected which was that the shower pan was leaking. The plumber told me he knew a real good tile guy and would have him call me.

                               Watermarks on ceiling                                                                  Removing the shower floor

                           Removing the shower pan                                                              Pan, damaged floor  and seat removed

The tile guy came and looked it over and gave me a bid of $2700 plus tile if I remove the old tile and pan and repair the damaged wood. I agreed to and we set a date to get started. 

I tore out the old stuff and made my repairs to the floor.  While I was at it I discovered the drain was full of junk.  At first I thought it was mortar from the original job, but on further inspection I believe it was lime/calcium build-up from hard water.  There have been periods of time when our water softener wasn't working properly and the only thing I can figure is that over the years it has built up in the shower drain.  It took quite a bit of digging but I think I got it pretty well cleaned out.  I am going to make sure I use cleaner in the drain periodically from now on.

The tile guys put their start off a couple of days but they finally got at it.  I think they did a good job but they were really undependable. They would tell me they would be here at 10:00am and show up at 3:00.  We timed it so they would be finished before we left for Salt Lake on Monday the 22nd, but they weren't even near to being finished. I had to make arrangements for Tony to come and let them in while we were gone and they finally did get it finished.  Tony said once when he came and checked on them they had their big pit bull in the house.  He told them he was sure that wouldn't make me very happy.  He was right.  good thing I didn't know about it before I paid them.

Overall I am pleased with the job that was done but I couldn't give them a good recommendation based on their being so undependable.  They've got to learn to organize better so they can be on time if they are going to build a successful company.  And don't take your big dog in someone's house just because they aren't there.

                   The finished product

Buzzards in Waiting

Looking out the window one morning I noticed some visitors.  I am not sure what, or who, they are waiting for but I found it a little ominous.  If they were waiting for me they were disappointed, I'm still alive so far and not quite ready for the dung heap.  After several hours they left and I dared go outside again. I guess they found some other prospect a little more ready to be eaten. 

                                                                    Buzzards in line on the fence, looking for an easy meal?

Make Asphalt Great Again

We finally got asphalt on our road.  We have been fighting the dust and mud now for almost 14 years.  I have wanted to asphalt our road for quite some time now but Elma Lynne has been dragging her feet, thinking that we could probably put the money to better use elsewhere, but she finally relented and we got the job done.

Last year when Garth was having the main road seal-coated I talked to one of the workers there about giving me a bid to do my road.  He gave me a bid of $33,000 and  said it would be be good through next summer, giving me the winter to getting Elma Lynne to agree to the project.

They started the project on June 2nd and only took a couple of days to complete it.  It turned out really nice and I am very pleased.  They put down and compacted three inches of road base and then about three inches of asphalt about twelve feet wide.

They came back in September and put on a sealcoat so now it should be ready for winter.  In fact several winters, I am hoping for five or more before it needs to be sealed again.

2020, a year from where?

2020, What a year this has been!

In January Elma Lynne was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, adenocarcinoma, the bad kind.  Fortunately it was caught quickly.  They discovered a tumor the size of a marble in the head of the pancreas.  Usually Pancreatic Cancer doesn't have many recognizable symptoms until it is well progressed.  Fortunately this cancer grew right next to the bile duct and closed it off, causing very light colored, nearly white, stools, which was a cause for concern.  A CT Scan revealed the bile duct blockage and small growth. A procedure opened the bile duct with a stent, then a biopsy confirmed the tumor was cancer.

Surgery was scheduled in Salt Lake at the IHC Murray Campus for the end of February.  Doctor Mark J. Ott was the surgeon and he is fabulous.  Surgery went well and Dr. Ott was confident he had removed all the cancer and also removed a bunch of nearby lymph nodes and biopsy showed the cancer had not spread there.  He visited every day for the entire length of the stay in the hospital, often twice a day.

Recovery was a long slow process,  I stayed right at the hospital, crashing every night on the couch in the room which made into a small bed.  The hospital staff was wonderful but after a while it got very tiresome.  Elma Lynne's digestive system had a hard time getting re-started and it was hard seeing her go through all the procedures and tests over and over again. 

About mid March the Covid 19 pandemic started to be a real concern at the hospital.  I didn't leave the hospital much but when I did I had to take precautions and they threatened to make me find other accommodations but decided since I had been there all along and it was almost release time they let me stay.    Just a few days before release we were walking the halls of the tenth floor where our room was when an earthquake hit.  It really shook the building and we could feel it swaying for quite a while after. Finally after 21 days Elma Lynne was released to go home.

Of course there was much more recovery once home. Things went along pretty well for a few weeks and then chemotherapy started. The first round went well until time for the third infusion and Elma Lynne was so sick there was no way .  She had diarrhea so bad that everything was going right through her.  They finally sent a home health nurse to take a blood sample which revealed her potassium was dangerously low so she spent four more days in the hospital, this time in Saint George.  We learned a lot about how to control the diarrhea and they cut the chemo treatments by 20% and after that things went much better.

Chemo lasted for six months with the last treatment being November 11th. It was great to see her ring the bell at the chemo lab, and great to get the results of the latest scan showing no cancer.  She was officially in remission. Dr. Gilbert will continue to monitor her condition about every three months for the next while to make sure the cancer doesn't return.

                                                  Elma Lynne ringing the bell at the end of Chemo

Through all this the pandemic was ravaging the world and the presidential race and a movement called Black Lives Matter (BLM) among other things were causing a lot of ugly contention and division in the nation.  There were race riots in many large cities, including Salt Lake, supposedly triggered by the death of a black man while being arrested by white police somewhere in the Midwest. As in many protests, things turn violent and many just use the excuse to vent their anger and loot and burn. Things seemed pretty grim for a while but after the election things calmed down and things seem to be at a simmering truce for now.

Because of the pandemic and our "high risk" status we haven't seen much of the family this year.  We did attend Ashlyn's wedding in Rexburg in July, and Jillyn's family came during the summer for a few days and then again at Thanksgiving.  They have all had the Covid-19 virus so we figured they probably wouldn't spread it to us once they were over it.  Joel came for the deer hunt and we enjoyed a few days chasing around in the hills without ever chambering a round. We did see some bucks we could have taken but we were looking for that monster trophy and he wasn't around this year.

                   Ashlynn & Mason's Wedding                                                       Caden mastering the lawnmower

In addition I got a bit of a scare when my doctor did my wellness check in September he sent me for lab work and diagnosed dome irregularities in my blood.  When I looked it up I found out that I had symptoms that could indicate Multiple Myeloma, a rare cancer of the blood.  I saw the same oncologist that Elma Lynne was seeing, Dr. Heather Gilbert, and after more tests she determined that I have a condition called MGUS, which stands for Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance. It is considered to not be serious and very rarely leads to MM, so that was a relief to get past that.

As we approach the Christmas season we are sick and tired of the isolation, mask-wearing and restrictions brought on by the pandemic, but are dutifully doing our best to keep from contacting the virus and staying as healthy as possible.  A few weeks ago President Russell M. Nelson encouraged everyone to show our gratitude which I think was an inspired message in the mist of all the turmoil. We are truly grateful to our God and our Savior for all the blessings we have seen, and continue to see, while going through the trials and problems of this crazy year.

I become a Ham

At 71 years old I have taken up the hobby of HAM radio!  A while ago I was called to the position of Assistant Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for our ward with the specific responsibility of communications.  I was given a dozen handy-talkie radios and told to distribute them to our districts and to train people on how to use them. The radios have a wide range of capabilities including public service channels, emergency channels, and Ham Radio channels.  I decided that if I was to be training on these radios I needed to have a Ham license, even though those in our districts without a license would not be using those frequencies.

I learned that the local amateur radio club was having training on getting the license so I joined the club and started attending.  The training was really boring and after just one session I decided to study on my own.  There are several websites available with practice tests which have the exact same questions as the FCC exam so I studied that way. I took the basic test and passed and so was able to take the general test the same night and I passed it as well.  I few days later I got my Ham License in the mail.

I bought a 50 watt mobile radio and a hi-gain antenna for the roof and started communicating with club members , mostly on the daily nets.  The Nets are in the 2-Meter band which is in the VHF(very high frequency) range, and is primarily used for point-to-point local communications, though through a system of repeaters you can communicate throughout the intermountain region. The Breakfast Net meets on the Iron Mountain repeater (146.760 MHz) every day but Sunday at 7:00am and the Friendship Net meets daily at 9:00pm on the same repeater.

I got with Don Blanchard, whom I consider the father of Ham Radio in Southern Utah, and who was also my electronics instructor in college back in the 60's, and we worked with the BLM to get a repeater installed on Harmony Mountain which gives us coverage for the entire Harmony Valley and over the mountain to a majority of Iron County.

 

Harmony Mountain Repeater site                                  My new HF radio, an ICOM 7300

I got into HF (High Frequency) communications when I purchased some used gear from Katherine Pons whose husband had been a HAM operator but died a while back.  The HF radio was really old and hard to use but I did make a few contacts across the country.  More recently I purchased a newer radio that is a lot easier to use and have started making more contacts.  My HF antenna is a parallel dipole wire antenna about 60 feet long strung between trees in the back yard.  I would like to find a used antenna tower, somewhere in the 40 foot range so that I can get my antenna up higher in the air and get better signals.

I am not a rebid radio fan but am enjoying the technical aspects of the hobby as well as making contacts far and wide. I think it is a hobby that I can continue to enjoy even when I am too old to do much else. 

Crushed like a Bug

I write this blog not to draw attention to my own stupidity, which is usually way to easily done without trying, but hopefully to help someone else avoid making a similar mistake.

Sometimes we get so complacent in the things we do everyday that we get careless.  I recently purchased a set of palate forks for my skid steer.  I tried to move a piece of steel pipe about 8" in diameter and 12' long.  I pushed one of the forks into the end and lifted, observing immediately that it was heavier than expected.  Evidently the pipe was full of dirt.  Things were going well until I hit a bump, which caused the pipe to bounce.  The increased weight put extra strain on the fork and bent the back plate which connects it to the skid steer.

I tried bending the back plate to its proper position by pushing the fork in the opposite direction against solid objects, like a large tree, but it didn't work. The plate is quarter inch steel and pretty rigid.  I tried a few other things that didn't work and finally decided that the best option was to put a wedge between the back plate and the place it connects to the skid steer and use the unit's hydraulics to squeeze it back into place. 

In order to do this I had to cheat the unit's safety system, something that I really know is kind of stupid.  They put such systems in place to protect stupid people from damaging themselves.  I did it anyway.  The seat switch that turns the machine off if you get up off the seat went bad a long time ago so I had by-passed it.  I started the machine and raised the safety bar and got out with the engine running.  I lowered the safety bar and pushed the button that activates the hydraulics so I could operate them from outside the cab.  Safety system effectively by-passed.

So, outside the machine I put a block of wood between the bent back plate and the plate it connects to.  Holding the block in place with my right hand I proceeded to reach inside the machine and operate the hydraulics with my left hand, which is the opposite hand normally used for that purpose.  As you can see I was build a recipe for disaster.  I activated the hydraulics a couple of times, not having the desired effect to bend the plate back into shape, but somehow the block of wood slipped. Because I was operating the controls left handed my reaction time was slow and my right hand got squeezed between the plates where the block of wood had been.

I'm sure I have not experienced a lot of pain in my life, but I don't remember ever experiencing pain like I felt having my hand crushed between those two steel plates.  There are a lot of nerve endings in the hands and fingers, and everyone of them was screaming in my right hand.  I think I almost passed out from the initial wave of pain, but maintained enough presence to reverse the hydraulics and release my hand from the machine's death grip.  For a few moments I thought every bone in my hand was broken.  The intense pain throbbed mercilessly for a few minutes, then slowly subsided to the point I could cuss. Amazingly, I didn't use any bad words, and mostly berated myself for doing something so obviously dangerous.

Luckily, it was a chilly day and I was wearing a winter glove with heavy lining which I believe, along with divine intervention, helped prevent more serious injury.  After letting the pain subsided to a manageable level, with my hand hanging at my side I put the skid steer away and went to the house.
When I removed the glove I discovered that the skin had not been broken and there was no external bleeding, but the hand was becoming scarlet and swollen. Within a few hours my hand looked like it belonged to Mickey Mouse.

Wrapping this up, I had an x-ray taken a few days later and the PA that treated me said I was really lucky because there were no broken bones.  That was hard to believe, but steeling myself against the pain I could move all my fingers and all the joints worked. It took about six weeks before I had much use of the hand, and I got fairly good at doing things with my left.  It has now been about four months and it is mostly recovered.  There is still some pain in the joints of my fingers, especially first thing in the morning, and some in my wrist when I bend it in certain positions.  My little finger still won't bend all the way, but hopefully with time and therapy it will return to normal.  I also don't have full strength in my grip or in the use of the wrist, but that is slowly improving.

So, in summary, I made a stupid mistake and I paid for it.  I have always thought of myself as one who can foresee trouble and accidents and therefore avoid them, but even so by getting a little too comfortable and complacent I failed to prevent this one.  Obviously even obsessive-compulsive behavior can't prevent all accidents, and I wouldn't want to go through life keeping myself in a protective bubble, but I have made a promise to myself to be more careful and to try to avoid getting so comfortable in every day activities that caution flees.
 

Kolob Canyon Time-lapse Video

I got a new camera a while back that has time-lapse video capability.  I experimented with it and got some interesting stuff that I want to share.  This video was taken from our front porch on November 3, 2017.  The camera was set to take one frame every 10 seconds for about three hours.

Making Wooden Bowls

I got a wood lathe in January this year (2018).  As mentioned in a previous post I got it primarily to turn a pedestal for a table I was making.  Before the table was finished I started making other things.  I started with fish bonkers, a mini baseball bat used to put a fish out of it's misery and keep it from flopping around.  I made several out of some red cedar that grows nearby and smells wonderful.

Red Cedar Fish Bonker

My next project was a bud vase.  I made it for my sweetheart for Valentines Day out of black walnut.

Black Walnut Bud Vase

I made a pair of table lamps also from black walnut.  One is shown as they are nearly identical.

Black Walnut Table Lamp

Goblets are quite easy to make and your imagination can run wild.

Black Walnut Goblet

A friend wanted an urn for his father's ashes.  

Black Walnut Urn

My first bowl.

Pinion Pine Bowl with urethane finish

I got the idea on You Tube to use root burls to make bowls.  Root burls have really interesting grain patterns but have a lot of cracks and craters.  My first root burl bowl turned out quite nice.

Scrub Oak Root Burl Bowl (unfinished)

Finding root burls without a lot of voids is hard, so I started filling the voids with epoxy resin.  It is messy but quite interesting and the results can be awesome!

Root Burl Bowl with clear epoxy inlay

Root Burl Bowl with colored epoxy inlay

Another with colored inlay

This one has gold mica epoxy inlay (My finest work so far)

A new table and a new hobby!

Sometime ago I convinced Elma Lynne to discard an old table we had in our apartment bedroom.  I did that by promising to make her a new one out of local black walnut.  I had cut down a couple of trees which I took and got milled  into lumber.  After it had dried for the requisite time I was out of excuses so I went to work on the table in January of 2018.

I cut several boards to about 48 inches in length, planed them to the desired thickness and glued them together then trimmed them to have a table top of about 39 inches square.  I had a log about 8 inches in diameter that I wanted to use for a pedestal, but I needed a fairly large lathe to mill it to size.  So I want to Harbor Freight and bought a lathe!

After a little practice I went to work on the log and turned a pretty nice pedestal, then made a base for it using some three inch thick walnut.  After a lot of sanding I put a urethane coat on it and finally presented it for Mother's Day.  It now holds a place of honor in the apartment bedroom, but I think it needs a couple of chairs.  Maybe that will be my next project, or at least a future project.

Black Walnut Table - pedestal view

Black Walnut Table - top view 

Oh, turning wood on a lathe has become my new hobby.  The reason the table took so long is that I had so much fun turning the pedestal that I started turning other stuff.  I made lamps, vases, goblets and bowls.  I watched You Tube a lot and got some neat ideas and had fun trying them out.  My main focus has become making bowls.  My next blog will be about my new hobby, turning bowls.

Thanksgiving 2018

We had most all of our family here for Thanksgiving this year.  The exceptions were Deedra who is completing her mission in Indiana and will be home on December 19th, and Nathan and his bride Lindsey who are with her family.

We put a turkey in the smoker around 6:00 pm Wednesday evening.  This is a new thing for us.  We often have bought smoked turkey before, but this is the first time we have smoked our own.

Joel and his family arrived around 8:00 pm, reporting that traffic was horrible!  We were watching a BYU basketball game and he was an hour late.  Jillyn and family arrived a couple of hours later, also victims of the traffic.  The timer popped so we got the turkey out of the smoker around 10:00 pm.  I used Mesquite wood chips because that was all I have.  If I do it again I think I will get some apple chips.  The mesquite smells a little too harsh for turkey, but it tastes fine.  The juices spilled onto the hot metal and created some more smoke which also affected the flavor some I think.

Thursday morning we made preparations for the big feast.  Another larger turkey was stuffed and put in the oven.  Darin, Clay and families arrived and we ate around 1:30 pm.  Everything was good.  Lori and Tiffany brought pies, Jillyn made rolls and Suzanne brought a good fruit salad.  Tiffany's mother joined us as she is all alone living in Hurricane.

Just before turkey.  Tiffany's mom Karen took photo.

After eating we all took a turn saying what we are thankful for, and we have so much!

Friday was kind of a casual day.   Clay, Ashlyn, Joel and Desiree got up early and went to Zion and hiked Angel's Landing. Suzanne and kids went Black Friday shopping, Jillyn and family went to a movie, some played games. and we had the annual turkey (clay pigeon) shoot.  I couldn't shoot because of my surgery, but it was fun watching the others, and taking photos.

Clay loading the thrower

Lori taking aim

Ashlyn popping a bird!

Darin and Joel figuring it out

Ashlyn loves to shoot

I left before it was finished so I could get ready for my Temple shift.  Later most of the grand kids and a few parents came to the temple and did baptisms for the dead.  It was fun to have them there.

Saturday  we had a talent show.  Most of the grand kids participated.  Some played the piano, some sang, Sydnee did a magic trick which amazed is all 😉.  Jillyn, Mckenna and Ella sang accompanied by Elma Lynne on the piano and Camille on the flute.  Camille is getting really good.  Brevin played the ukulele while Darin and Paxton sang.  Paxton has a good voice.  The adults played a few rounds of Scum while the children played in the basement, then starting at 4:00 pm some watched BYU basketball and football games while some of the women went to a movie.  Jillyn and family left to be home for Sunday responsibilities.

Sunday we got up and went to Sacrament meeting and then everyone changed clothes and headed home.  It was a great holiday and great to have our family around us.  It may be a while before we are able to have them all here again.

A Bump In The Road

I guess things were just going a little too good.  Shortly after my last post I was out getting ready to drain my sprinklers and I leaned over to open a valve and the world started spinning.  Weird sensation!  I kind of toppled over on the grass until things normalized a minute or two later. A few days later I was going into the garage to get some gloves and the next thing I remember is waking up laying under the coat rack on a pile of shoes and boots.  Now I'm getting concerned.

I called, or tried to call my cardiologist. If you have dealt with IHC's phone system you know what a joke that is. When I finally got to the receptionist she said she would get a message to Dr. Pulsipher's  PA.  Come on!  I have had my chest ripped open and am now passing out and I get the opinion of a PA?  This was on Friday afternoon, so I had no hope of hearing anything until Monday.  I finally got a callback on Monday afternoon telling me to stop taking the metoprolol. I was taking at half a 25 mg tablet twice per day. I already had talked to Clay and he told me to half my dose again which I had done all week-end.  Dr. Pulsipher's PA wanted me to switch to metoprolol ER and take half a 25 mg tablet once per day in the evening.  Didn't make much sense to me but I picked up the prescription on Tuesday and took the first dose Tuesday night.  Wednesday I was working at the Temple.  About 10:00 am I was moving from a filing cabinet to a counter when I got a weird feeling and reached for the counter to steady myself.  I woke up on the floor with people kneeling over me asking if I am okay. I was okay, and my shift was about over so my replacement took over and after talking with Elma Lynne, Joyce came and drove me home.

I guess I hit my head pretty hard when I fell.  A friend at the recommend desk, which is through the wall from the office where I fell, said he heard the thump when I hit the floor. I didn't get a goose bump, but the left side of my head was tender and I kept getting headaches for a couple of weeks.  I am also dealing with some vertigo, which may be a result of the fall, or maybe something else.

I had an appointment already scheduled for Friday, Nov 9th, just two days away for a post-op visit with my surgeon, Dr. Bruce Reid, and the cardiologist on his team, Dr, Kia Afshar, in Salt Lake, so I decided to go off the metoprolol completely and just wait and talk to them about it. Interesting thing, Dr. Reid was of the opinion that I didn't need to take the metoprolol anyway, so he discontinued it.  Both doctors agreed that it may have caused the dizziness and passing out. Just as a precautionary measure they wanted me to wear a Holter Monitor for the next two weeks.

We spent Friday night at Joel's and Went to Jillyn's play Saturday night and stayed at her house Saturday night, returning home Sunday after church.  Things seemed to be going well, although I was still having some dizziness at times.  Wednesday I was again working a shift at the Temple when Elma Lynne called and told me Dr. Reid had called and wanted me at Dixie Regional immediately for a pacemaker implant.  Evidently the Holter Monitor had reported some electrical blockage, which they felt was very serious.  My shift was over when I got the message so I drove myself home and we packed up and went to Saint George.

Dr. Afshar had pulled some strings and had everything set up for me to be admitted and prepared for surgery the next morning. Everything went well but they wanted me to satay another night for observation so I was released Friday morning and we returned home.

What a pacemaker looks like, It about 1.96" x 1.85" x .24"thick.

The doctors will tell you that a pacemaker isn't a big deal, and that in a few months you will forget you have it.  That may be, but it is life-changing in many ways.  To start with, I can't keep my cell phone in my shirt pocket as it may interfere with the pacemaker. I have to stay away from anything that produces a strong electromagnetic field, including a welder!  Got to talk to my cardiologist about that!  There are quite a few other similar restrictions, not to mention that it is hooked to a monitor that is kept by my bedside and reports to someone, somewhere daily.  I suppose when I travel that I will need to take it with me, or notify them that it will not be reporting.  I have reason to question if they would even notice if it doesn't report.

Anyhow, life goes on and I am grateful for good medical care, even though dealing with IHC's phone policies can be very frustrating.  So is their Cardiac Rehab.  They scheduled me for 36 sessions, three per week for thirty-six weeks or there about.  I went for session nine this week, November 23rd.  I had a temple shift at 4:30 pm so I planned to go around 3:00.  I arrived there shortly after that and was told they don't take patients after 3:00 pm.  When I asked why I was told that it doesn't give them enough time to get you through all the exercise and the associated reports before they close at 5:00 pm.  Give me a break!  There was only one other person in the place. Why wasn't I told this before?  Well, I bit my tongue and left, vowing never to return.  I think I will do my own rehab.

As of today, Sunday November 25th, the headaches have gone away, but I am still dealing with some vertigo when I have certain sudden head movements.  I am also experiencing a lot of muscle stiffness in the back of my thighs and up into my hips.  This started prior to the pacemaker surgery and has continued for nearly two weeks.  Sometimes it is so painful I can hardly move in certain positions.  Sometimes it seems to be getting better, then it will return.  It does seem to be getting gradually better, though it leaves me wondering what caused it and why it is hanging around.

Surgery +20

I walked to the post office and back today!  It's about two miles, some up hill but nothing really strenuous.  It felt good to be out in the cool fall air. It felt good not to have any shortness of breath, tightness in the chest or muscle fatigue.  I am much more capable 20 days after surgery than I was before surgery.  I am so pleased with the outcome thus far.

The doctor has limited my workouts while in the recovery mode.  I can't lift anything over 10 pounds; I am to keep my pulse rate under 115 bpm.  He doesn't want me driving.  I have had a home health nurse checking on me for the past two weeks.  Every day at first to just one final day this week.  I have also had a physical therapist come a few times with his last visit scheduled for day after tomorrow.  Then I "get" to go to the Cardiac Rehab Center where they will increase my workouts in a controlled setting while monitoring everything.  That should be interesting.

Notes on my surgery and hospital stay while I can still remember some of the details.  I checked into the hospital on Tuesday, October 3rd around noon.  They ran a bunch of tests and hooked up a bunch of tubes, otherwise it was fairly quiet.  John Spevak brought John Black to see his doctor in the same complex so they stopped by for a visit in the afternoon.  Jillyn and Kenny, Joel & family, Darin and Clay came around 7:00 pm and my sons and son-in-law gave me a blessing.  It was a really great experience to have them all there, worthy and willing to participate.  Darin anointed me with consecrated oil and then Clay sealed the anointing and gave the accompanying blessing.  It was very special.  Elma Lynne also asked for a blessing and Kenny and Joel were voice for her.

Wednesday morning they got going around seven.  I don't remember much of what happened for the next six or so hours.  I have some vague recollections of coming out of the anesthesia but they are sketchy.  They told me that when they pulled the breathing tube out my heart stopped.  I guess that got them excited.  Fortunately they had some wires inserted and attached to an external pacemaker so they just turned it on and my heart responded.

I don't remember much pain, though coughing was (and is) excruciating!  They gave me Noxall (Loritab) when I asked for it which was mostly when I wanted to sleep.  Food wasn't very appealing particularly when I got constipated, which was most of the time.  Medication for that eventually created the opposite effect and I still didn't feel much like eating.

The staff had me up walking the day after surgery and within a couple of days I was doing laps around the halls.  They had me take stairs on Sunday.

We watched Utah State thrash BYU in football Saturday night, then watched as much of General Conference as possible.  I think I slept through more than I watched.

Elma Lynne stayed in the hospital room with me for a few nights, then went to Jillyn's for a few.  Jillyn visited often.  Clay stayed through Thursday, Darin came after work when he could.  Joel brought his family a couple of times.  Joyce and Dorian came Saturday, Steve and Angela came on Sunday.

They released me on Monday and we made the trip home, arriving around 6:00 pm.  It is good to have that experience behind me.  Now to get on with the healing.

Time to Blog Again?

This has been a strangely different year for me thus far.  Some life changing experiences.  It seems like sometimes we need to take a look at our own mortality to keep things in perspective.  Or maybe to motivate us to blog again!

I was diagnosed with a heart murmur several years ago.  It didn't seem too serious at the time.  A few tests were run to see if I ran the risk of making it worse by getting infections... outcome negative.  So I went about life as usual, thinking I was pretty healthy, almost to the point of being invincible.  My main physical pursuit was hiking.  I set a goal to hike the highest peak in every county in Utah... and almost made it.  I hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim four times as I passed 59 and eased into my 60's. I was also enjoying horseback riding in the mountains near home, "shed hunting", golfing, fishing, gardening and about anything else that could be done outside.

My annual wellness check in 2014 revealed the heart murmur getting worse.  My doctor sent me to a cardiologist who ran test after test.  I was also starting to feel some symptoms; shortness of breath, muscle fatigue, that kind of thing.  Tests revealed I have a condition called HOCM or Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy.  The wall between the ventricles of my heart is growing thicker to the point that it is obstructing the blood outflow to the aorta.  Mitral valve function is also impaired.

Tests and more tests over the next few years along with more medications and the problem continues to get worse.  In 2017 hiking with friends or golfing finds me lagging behind.  It is not uncommon  for the group to have to wait for me, something I am not used to.  As 2018 begins I am realizing I need to get something done.  My cardiologist tells me that he has done all he can for me.  Next step is surgery.

When it comes to treating HOCM surgically, two options are available.  The least invasive is called septal alcohol ablation.  It consists of running a catheter into your heart, targeting some specific veins in the septum and releasing enough alcohol to kill some of the muscle.  Basically creating a "controlled" heart attack.  Option two is called septal myectomy.  More invasive.  They open your chest and go inside your heart and surgically trim the excess muscle.

Initially my cardiologist recommended that I go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, premier center for this procedure.  Sometime around late 2017 the Intermountain Heart Institute in Salt Lake City was awarded a "Center of Excellence" for this procedure.  I decided to check them out, and was very impressed with the doctors and staff there.  The decision was made to have septal myectomy in Late September 2018.

It is kind of hard to make the decision t have your chest opened and your heart stopped when you don't really have to.  I rationalized that I could get along fairly well for a few more years without treatment.  I would be getting old fast, my activity would be limited, but I would be alive.  With surgery I could be returned to a nearly normal healthy lifestyle.  The deciding factor:  inevitably; it would have to be done sooner or later.  Do it now while I am still relatively healthy, or wait until I "have" to have it done and risk longer recovery and more complications?  The choice was not hard for me.  I chose to have more good years.

Surgery was scheduled for October 3rd at the Intermountain Heart Institute in Murray Utah.  I survived as confirmed by this blog.  Details in my next one.

The Beauty of Guam I

I am missing spring in Southern Utah.  I don't mean that I am just not there, I am really missing it!  I want to see the fields turn green, the trees leaf out, the birds returning from wherever they spend the winter.   I want to see the wildflowers bloom and the ducks on the pond as they pass through.  I want to see new calves and colts, and fawns following their mothers.  I really love this time of year.  You would think I have been gone for a long time, but you don't have to be gone that long to really miss something I guess.  I'm glad I will only miss one spring, and that I will be home this time next year.

With that being said, I will probably miss Guam as soon as I am gone.  There is a different kind of beauty here.  A kind of beauty we don't see much living in the desert.  It is green here all the time, only the shades change. So I am going to do a few blogs capturing the beauty around us here, and enjoy it to the fullest while we have the chance.  Along with the beauty I will include some interesting details about the weather, geography, history, culture and people.

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They only have two seasons here, the rainy season and the really rainy season.  Average rainfall is 100.61 inches.  The wettest months are July -November, with August and September getting the most rain.

Storms kind of sneak up on you.  There is hardly ever any thunder or lightning.  There are almost always clouds, and you can't always tell when they are serious.  You may thing that there is little chance of rain, and twenty minutes later it will be coming down in buckets.  Even when there are just a few clouds, rainstorms have a way of appearing almost out of nowhere.

The rain is always warm, and sometimes quite welcome as a brief cool-down.  The temperatures range from a low of 68 to a high of 86, at least that's what the weather bureau says.  Our experience would put it at 76 to 92. Weather charts will tell you the average is 80 degrees, but it has been more like 86 since we have been here.  Average relative humidity runs from 73 to 80%, and once you get used to it that isn't too bad except when you have to be working out in it.  You can be soaking wet with sweat in a matter of a few minutes of exertion, but then the evaporation kind of cools you off so it is a mixed blessing.  The trade winds blow frequently and that also helps cool things off, or at least it seems cooler.  The evenings and early mornings are almost always pleasant and a nice time to be out.

The commercial power for Guam is generated by huge diesel engines which spew a lot of smoke into the air on the east-central part of the island.  Because of the trade winds it dissipates quite quickly, but it also makes for some beautiful sunsets, a few of which I have captured on film.  In the coming days I will share more of the beauty of Guam and its culture.

Ripple Effect

My wife and I are serving as the office couple in the Micronesia Guam Mission.  Last week we got word of a tsunami warning issued for some of the islands in our mission as a result of an 8.0 earthquake in the Solomon Islands, hundreds of miles to the southeast.  The ripple effect created by an earthquake spawned tsunami will send a tidal surge out from the epicenter in all directions.  Depending on a lot of different factors, these surges may grow as they travel, and particularly as they reach shallow water, or they may become smaller and eventually dissipate.  In this case the surge dissipated and never reached our islands, but was fresh in my mind as another ripple effect touched my life today.

I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Australia from August 1966 to August of 1968.  It was an experience that changed my life.  I was a scared kid fresh off the farm with a scant knowledge and a weak testimony, dropped into the middle of Melbourne, a city of over a million.  I learned to adapt.  I worked hard.  I studied.  I followed the program and had what I considered very limited success.  I baptized four people, at least one that I know of had left the church before I left the country.

Counting baptisms probably isn't a fair way to measure a mission.  I have always considered myself one of my most important converts.  I came to know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is His son and the Savior of the world.  I came to know for myself that His church was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that Priesthood Authority is found in His church today.  I learned that the Holy Spirit will guide us and if we are in tune, and that if we listen and obey we will be blessed beyond measure.

In addition to gaining a testimony, I grew up.  I learned to have confidence in my own abilities.  I learned to take care of myself, to cook, to clean, to study, to communicate with people, to teach and testify.  I learned to handle money, to take care of a car and I learned to lead others.

I was in the final quarter of my mission, on a split, knocking on doors with a new young missionary in his area when we met the White family.  Mrs. White invited us in and said she wanted to hear our message.  As we prepared she mentioned that her twins, Ross and Robin, would be home shortly and that they might like to hear our message.  We waited, thinking that they were probably young, maybe in their early teens.  When they came we were surprised to find out they were about our age.

We taught the White family over the next few weeks,  it was a joyful experience.  Though they weren't in my area I was the district leader and arranged to be in on as many of the discussions as possible. Then I got transferred.  Though I was only on the other side of town, I kind of lost track of  the White's.  I heard the Ross and Robin had been baptized, and that their mom was ready but waiting for her husband.  I left the mission field a few months later and totally lost track of the Whites.

It was General Conference time in 2003 I think, and I can't remember if it was April or October when I got the call.  It was from the wife of a former missionary companion from Logan.  She related that she had been waiting outside the Conference Center to pick up her husband after Priesthood Meeting.  She had been talking with a lady with a strong accent and asked if she was from Australia, and the lady confirmed that she was.  She mentioned that her husband had been a missionary there, and the lady then asked if she happened to know an Elder Prince!  Yes, the lady was Robin White Hancock.  She too was waiting for her husband, and mentioned that she wanted to make contact with some of the missionaries that taught her back in 1968.  Of course the connection was made.

The Hancocks and he Princes, 2005

It was such a thrill for me to learn that Robin was strong in the gospel, that she had married in the church and that she and her husband had four daughters, three of them had served missions, one was married and had a new baby, so they now had three generations in the church.  We weren't able to get together on that visit, but on a subsequent visit in 2005 Robin and her husband Graham came to our home in Kamas and we had a barbecue and caught up on old times.  We have stayed in touch off and on since then through occasional emails, and since being called on our mission to Guam I have been sending them our monthly epistles.

Today I got a reply from Robin that brought tears to my eyes.  I share a portion of that email here:
 

"Yesterday while attending  a baptism, l couldn't but help think of the on going, ripple effect, of your mission in Australia so long ago.  Let me explain.  Our third daughter Lorelei, unintentionally and casually introduced the gospel to her school friend about 6 months ago. The baptism yesterday was the result.  This came on top of another baptism of her neighbour in June last year.  Lorelei and her husband Hans became good friends with their neighbours who lived a few houses away from them.  Unexpectedly they began asking about the church, consequently, the wife was baptised  followed by her husband a few weeks later.  Because they are military people they were transferred to Darwin but remain very active.  All of this has been wonderful for Lorelei and Hans as Lorelei served her mission on Temple Square and didn't see the outcome of her mission. Thank you once again for coming to my door 43 years ago.

 

The ripple effect!  Sometimes good, and perhaps great things happen as a result of some small thing, which leads to another small thing and then another.  Quite often these little things happen and the links go quite unknown or unnoticed. I feel very blessed to be aware of these particular ripples, they have blessed my life.  To know that because the Spirit whispered, and two missionaries listened, a life was changed, then another and another. To know that even though you may not baptize, the good you have done, the seeds you have planted, may someday grow, and if properly nourished the fruit will be ever so sweet.  As the ripples continue to spread, everyone whose life is touched will feel the Savior's blessing wherein he promised, "how great shall be your joy".

We're Going On A Mission

We have planned on serving a mission for a long time and things have come together to make it a reality. We filled out all the required papers, got the physical exams and had interviews with our Bishop and Stake President

 

We were recruited by a friend and business acquaintance, Stephen Mecham, who is the President of the Micronesia Guam Mission, so we weren't surprised when the call came to serve there.  Or perhaps we could say we recruited him.

 

We received our call on Friday, June 29th.We will be serving for 18 months, working primarily in the Mission Office taking care of finances, vehicles, housing, travel, records and correspondence.

 

We have a lot to do to get ready such as immunizations, photos, shopping for clothing and supplies and getting the house and farm closed up.

 

We are really excited for this opportunity to serve our Heavenly Father and the people of Micronesia.Our responsibilities in the Mission Office will be our primary focus, and we look forward to doing all we can to make the work run smoothly for the President, his staff and all the missionaries.We also hope we have the opportunity to work in a local ward and get to know the people on a personal level.

 

Of course before leaving we had to have a few family gatherings.  the hard part was it seemed like we had to say goodbye every time we saw them.

Prostate Cancer III

I had my three month and six month cancer check-up and so far everything seems okay.  My PSA at there months was down to 1.6 and at six months it was down to 1.5.  We would all like to see it lower, and it may continue to decrease but maybe not.

I was not the least bit impressed with my urologist and the three month check-up.  He couldn't find the results of the PSA test so he asked me what it was.  I had been on the website so I knew and told him and that was about it.  He didn't examine anything, ask me how I was feeling or anything.  He did ask if I had any questions so I asked him if some of the conditions I was experiencing were permanent.  His reply was "well, they pretty much fried your prostate so you have to expect that".  I can't help but think he is a little put off that we didn't accept his offer to surgically remove it.

I was cleared to procedde with submitting papers to serve a mission, so we made appointments to have our mission physicals and begin that process.

At six months I saw Dr. Richards, the radiation oncologist.  He was very concerned, friendly and I really felt like I had been to the doctor when we were finished.  We told him we had a mission call and he was happy for us and gave me the paper work I would need to get PSA tests done in Guam.

I guess there is not any way to know if your cancer is cured other than the test of time.  If the PSA remains low then the cancer is in remission.  If it starts to climb then they didn't get it all.  You just have to monitor that level fairly closely for a while and see what happens.  Dr. richards seens quite confident that the treatments have done their job and I can only hope he is right. 

Recovery, Treatment and More

Prostate Cancer Part III

Recovery comes in stages, because thats how treatment comes. After each treatment you have two weeks to recover, then they do it all again. Two more times.

Considering what I had been through I was feeling pretty good when we left the surgical center that Thursday evening. Prior to leaving Dr. Richards asked how I was doing and I challenged him to a race across the parking lot. Of course he wisely declined. I talked Ellie into stopping at Nielson's Frozen Custard and we had a treat to enjoy on the trip home.

As directed I took it easy for a couple of days, reading, resting, watching tv and playing computer games. I had no swelling and no bleeding from the prostate catheters, and very little pain. The moist severe pain was from the bladder catheter. Urinating after its removal was excruciating! It felt like you were eliminating hydrocloric acid! That persisted for a few days, but gradually the pain subsided. Saturday we went to town and I got a haircut and we ran some ereands. By Sunday I was feeling good enough to attend to my church responsibilities, and Monday I went to work outside. There was some fatigue, I didn't have the stamina to work too long, but it felt food to get out and try. I gradually got stronger each day and by the time my two weeks ended I was ready for round two.

The second treatment was on Thursday, February 2nd. Things went much the same as the first and I was soon home recovering again. This time the pain from the bladder catheter was not quite as bad, but I really suffered from hemmoroids. It felt like instead of a nice smooth ultrasound probe they had used a very large dry corncob! It gave a whole new meaning to the Johnny Cash song 'Ring of Fire". It seemed like just as I started to get some relief I would have a bowel movement and the pain would start all over again. It wasn't a totally debilitating pain, but just the same you didn't really feel like doing much of anything. At the same time it seemed to help to do something to get your mind off the pain. I spent a lot of time sitting on an ice bag, and was just starting to get some relief whan treatment three rolled around.

Treatment three was on Thursday, February 16th. I was dreading it this time, yet at the same time wanted to get it over so I could start to heal premanttly. They moved our starting time back an hour, so we arrived at 7:00am and it all started again. I had a little talk to the doctors about being a little more careful when inserting foreign objects into my body,. Otherwise the procedure was a repaet of the two previous ones, with the exception that this time I knew I didn't have to come back.

During the five hour recovery period we talked to the other couple sharing the room and discovered that he was the brother of a missionary I knew 40+ years ago in Australia from Burley Idaho. He got right on the phone and called him and even got through but by the time he did I was in for the next session.

Recovery this time was more like the first treatment.  I'm not sure why the second was so bad but if they had all been like that one I wouldn't have survived.  Healing takes a while, and three months after you have recovered from most of the temporary effects, some seem to be more lasting and may never go away.  Nonetheless youare greatful for good Doctors and modern medicine.

Brachytherapy

Prostate Cancer Part II

Brachytherapy (pronounced by most as 'brakie-therapy'),is a high dose targeted internal radiation. This type of treatment is used for several other cancer types as well, including breast, lung, cervical, but I will confine my discussion to the treatment of prostate cancer.

I was given the option of several different treatment types, including (1) prostatectomy, which is the surgical removal of the prostate and associated tissues, (2) external beam radiation, where low dose radiation is targeted at the cancer from the outside, which is less invasive but requires as many as 40 or more treatments, (3) hormonal, which involves the injection of certain drugs into your system to suppress the growth of male hormones that speed the cancer's growth , and (4) brachytherapy.

I chose brachytherepy for several reasons. First, it involves three treatment days separated by two week recovery periods and you are done; second, it leaves all your organs in place so at least you have a chance of them healing and resuming normal function; third, it is very targeted and specific, involving minimal damage to surrounding tissues and organs; fourth, Dr. Ray Richards comes very highly recommended by others who have had the treatment; and fifth, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

Dr. Ray Richards, Radiation Oncologist

My treatments began on January 19th with a 6:00am arrival at the Coral Desert Surgical Center in St. George. Starting about 24 hours prior you have to go through a prep procedure which involves taking a stool softener in the morning, then after a normal lunch begin fasting. You are allowed clear liquids until midnight and after that only a sip of water to take any required meds. Before bed you take two Imodium and a fleets enema. First thing next morning two more Imodium. This prepares your bowels by basically stopping them so that they don't interfere with the procedure the next day.

After checking in at the surgical center you are taken to the prep area where you remove clothing and put on a gown and elastic stockings. They give you some nausea medicine, take your vitals, have you sign consent forms, put in an IV and then wait.

the 'prep' room

Around 7:00am you are taken into surgery, where you are moved onto the surgical table where you sit up while they give you a local anesthetic to numb things a little before giving you the shot in the spine to deaden your lower body. As you feel your feet start to tingle and numbness spread they lay you down and put your feet is stirrup-like apparatus so you are basically in the birthing position. To guide them in what is to follow, they put in a catheter through your penis into your bladder, position a fluoroscope over your abdomen and insert an ultrasound probe into your rectum.

I can see the ultrasound monitor as I lay there listening to the doctors plotting the procedure. The team consists of Dr. Ray Richards, radiation oncologist, Dr Greg Taylor, urologist, a couple of nurses and of course the Anesthesiologist. You know they are doing things to you but it is rather detached, almost like it is someone else because you can feel nothing. It is a little errie watching the monitor and seeing the catheters slowly being inserted, knowing that they are invading your body. It is good that you are convinced it will help, but just the same there is nothing you can do except perhaps scream. Instead I tell the doctors I am doing fine.

They place a template on the perineum between your scrotum and anus. Through this template they insert 18 thin plastic catheters into the prostate gland as pre-determined by computer analysis using the biopsy to determine where to place each one. When this is done a CAT scan assures that they are in the correct position, and you are ready to be 'illuminated'.

the afterloader

nurse Tyler connecting the afterloader

After a short wait you are wheeled into the lead-lined room, and connected to a machine called an afterloader. Each of the 18 catheters is connected to a corresponding port on the afterloader. This machine contains a single highly radioactive iridium pellet at the end of a wire. The pellet is pushed into each of the catheters one by one under computer control. The computer controls how long the pellet stays in each catheter (dwell time), and where along the catheter it should pause to release its radiation (dwell positions). This very precise treatment takes around 20 minutes, after which you are taken to a recovery room for a five hour wait.

During the five hour recovery you can read, watch dvds, visit eat or sleep. After the rest they take you back and hook you to the afterloader again and repeat the treatment. When this is finished they remove the 18 catheters from your prostate and the one from your bladder. They make sure that you are passing urine and that there are no blood clots, and that the bleeding has stopped, then put a diaper on you and help you get dressed. Then they walk you to your vehicle and send you home. The entire event has lasted between eight and nine hours.