Recovery form Surgery

Hi to all, thanks for the comments that you have left, this is Jay. Well as great as the surgery was and the outlook, the recovery has not gone so great, Kym was very worried from the start that her bladder would not function properly, well all the worrying was for not on that issue because her bladder is working pretty good, she pee'd on her own yesterday for the first time, they will take out the bladder tube when she can pee the majority of her bladder's contents into the toilet. The biggest problem and one which she nor I were prepared was the gas in her bowels and her inability to get it out. She has spent the last 3 days in agony with gas pains and no way to get the gas out. I am told that her bowels have become lazy from the surgery and it takes time for them to wake up and smell the coffee or stink I guess is a better phrase. I arrived last night just in time to see her just about in tears and in so much pain that I was nearly in tears, and my in-laws got to see as well. Kym was upset that they had to see her in so much pain. Thankfully as my in-laws arrived the nurse was giving Kym a shot of Demerol and after 15 minutes Kym exclaimed" I don't know what that was that they gave me but man is it good ". My in-laws stayed for an hour or so and my mother-in-law washed Kym's hair and sat with her while Kym at her liquid supper, Kym has not had solid food for 5 days since her bowels are not working, to give her food would just worsen the problem. Kym wanted to walk for a while after my in-laws left and after a few spins around the hospital block (floor) she stopped, and let out a long toot which produced a gleam in her eyes and smile on her face, a short walk down the hall and another one came out and then again another. She felt relief in her abdomen and I think relief that maybe , finally her bowels are starting to do their thing. I got her back into bed since a few spins around the block (floor) tuckered her out, She was also wanting to find out if she could stay in bed and toot away. If it keeps up she will be able to start eating solid foods again and get closer to coming home. The other problem which may or may not be more serious is that Kym has developed an infection around the incision. She has what appears to be cellulitous. Kym has a big red ring all around the incision site and it goes down onto the top of her thighs and around to her back. She is having some pain from it as well. They started Kym on oral antibiotics yesterday, 4 times a day, I have no idea what the length of time is for her to come home, the lady across form her went home yesterday and she was not in the best of shape but she just wanted to leave and that was after 8 days there. Kym might have to do the same. I think if the gas pain stuff is over and she is peeing good, she could be home by Monday. They might want to see her have a bowel movement first though. Thank you to all who have kept us in their prayers, we are by no means out of the woods yet, if you would like a verbal update tonight you can call me on my cell phone 519 505 4989. I will be at the hospital at around 4 o'clock and home by 10 or so. Thank you everyone for your prayers and love and support God is so very wonderful and awesome.

Surgery Day June 26th 2007

Hi All, this is Kym's husband Jay, obviously Kym cannot post this because right now she is high as a kite and resting in her room at the hospital. She had her Surgery today and it went off without a hitch, we were there at 5:45 am, we were let in to the sugical waiting room at 6:00 am and then the nurse got thigs rolling. We were escorted over to the main waitng area to await the sugical team and nurses who would be looking after my precious wife. We saw the sugeon prior to Kym going under and he explained that he had changed his mind about how the surgery would be performed. Originally it was to be done with laproscopy but the Surgeon was not comfortable with the amount of pressure that would be exserted on Kym's lungs and was not going to take any risk with her lungs, so Kym had the conventional surgery with the incision just above the pubic line, the tube for the bladder is just below the incision. The Surgeon came and talked to me after all was said and done, there were no complications and very little bleeding(200cc) and he said"he did not see anything scary" while inside Kym's abdomen. The lymph nodes that were disected were all equal in size and shape and he does not think there has been any spreading of the cancer. We will not fully know for 4 weeks what the pathology says but it looks like our multiple amounts of prayers have been answered. Kym has an I.V. line in that is giving her a little fluid and she has a P.C.A. machine to give herself a shot of Morphine when the pain is too much, she can press the buton to get a shot every 10 minutes, but she has been holding back a bit. From the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you for the prayers that you have said for us and for the support you have given us while we have had to deal with this, more so for Kym than myself, we are trully trully blessed with awsome friends and family, I thank God for that, without you standing with us I have no idea how we (I) would deal with this, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

With Love Jay

On a Horse High.....

Not to be confused with being on a "high horse". I've been having a great horse week. Wednesday we (Elsa and I) got Brandy into a canter. Me on his back and Elsa "encouraging" him with the carrrot stick. Well, did I get a ride. I'm thinking him and I will go into the stampede for bucking bronco contests...hahahahaha.....but after the little bucking incident and I was still on his back, he got into a serious canter and it was great!! We are coming along so well. I needed to take a couple days off of riding because of the serious bruising from landing on the saddle horn with the inside of my legs (that will look nice for the surgeon by Tuesday). But this morning we went for a nice relaxing trail ride with Elsa and Becky and their horses of course. I'm planning tomorrow and Monday to do some more cantering before I'll be off the "horse high" for a couple months.

My Harley Horse

My Brandy in Harley colours........Tonight I had him in a canter for the first time on his back. It was a short one, but enough to know that we are heading in that direction. It felt great!!

So, I've had another Alabama road trip this past week. We left in the wee early morning hours on Tuesday and home in the wee early morning hours of Friday. Another great trip meeting new people. I really enjoy the trucking life, but I'm sure its a novelty that would wear off if I had to do it everyday (so say the Paul Quail boys!!) I thought I might get to see another part of the US, but Eddie travels much the same as Jay and I......a 25 or so hour drive took us 72 hours......lots of stops, then eating, then nap time, then back on the road, then shopping time....I've discovered shopping at midnight is very quiet!! But anyway, because the one trip took so long, there wasn't another trip mid week. I had a blast again!!! Back home to reality and getting ready for surgery. I'm riding Brandy as much as I can and my bike as well. It won't be long and it will all be over!!

Cystic Fibrosis Charity Poker Run

Started our day leaving Kitchener in the beautiful sun fully leathered and chapped because there was a cool wind. We stopped to pick up John who came with us and we were on the road to Cayuga by 9:15. We arrived in Cayuga along with 147 other bikes, at least half of them with passengers. Our tour started at 11:30 and we were off in a roar.

The first part of our trip was the best scenery. We mostly travelled along the lakeshore of Lake Erie and stopped in Port Dover. (there will be ALOT more bikes there in a few weeks for Friday the 13th!!). We then headed to Port Rowan. This is a pic of the friends we rode with today. Dick in the forefront the next set of headlights is John.....

I realized that I didn't have any pictures of myself on the bike...so here I am....look closely in the mirror..... and Jay is in here as well...at least his shoulder is.....

Midway through the day, it got a little cloudy......

A couple more nice scenery shots with a line of bikes. We had some beautiful curvy roads with lush green trees.

After these pics, my battery died on my camera, so I borrowed Judy's from the ride and she'll send me some and I'll post them as well. We had one more stop in Waterford before heading back to Cayuga for a yummy roast beef on a bun dinner. The ride, just in sponsors alone raised $13,363.00. Jay and I personally raised $739.25. Sylvana....another lady with CF who comes to the ride every year always wins for the most sponsors. She blew the roof off with over $3000.00 in sponsors.....so family and friends......next year I want to win first prize for the most sponsors....I'm going to reach for $5000.00!!!?????

There was only one slight mishap on the ride this year and that was with our friend Dick. We were almost back to Cayuga when Dick's reflection disappeared from Jay's helmet. Jay dropped me off at the last stop and went back to find out what happened. Dick had blown his throttle cable and Mr. Mechanic Jay was able to fix it for him in about 20 minutes so he was able to get home to Oshawa. Other than that, the day was amazing. We are 2 for 2 for nice weekends for charity bike rides. (well, we're done now, so a good record for the summer). Another 400km for us today and another 11 hours in the saddle. We are blessed to have the ability to enjoy riding together on a great bike.

Ride for Refuge

Jay and I spent our weekend in Oshawa to do the Ride for Refuge. The Refuge is a place where the homeless and street kids of Oshawa can go to experience God's love through the staff and volunteers who provide meals, cloths, counselling, shoulders to cry on, ears to listen, bibles and so many different programs to help the youth through different parts of their lives.


We left Friday at 2pm in the slight drizzle from Kitchener. This is what Black Beauty looks like all packed for the weekend. Yes, Jay and I both fit on there somewhere yet!!!! We headed north and drove to Orangville in the sunshine and went east on Highway 9 all the way through to north of Ajax. We didn't hit any weekend traffic and had a great 5 hour ride to Oshawa. We stayed the night at good friends from church in Bowmanville both Friday and Saturday night.


Saturday morning was bright, sunny and HOT!! This pic is of Clarence, the E.D. of The Refuge and Dick, who is the coordinator of the ride (and also the great friend who let us stay at his house for the weekend)




This year was the 2nd annual ride and last year only 15 bikes showed up for the event....in the pouring rain. This year there were 33 bikes in the ride with most rides having a passenger.








The bikes lined up and over the other side of the parking lot. We left the lot at about 9:15 and travelled through some amazing country side throught the Kawarthas. We stopped in Cambellford for our first Tim Horton's break. We then headed to the Bellville area. After a stop at Bellville Timmie's, we headed through the Bay of Quinte where we were able to cool down a bit from the breezes along the waters edge. The scenery was spectacular. I have no pictures of that...hard to do as a passenger on a bike... We stopped in Cobourg for another bum rest at another Tim Hortons and then travelled along the lakeshore of Lake Ontario heading into Courtice where we stopped for a great BBQ put
on by the staff and volunteers of The Refuge.

Our BBQ site had some great shade, great food, great prizes and most of all great fellowship with people we haven't seen in a long time and meeting new people. We were in the saddle about 6 hours, put on just over 300 km's and had a great day.




Saturday night we just relaxed with Dick and Pieta and I had an early night. Sunday, we had an awesome breakfast of porridge and sausages, bacon and eggs before heading to church. We were able to see so many people that we miss so much since moving away from Oshawa. We had lunch with other great friends Stan and Bernice before heading home to Kitchener in overcast threatening to rain sky's. We arrived home happy, dry and tired from a great weekend. Our 1st motorbike trip of the season clocked about 800km and sitting in the saddle for about 14 hours. We had an amazing weekend and are so very blessed to have so many friends who love us.