My Story: The Tragedy (Part 2)

The time was finally here, I was headed into my first surgery at the end of April 2021.  My surgeon had already told me it would take at least two surgeries as the tumor had grown into several places.  I went in early that morning for surgery and was prepped.  I remember being rolled from pre-op down to the operating room.  This was the first time I had seen an operating room other than on TV.  When I got to the operating room there were several nurses and assistants in the room already before I got there.  One of the nurses that was preparing me for surgery asked me to slide off the gurney they rolled me in on and onto the operating table.  I remember this as it was an indication of how active I was at the time.  The nurse got me positioned on the table then the surgeon came in, this is my last memory as I was put under anesthesia.  My first medical surgery ever other than dental surgeries as a kid would be brain surgery!

The next morning I woke up in the ICU with my wife waiting in the room.  As the days in ICU progressed I had many visits from my family.  After this surgery I spent about a week in the hospital for recovery.  In the ICU the nurses would come in and want me to get out of bed and walk the hallways.  The first day I walked one lap around the hallways.  By the end of my time in ICU I think I would walk about three laps in the hallways multiple times a day.  It felt so good to be able to walk!  One evening while in ICU a nurse came in and told me that I needed to move from ICU down to another hospital room.  She helped get my things together then rolled me down the hallway to a step down unit and not ICU.  I only stayed in this room one night in the room then was released to go home.  I was beyond glad to be back home for multiple reasons but sleeping in this step down room was impossible.  About the time I would go to sleep a nurse would have to come in for a screening or medicine.  It sure was good to be back in my bed and home with my family where friends could come visit!

When I got home I had several visitors during my recovery.  I remember a visitor that is also a good friend and member from Pauline.  He knew I loved to garden so he brought me a couple potted tomato plants so I would have something that year.  A lot of my recovery time was just sitting in our Adirondack chairs in the backyard.  I never just sit but it felt good to be outside.  Having the tomato plants to work with was nice as I needed something to do.

Before my surgery I had done as much preparation work on my garden as I could.  I tilled up a plot that I planned to plant.  I had even started some seeds in trays so I would have some plants to plant when the time came.  Over the plot I had tilled I had put what they call a silage tarp over it to keep the weeds down.  A silage tarp is basically a big piece of plastic sheeting.  After a few weeks of recovery my parents came over and helped me get the plants in the ground.  My daughter and I planted a flower garden in the plot and I planted some corn.  Here I was with my potted tomato plants from my friend plus an in-ground garden.  In the in-ground garden I planted a corn patch too.  The corn patch would end up being picked by neighbors since I was unable after the second surgery.  Thankfully they gave us some packages of frozen corn from it to enjoy later.

During this time the surgeon called with my second surgery date.  The end of June 2021 was when it was scheduled.  After about a month from my first surgery I was back at it.  Some days I would find myself unusually tired but other than that I was ok.  I was back at work and life seemed to be back to normal.  At least normal after brain surgery.  I spent a week this time in the hospital and another two or three weeks at home in recovery at home with many days having check up appointments and lab work to check on things.

Right before my second surgery I taught a section of a training session we had at work.  Not to be completely a map nerd but my section was on the public land survey system (PLSS) – look it up if you don’t know about PLSS.  The Public Land Survey System is what was done after the Louisiana Purchase.  I could write pages on the history of that but I’ll spare you but I’d recommend it if you’re a history person.  Here with our work and clients much is based on the Louisiana Purchase and the surveys that were done afterwards.  If you’ve bought some property there is probably a survey and/or a legal description of the property and much of that here is based on the public land survey system.  Up until a few days ago (June 2022) this would end up being the last training session I did.  In 2022 I was assisted by my team and the meeting was with a very understanding map user and even with my communication problems with my teams’ help we were able to complete the meeting.  When I was not in our training session in June 2021 I would be in my office preparing for when I was scheduled to be out for surgery and did not mention it to our clients.  Again, I figured that as before I would be out for a few weeks then back at it. Little did I know a complete change was coming…

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