jdmidwest

Its nice to be getting back to normal. The surgery was pretty intense, but less painful than I expected. I posted some pics a while back. Things have healed up since. The tongue has hair on it now... The arm looks and works so much better. I almost passed out the day they unwrapped it and I got my first good look. It is almost fully functional again, just tender in spots.

First of all, thanks for all the thoughts and prayers from this group during my cancer issue. On Oct. 30, I was diagnosed with cancer of the tongue, stage 2 with a tumor about the size of a marble at the time of surgery on Nov. 23. Everything went well, they replaced about half of my free mobile tongue with a portion of my forearm and excised the cancer part along with my lymph nodes. I spent 9 hours in surgery, 7 days in the hospital, 2 1/2 weeks with a feeding tube and trach in my neck and nose. Results came back on Dec.9, no cancer was found outside the area of the tongue they cut out. Cancer free, no further chemo or radiation treatment. One little hiccup on week 4, the neck incision developed an infection that put me back in for 2 days of hospital observation. I have been back at work now almost 2 weeks. Customers and friends do not notice any difference in my speech. All that know what I have been thru are amazed to see me back to normal only 6 weeks after going into surgery. The arm has recovered most of its usage and mobility. I can talk, eat, swallow, and do everything normally with my new tongue. Life is almost normal again other than a few surgical scars. The new part of my tongue has hair growing on it, just like it did when it was on my arm, an interesting little conversation starter. I dropped about 20 lbs while on the feeding tube and actually feel better. I am now at my normal weight that I should be. I have spent the last few weeks thanking all that helped me along the way. Of course the surgeon and staff in St. Louis have been receiving my praises since I woke up after surgery. I have went back to the dentist and staff that found it. I have contacted the ER doc that first saw me later that afternoon, he was really concerned as he was the first one to officially say, "its cancer". What really amazes me is how many people were pulling for me. I don't do Facebook or other social media. This forum is my only outlet to the digital world other than my face to face connections in real life. My life has been spent dealing with the public for the last 30 years in some form or another. I keep getting stories about how it has gotten out on family and friends Facebook pages and how complete strangers were praying for my health. People telling me how they had me in their prayer group at church. It is getting to be pretty overwhelming to fathom the support I had going thru all of this. All of the stories coming in from friends and family telling me about others that have contacted them asking about my progress. I thank the Lord for being able to talk, eat, swallow, and function as almost nothing happened. I am above all thankful that I am now cancer free and pray that I will stay that way. And again, I thank all that have supported me along this part of my journey thru life.

I use a Renzetti Traveler. Have used it for about 25 years now. I upgraded it once when they cam out with the cam lever jaws, I replaced my old screw jaw one. It holds any size fly up to 2/0 very well. Full rotary, quick to mount a hook, and fairly reasonable for price. It is a high quality vice with good reviews. If you are tying alot of large flies, they have a saltwater version for big hooks.

Actually the life jacket might have saved your life. The body's normal reaction to frigid water is suck up and quit breathing or suck in a lung of water. The jacket would have kept your head up till the initial shock was over. I always wear a life jacket when fully clothed, in waders, or when the water is cold enough to create a shock. Glad you made it out.

Jan. and Feb. started with trips to fish for trout in Catch and Release areas and put and take ponds. Spring time brought goofy weather and lots of water. Panfish did well on lakes, rivers were too big to fish locally. Several planned trips were spent drinking beer watching muddy water rise or rain. Kayaks only spent one weekend on the Spring River and one weekend floating the Current/Jacks Fork. Something else kept them off the water all summer. We had one good jet boat trip on the 11 pt for a few days, then got rained out. August brought a turn of events for me. Lake and river fishing in Tennessee was the trip every weekend. Weather was fair most weekends. We travelled to fish Center Hill Lake and tailwater. The lake was uneventful, cold front messed up fishing. Tailwater trout fishing was pretty good, we were catching good numbers of small trout less than 10 inches. I think I spent every weekend and most vacation days from Aug thru Sept on TN waters with some great trips. Oct. had a few good weekends till the last one, which was the cancer diagnoses. From that point on, it was focus on getting the cancer out and recovery. Surgery was Thanksgiving. Cancer Free declaration on Dec. 9. My life has returned to almost normal this week with return to work for the first time in 5 weeks. Arm has healed and I am able to cast again. I don't feel like pushing my luck and trying to wade mud and muck, wagging dekes and a layout boat right now, so the rest of duck season will be spent fishing instead. New Years Eve was the first step in planning the new year and I made a few calls. All rivers and lakes are pretty well blown out now, so fishing is on hold this weekend. As soon as they clear, it will be trout in the Ozarks, Sauger at Pickwick, and Smallies on the TN River. Maybe a trout excursion to Chattanooga. Maybe a new bass boat by summer. This little cancer scare has taught me that life can be shorter than we plan.

Good Dry Bag and a nice comfy seat system.

None of the Docs pointed any fingers at what caused it. First question was "do you smoke" followed by dip tobacco next. Of course alcohol use promotes oral cancer too. My only message would be to watch for changes in your body and keep on top of it.

3 weeks later and alls well. Prayers have been answered and fulfilled many times over. Thanks to all that have kept me in their prayers. The surgery took about 9 hours as expected and 3 hours in recovery. 2 more days in ccu unit then out to a private room. By Thursday, I was weaning myself off pain meds to clear my head. I walked out of Barnes 1 week later under my own power with a feeding tube in my nose and a trach in my throat. Doctors said I had responded and recovered to the surgery as well as anyone could have, a perfect patient. I met alot of nice people there and am thoroughly impressed with the care I received at Barnes. On Dec. 9, I went back for a followup visit. The lymph nodes taken showed no signs of cancer in them, so the prognosis was no further chemo or radiation would be necessary. I am believed to be cancer free, surgery got it all. They removed the trach, cast off the arm, and feeding tube and I felt like a new man. I drove home. I still have some recovery to do. The arm needs some work, but I am able to type this. All fingers work and things are gaining strength. Speech is pretty good. Eating is a chore with the new tongue, it is a little fuller than the original and tends to wad stuff up in the roof on my mouth. You don't really realize the part that it plays in chewing, drinking, and swallowing. But I will learn to live with it. Here are some pics of the tongue before and after, and some of my scars. The divot out of my arm was used to build the new tongue portion, the square out of the leg was used to cover the divot. One little word of advice. Don't ignore any sore on your body very long. Have it checked out by a professional. Cancer grows very quick.

Barnes pioneered this tongue procedure, I have faith in them. I just want the cancer out so I can return to normal.

Just in case I don't pull thru. Its Pickwick Lake for the most part. And the Tennessee River below the dam. It was a goofy year down there this year. They were working on dam and messing up the water flows. Next year I want to go further up around Muscle Shoals and try for them there. I fished TN more this year than any other state.

Barnes. Thanks all. The waiting sucks. I have watched a marble size tumor form in the last few weeks. I just hope they get it all first time.

Final testing and pre-op testing last Thurs. 2/3 of my tongue will be removed. A chunk of my inner forearm will be taken and placed in the void of my tongue. A patch from my thigh will be grafted to cover the arm, then the arm will be placed in a cast to immobilize while the graft heals. Lymph nodes will be removed from my neck. I will have a trach tube and a feeding tube for 5-7 days. 9 hours of surgery with a week in the hospital. Hopefully, they get it all at that time. There is a good chance I will recover voice and other tongue functions.

The initial purchase of 11 Pt land is funded by the Lead Remediation monies. But what about development and expense of staffing and running? That will fall on the State Park System budget. The same thing happened at Camp Zoe, the land was seized or forfeited by the owner. The cost of development and staff will be out of the State Park budget. I had thought there was to be some improvements at Greer last year with electric sites and a shower house. I assume nothing ever became of that? They fixed the ramp at Whitten last year and changed the parking lot around, but did not do anything to make it a camping area. They could easily clear off some land and make several campsites there. But keep it primitive.

Not really a knee jerk reaction to the Government owning more land. A reaction to the Government drawing more public attention to a nice little quiet area where you can go and get away. Next thing you know, Big RV's, wifi, cell phone towers, and campers that bring the house with them and all the trimmings. Now, the 11pt is still remote, somewhat out of reach from technology and amenities. Those areas are disappearing in MO with the population explosion.

Plans are out for bid now. 30 new sites below lower electric sites and the turd ponds. The area that used to be for large group camping till the park service ran out of money to mow it. Which brings me to another question. I seem to remember a short time ago that the MO State Park Program was having a shortage of money. Now they are building a luxury camp at Camp Zoe, adding to Montauk, and buying up land on 11 Pt. Where is all the cash coming from?

What hobby are you going to feed on $210? Basket weaving.....

Thanks all. Who really knows what causes it nowadays. But the dip will never get a second chance. All of the waiting is the hardest part, I just want it out of me before it spreads.

Back in August, I broke a tooth on a weekend trip. It irritated my tongue something awful, then it became infected. It swelled up one night to the point I was having trouble breathing. The next morning, I called a dentist and a doctor. The dentist was a day wait, my doc gave me an antibiotic. The dentist pulled my tooth the next day. But the tongue stayed raw and irritated. I did another round of antibiotic the first of October because I was still seeing an infection. When the tongue still failed to heal, I made a return to the dentist. That was last Friday around 2. His advice was to proceed to the emergency room, check in, and ask for an Oncologist. I did, and at 8 o'clock, walked out with a second opinion. I was referred to a Ear, Nose, Throat specialist on Monday that did a biopsy. Results came in this afternoon, squamous cell cancer of the tongue. So far, it seems to be limited to the tongue in about a half dollar size area. Looking forward to losing half of my tongue or more and the lymph nodes in my neck area. I will find all that out next week at Washington U. Any thoughts or prayers will be greatly appreciated. For the record, I did use smokeless tobacco while fishing and hunting, but not much. They seem to think it may have been the cause. Something to think about when you go to buy your next can of dip. Losing half a tongue will make it hard to blow a duck call.

Why would anyone want to go paperless? Does everyone carry a phone with them at all times? Does everyone have a cell signal everywhere they go outdoors? What happens when agent Fred rolls into my farm and wants to see my app? I have AT&T, they decided not to invest in cell service at my ranch. Its so peaceful, no texts or phone calls from work. Only wanted calls come in on the hardwired land line. Same place I call in my kills. I was at Wally World yesterday getting my Migratory Bird license prepping for upcoming waterfowl season. Lady at counter stated that a customer was mad that they could not get the Federal Stamp as an app for their phone. I laughed and stated it will probably be the guy in line complaining that he lost his phone in the nasty swamp mud and can't hunt till he gets a new phone. I carry 3 state licenses, all are printed on the same size paper. TN is not waterproof, but is watermarked with the TN Fish and Game logos. Ark is on thermal paper like ours, but they also use watermarked paper with logos. When I go to Illinois, I just print out on computer paper and toss when done, those are only daily passes. I wonder how much money it costs each Fish and Game dept to manage and maintain a licensing system? Does any of the revenue collected ever return to the general funding of the dept. for fish and wildlife, or does it all go to licensing, vending, and enforcement? Computers, databases, apps all cost money too as do the people and pensions to oversee it.

If I run into anyone on a river while I am there, it is crowded. I really don't think it needs anymore attraction or attention.

And it should stay far from being a crowded river. That is the purpose of Wild and Scenic. I don't think a park will help it any.

Not much different than a cinch knot. I only use a nail knot to join two lines.

This will get the 11 Pt so much more attention that it sorely needed. I personally will enjoy the extra crowds that it will draw to the peaceful area. NOT

Wool, Fleece, or Polypropolene fingerless gloves that retain warmth when wet. If you dunk one, squeeze the water out and you are back in business. Stay away from cotton, they will just make you cold.

Buying up the narrows would make a great new trout park. Build a new hatchery, pour some concrete, clear out some trees, make some roads and its a trout park. There is a pretty good stretch of spring fed stream there.