Felling Trees - Recovery

Last night I went to bed at eight P.M., thinking it was much later. Even though I have been off chemotherapy for a month now I still find that when my “Batteries” wear down it's time to head off for bed regardless of time. New Years Eve I made it to eleven forty five when my body told me “Time To Shut It Down”.

New Years Day was busy for me; I started at eight in the morning cutting down a beautiful old dead oak tree. The combination of Gypsy Moths, Old Oak Borers and a Root Fungus has killed and weakened most of my oaks, in time I suspect that only a few will remain. An hour of cutting was followed with a New Years Day run. I would like to say that I enjoyed myself, I did get personal satisfaction, but after a few hundred yards both feet were “On Fire” and my run was over after two miles. Standing at the finish, I got a number of people asking me if I was into barefoot running since I was standing there barefoot. (Simply an attempt to quell the burning fire)

Returning home I went back to my tree for some more cutting, splitting and hauling until it started to rain. I “piddled” in the office a while trying to get organized, catching some football until the rain stopped. Back at my tree, I swung the maul at a very large and stubborn log until I realized my heart was pounding and I was breathing like a race horse; Lord it felt good! Eventually the maul struck with a hollow thud indicating the log had yielded to my efforts.

So last night, when my body said enough, it was a good tired, not brought on by stress or drugs but only through physical activity.

This morning my neighbor and friend, Tom Bunk called to tell me he was on his way up to take down several large oaks near my office building. Tom has years of experience with rigging and logging, with his direction we dropped five large trees within inches of where we wanted them to go. It was a learning experience for Patrick, Kevin and I. Tom, would cut a wedge followed by a “Plunge Cut”, this is a cut in which the tip of the saw is used to “dill” a path straight through the tree just behind the wedge. I have seen Tom do this in the past and watched today with extreme interest, I will try this technique sometime later this year.

Early in the afternoon Patrick, Kevin and I started cutting, splitting and hauling the trees felled in the morning. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed seeing Patrick manning the saw, within an hour of starting he looked like an “Old Pro”. I split and hauled wood along with Kevin; Tomorrow Kevin will man the saw and Patrick and I will be the “Grunts”. In a couple of days I'm sure we'll have enough wood to last all winter.

The hospital called while I was working on this post, surgery is now less then a week away. I can't imagine how I will feel once I am whole again. I'm sure there will be a transition period that may not be easy but at least this time, with this surgery, I feel I'm moving forward towards a more normal life. I think that everyone will understand; awakening from my first surgery with a thumb size protrusion (Freedrick) lounging around my belly button did not feel like forward progress. I have imagined many nights, coming out of anesthesia, looking down to my belly button seeing nothing more than a bandage.

OK, bring it on ........... Mike