December 3, 2013
Dearest Friends and family
The VA was not able to change our flight down to Houston and Kathy and I drove down December 13th. They reiterated the VA (government) policy that the computer prints out the ticket 24 hours before the scheduled surgery ONLY! And with the snow we had already experienced in Joplin with ice and snow shutting down the Dallas airport from wince our flight would originate and then return to Dallas from Joplin we did not want to take the chance we would miss the surgery. The VA travel office did say they would do their best to reschedule the surgery if we missed it. THANK YOU BUT NO THANK YOU!
It was good to be down early as we were able to renew friendship with Dennis and Melonie Dossey who we has first known in Okinawa in the early '70's. We were able to be with them at Bammel Road for a Saturday night Christmas program and Sunday services as well.
Sunday evening we picked up Terasa at the Bush airport as she flew in from Alabama to give her mother moral/physical support while I was in surgery. She had planned to drive and we would have gone back in her car if we had flown down.
VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
The week prior to our arrival we were supposed to have had phone calls from
the Houston VA travel office but had not. So on Monday we went to the Extended
America Motel that we had first of all been told to check into. They had no
record of us staying there. I called the VA travel and after several dead end
calls called the Fisher House where Kathy and Terasa were supposed move in after
I had been admitted for surgery at the VA hospital. They had our room ready
and so we drove around and checked in there. The Fisher house is a long stay
facility on VA grounds provided from non-VA funds for the families of vets who
are undergoing treatment there at the VA hospital in Houston. They are very
really nice and there is no cost.
The surgery group called later that afternoon and told me I was to check in at 5:30 am the next morning, no fluids or food after midnight. So we met Abraham Mesa and his wife Rebekah for pizza that evening. Last meal and all!
THE VA PLAN: ROBOTIC-ASSISTED
LAPAROSCOPIC PROSTATECTOMY WITH BILATERAL NERVE-SPARING. 2. BILATERAL PELVIC
LYMPH NODE DISSECTION.
The next morning I checked in for the Da Vinci Robotic Prostatectomy surgery.
Kathy took me and waited with me until they had me change and climb up on the
gurney for surgery. Nice not so modest gown and cute hair net! They put the
IV port in the left arm but when they tried to put the extra one in my right
arm the vein rolled and the girls put the wire they were trying to clear the
port with through my vein and then the wire twisted on them and then they could
not get it out, they decided to ask the anesthesiologist what to do and he said,
"stop the bleeding, leave it, I will straighten it out in surgery".
That was the last thing I heard them say as I went into la-la land.
I do know they ended up pulling it out of the right arm and relocating the port, because I have a massive bruise on my right arm and a knot the size of Delaware. [But the nurse in Mt Vernon yesterday said it was not a blood clod and not a very good port job either!]
I woke up in a room with Kathy looking in my eyes and Terasa standing there. They said I said some things but I do not remember, sleep seemed the appropriate thing so I slept some more. I had been under anesthesia for 6 hours. Kathy said she was beginning to worry. The doctors said they removed the prostate, the glands and a few other odds and ends and think it was a pretty clean job. They said they also found out I was a "free bleeder." The pathology reports are not due before the end of December.
The first afternoon and night were a write-off. I had five holes in me, a JP drain on my left lower quadrant incision and a Foley catheter with a bag. Kathy stayed with me the first night (I was in ICU and they kept coming around every hour for everything and sleep was a scarce commodity) but I told her she should go back to the room with Terasa the other nights. I was on a clear diet the whole three days. The drain from the wound pulled loose once with a nice mess of blood on the bed and me before we could get it stopped. It took them several hours before the I got clean pajamas. Even though the doctor had given instruction that I could have a regular diet after the first day the kitchen did not know, so I would end up with the clear diet tray and then they would bring a regular diet tray an hour later. Most of the regular diet was not eaten because of the content: pork (which I cannot handle, vegetables that looked like they had been dropped from a great height, etc.) Terasa (my enabling daughter Doctor) brought me a box of Lucky Charms, large peach teas, some Hershey's chocolate and we got a brown bag lunch once from the nurses station that had a real roast beef sandwich with cheese.
During the second day I got up and stood and walked a bit. The doctors came by in early am and asked how things were going (they were thinking maybe of discharging me the next morning) and I had to be honest the body was letting me down and thought I should stay an extra day since we would be driving back to Joplin and not flying. They said okay but I needed to be getting up and around. I did so as I could. They said they would move me to a different ward. All day we waited. Still getting clear diet tray. They finally moved me to another ward at 10:30 pm. The nurse that came in immediately hooked the IV drip back in even though my doctors had discontinued it that morning. I tried to explain it to her but SHE WAS NOT LISTENING. So with the IV pole, my Foley catheter bag and all my things in a plastic bowl on my lap in wheelchair we headed out to the new ward (during a commercial in the David Letterman show). When got to the new room the bed was not made up and the nurses were trying to get my nurse to understand that they were not ready yet. Yah- that worked like talking to a tree - she just unloaded my stuff and had me get up, she pulled the wheelchair out and was GONE! They hurried made the bed and had me lay down. They then went out and read the chart and called the doctor about the IV drip that had been restarted. The next thing they did was come back in and take out the IV as I did not need it anymore. Dah! We both had the same impression of that nurse!
The new room was right next to the nurse's station and when they would come in and look on me they would not shut the door. I finally got up shut the door at 3:00 am and got a good night's sleep. I got up and walked with my JP drain bag and the catheter bag several times before Kathy and Terasa came back the next morning. We decided to change rental cars for a bigger more comfortable one for the invalid when we finally left Houston. I must say the care I was given OVERALL was excellent. I would usually call for them to come empty the JP drain bulb as well as the catheter bag before I went walking because they could be heavy. One particular time I called and a nurse came in and because she could not squat down to empty the catheter bag she just picked it up onto the bed and started emptying it into a liquid measurement container. Of course that caused flow back into my bladder which was not a fun sensation and by the time she finished she had spilled u..... on the bed and all over the floor. Kathy threw some towels on the floor and the nurse came back with wipe-ups and TRIED to clean it up. This was the same nurse who came in earlier and took my vitals, asked my pain level but did not bring me any pills for 4 hours. I did mention her to the next nurse and my doctors!
Friday morning (20th) the doctors came in and the first thing they said, "this hospital is not your friend and you need to go home". Kathy and I said we had been walking more and thought if we took it easy we were ready to leave. They said good and my surgeon yanked (that's how it felt) out the JP drain from the wound and dressed it. The paperwork was submitted for my discharge and after lunch things finally came together. (This was after they brought me another clear diet tray, I liked the jelly and fruit juice but not the so-called broth and boilermaker coffee, and then a regular tray with food I dare not eat.)
We did have a couple of "opps" moments with my surgeon when she came on rounds to check on my recovery. One day while she was getting gloves out of the box on the wall in my room the whole holder fell off the wall sounding like the roof was falling in. Then when she took out my JP drain the last day she got her foot caught on the tubing from my Foley catheter and to the bag and almost pulled the catheter out. I was just thankful she had already done the surgery!
They came to set me up with a leg bag for the catheter and explain my follow-up care for the Foley. They sent down to the pharmacy for my "happy" pain pills and some Diphenhydramine for a new itchy rash I had on my back due to a reaction to the soap they used to washed their hospital pajamas. I had since changed out into my personal clothes but the one night was one night too many. I asked the social worker to see if we could submit our travel reimbursement paperwork in the ward instead of having to go down and wait in the line (usually 25-50 people long). The word came back that I could not apply for the travel until I had been properly dismissed. So Terasa left to get the car from Fisher house to come get me while Kathy took control of the wheelchair.
Kathy and I loaded up and headed down the elevator to the travel reimbursement office. After a 15 minutes wait in line we were given a form to sign but it was only for half the trip from Joplin to Houston, return. The VA reimbursement rate is 4.9¢ a mile. We questioned the amount and were told that they showed we had tickets for half the trip. We tried to explain we had driven back and were driving back but it was like talking to a tree again. He wrote a phone number on the back of the sheet and said call the travel office on the wall phone. So Kathy wheeled me to the wall phone and I called the number, "no one here leave a message and a number." I tried some other travel office numbers with the same result! The blood pressure I had kept around 119-125 the whole week was slowly climbing. Then the social worker who had helped check us out that morning walked by and asked if she could help, THANK YOU JESUS! (I found out later reading my discharge notes that she had been assigned to us (by God I know) UNTIL WE LEFT THE BUILDING.) She took us up to travel office on the fourth floor. We found out that when we cancelled our airline flights DOWN to Houston they had not cancelled the tickets BACK to Joplin. So the travel reimbursement office had seen we were still SUPPOSED to be flying back to Joplin at 4:45 pm Dec 21th. The Travel office cancelled the flights and we went back down and signed modified paperwork that showed we drove down and back and put the form into a box for processing. It was enough to pay the gas. We got out the door, the social worker said good bye, Terasa pulled up I was loaded up and we headed to Fisher house to get the girl's stuff and check out. I went up to the room but finally went back to the car to wait for them to carry everything down and load it because I was not supposed to LIFT ANYTHING! Please! Just give me a happy pill!
Terasa drove us out of Houston and we made it up to Plano
for the night and then on to Joplin the next day (21st). The trees started icing
up about McAlister Okla but the roads stayed pretty clear and before we got
home Dallas and the area through Oklahoma and Southern Missouri was iced up.
[Remember we were booked to fly Houston-Dallas-Joplin that night and 1600 flights
had been canceled of which were all of ours. And they wondered why we chose
to drive.]
It was good to be home in our bed. The "happy" pills are great! I
was able to go to services Sunday. I had to learn to walk without sloshing.
Chris came up to Joplin with all the kids for Christmas. We had a good time
with all the family. Chris had to go back Christmas night because the older
kids had church things this weekend. Terasa and the young kids stayed until
this morning (28th) so we could help celebrate Taylor's birthday. We put her
in a one way rental back to Coker Alabama.
FOLLOW-UP WITH THE VA
Kathy and I went to the Mt Vernon VA clinic on Friday (27th) to have my catheter
removed. An hour and a half after they removed it I was allowed to leave after
they made sure the plumbing was working, howbeit in a diaper. I spent the rest
of the afternoon and night testing the holding capacity of adult diapers. I
must say the first few hours were worrisome as I had drunk a gallon of water
at the VA trying to get things working and I was not sure there wasn't a visible
leak. After a stop at Walmarts for equipment I knew I could depend on Depends
until I can get my muscles working again. I think you could sail a boat on what
those Depends hold.
Recovery from this surgery is my first priority and they say 4-6 weeks. This will give us time to see if the usual side affects of Prostatectomy surgery are present (ED and incontinence) and if so can be treated. I will have appointments for the facial rash which is not going away, new glasses, a new scan of my thyroid to see the condition it is in as well a further look at my kidney functions which have not been been 100% for several years. I have started taking the herbal medicine I talked about last month to see if it can help the autoimmune disease I have. It will take a month or so to see any difference. Thus said we are planning to stay around until mid February before heading back home to Vanuatu. We are more than ready to get back to the warmer weather but since the next trip back is not planned for 18 months we want to make sure things are okay.
BLESSINGS FROM SOME OF
YOU
Due to the generosity of several of our supporters we have received over $75,000
to help build the school when we get back. We are still in need of additional
funds but this is a huge move forward.
Thank you so much for all of you who are praying for us. God bless you! Thank you for your prayers!
Please be reminded:
The end of the tax year is coming up and you can minimize your contribution
to the US government by maximizing your contribution to the Lord's work. We
would like to ask for your consideration to our needs and the work here. If
you would like to contribute to a specific need or project please state such
when you send your contribution. Contributions can be sent to our sponsor (marked
for us) or mailed to us.
This is our plea (still) (a new way to help without cash, see #2)
For forty years we have tried to share with people our dream of "Church Planting, Leadership Training and Bible Training in Oceania". Various places have demanded differing roles in our work (Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Fiji). The current location is Vanuatu and the role is still the establishment of a located Bible Training facility to train and equip brethren from the island regions of Oceania to teach and train their own language groups in the Bible and Bible living. We are not trying to establish a preacher training school. We are planning to train and equip brethren in the Bible and trade training (mechanics, woodworking, sewing, village bread baking, etc) to help them support themselves when they return to their home islands.
This is a plea: we
need your help with finances to establish this facility.
#1 - Can you personally help us with a one time financial gift of $50 or more?
Can you personally help us with $25 a month for a least a year? If enough of
you gave $25 per month for a year this would give us funds on a monthly basis
to build monthly. Will you PLEASE?
If you want and Autopay form (ETF) which will allow you to have funds automatically deducted from your bank account and transferred to the school bank account please ask. It can be stopped at any time on your part. AUTOPAY FORM Simply print it, fill it out, sign it and mail it back to the addresses supplied or scan it and email it back to me.
#2 - Another way to give: (without cash)
In our journeys and talks with people, many have said they want to help missions and especially help us build and operate The Christian Institute of Biblical Studies in Vanuatu but have no cash to give.If you have RMD (Required minimum distribution for over 70 year olds from their IRA) whatever is donated is tax free. (Example: if the government requires you to withdraw $10,000 from your IRA (whether you need the funds to live on or not) whatever you donate you do not have to pay tax on- whatever you keep you have to pay tax on. If you donate $5000 and keep $5000 you would only have to pay tax on $5000.) If you have other retirement funds (SS, etc) that you can live comfortable on then a RMD withdraw might put you into a higher income bracket that would mean that all you were required to withdraw might go toward taxes. Aught not to be, but that is the tax code.If you have some stock (ie Walmart, Lazyboy, Apple, Microsoft, etc) and cash it out you have to pay 15% capital gains tax on the difference that you paid for it and the price it is sold for today. If you don't want to pay 15% capital gains tax you can donate the stocks or again if you just want to donate some non-producing stock, your donation (the current value of the stock) is also tax free. Win - win! You don't pay tax (legally) and the Bible School gets built.
So we have set up a brokerage account with the bank that has our school account. It will be in the CIBS name with proceeds going into that account after being transferred and redeemed. This is just another way to help those of you who want to help missions but have no cash to give - you can give and lessen your tax load (and keep the cash in your hand).It was also explained that if the Bush tax cuts are let to lapse then the capital gains on stocks after December 31 will be 28% just like ordinary revenue. So you might want to review your stock portfolio by the end of the year and see if you can get a better deal donating.
If anyone reading this would like to transfer IRA (RMD) funds or stock to this account (which will directly benefit The Christian Institute of Biblical Studies in Vanuatu) you need to talk with your broker and give him this name and number: (Thank You!
United Missouri Bank (UMB)
300 Grant St
Carthage MO 64836
A/C# H8P033855
DTC# 0226
At the end of the year you will receive a letter of the tax deducible donation from us.
Thank you so much for all of you who are praying for us, supporting us and have contributed to our needs. God bless you! Thank you for your prayers!
Thank you Lord for healing and what we have!
Grace & Peace
Tobey & Kathy
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Contributions for the Huffs, the Bible school can be sent to:
Huffs/Bible School
c/ Mt Hope church of Christ
2830 Mt Hope Rd
Webb City MO 64870
or
Tobey & Kathy Huff
c/ 2730 E. 24th St
Joplin. MO 64804
Ph: 417 434-8367
Web Site: http://www.oceania-outreach.com/Index.html