Well, we made it! We survived the first 6 months of the road to recovery.
June was busy planting, and hoeing our 8 acre pumpkin patch. Keith did a lot of planting, and hoeing in the patch. Each row is about a quarter mile long, so he could do 2 rows a night (1/2 mile), but then he would be dead tired the next day or 2.
We also had some awesome helpers from our Youth Group and Post-High Group.
We also had 2 graduates in the month of June. And a lot of Birthday parties (Keith 46, Lucas-18, & Jacob-20). Lucas graduated from Zeeland West High School. He is currently working full time at Quality Machine Shop.
Jaden graduated from Creekside Middle School (8th grade). He is currently helping his dad on the farm. He has grown into a young man this summer - baling about 5,000 bales already!
June also kicked off the haying season. Keith baled 40 acres of hay, mainly driving the tractor, but he did want to test himself and see if he could unload some bales too. He stayed outside on the wagon, the loft is still too dusty. He could unload a whole wagon of hay bales. But again, this would set him back a bit. Overall, he was feeling great in May and June!
July was a crazy month of raising and training 4-H animals (8 hogs and 1 steer) for the Ottawa County Fair.
The guys also baled 100+ acres of straw in July = 50 loads or 6,000 bales.
And then the heat came, and Keith is not doing as well. :( One of the things with having MS is ZERO heat tolerance. If the sun is on him, it is literally draining his energy right out of him. We were really hoping this was being cured, but when July hit, we realized he has a ways to go with that. He is still doing good, but is not gaining this month like he was in May and June, if anything, he went back a touch with his energy level, double vision, and numb and tingly hands/legs. He pushed himself HARD this month, working sun up to sun down, doing things that would tire a normal 46 year old man, let alone a man with MS who just had a stem cell transplant!
And now it's August and time to head back to Chicago to see how Keith is doing!
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