Mitchell Oakley: Spring kicks tractors, tractor operators, into gear

It’s been a year and seven months.

Nineteen months of trying to figure out how to live with lymphedema, a lymph system that doesn’t work as it should. There are many causes. I won’t go into them all. Instead, mine is probably the result of a rare gene disorder.

For those past months I have had chills and fever along with leg and feet soreness. I’ve written about it a few times in the past. The chills and fever usually hit me every two to three weeks. I did go a little more than 40 days without a flareup during one span. Even then, my feet and legs still bothered me.

There are no real answers to this disease. I do have boots that go on my legs up to my thighs. The boots have chambers and air is gradually pumped into those chambers in an upward motion that allows the lymph fluid to spread over a wider area of my body where it doesn’t cause any issues. If the fluid pools in my legs and feet, it creates inflammation, and my body’s reaction to it is chills and fever.

It takes about a day or two to get rid of the fever and several days to a week or more for the soreness to go away. It requires leg elevation and rest. I am unable to make commitments of my time because there is no rhyme or reason when I might have a flare-up.

I write this, not to complain or to cause anyone to believe that I am in dire shape. I am not. I have a challenge, yes, but more than anything it has caused me to know there are so many people in our world that are in much worse physical shape than I am. It has caused me to smell the proverbial roses because my once fast-paced gait has now slowed quite a bit.

I may wake up tonight with a flare, but as I write this my legs and feet have felt much better for the past two weeks. Maybe it’s because of spring or the warm weather. Maybe there is healing going on internally that I’ve been praying for.

As I have most things in my life, I’ve handed my condition over to the lord. Healing is not in my job description, you see. Doing the things that help my situation is all that I control.

I have chosen to write about lymphedema this week, mostly as a lead-in to the fact that I have had a yearning over these past months to crank and operate my tractors. Unfortunately, I never felt well enough to do it until this past Saturday despite the fact it isn’t good for tractors to just sit without being operated. Maybe the time of year really did put a “spring in my step!”

Batteries start losing their charge by not being used. Even fuel tanks do not fare very well when fuel sets inside while the alternating of cold and warm weather causes condensation that leads to rust inside the tanks.

I felt well enough to see if the Farmall Super A and Ford 3000 would crank. I asked my son, Paul, to come by and help me. I needed him to do any work my legs couldn’t handle. I started out pulling a long orange electric cord out to the tractor shelter where I hooked up the battery charger. I did that on Friday afternoon. I set it to a slow charge. However, I eventually took the power off because it was beginning to rain.

On Saturday when my son arrived, he suggested we use jumper cables. Great idea. We jumped the Ford 3000 first. It took a little time, but the diesel finally puffed a cloud of white smoke (normal for an engine sitting for some time) and started purring like a kitten. I backed it out of the shelter and moved it away from where we were working so the engine could run and continue to charge the depleted battery.

The Super A was next. It welcomed us with an empty gasoline tank. Paul poured gasoline in it. I pulled the starter and worked the choke. It took a minute, but gasoline finally got to the carburetor and the old tractor fired up.

Both tractors got a wash job just to get rid of all the dust. Afterward, I got the opportunity to finally operate them for about an hour. My son drove them both as well, and the Ford received a workout when Paul bush-hogged the tall grass beside the ditches. After the workouts, both tractors found themselves back under the shelter. After the ignition of each tractor was turned off, a test crank followed to make sure the batteries would turn the engines and that the crank was quick and smooth. Both met the challenge.

I do not know if anyone will understand my love for tractors, but just know that I also met the challenge that day, and for that I give God all the credit.