02 July 2017
I am beginning this
post on Sunday, July 2nd, with plans to add to it during the next
ten days and post it sometime after July 10th.
For the past couple
of years, on and off, I have had some urinary tract problems. I first saw a
urologist back in 2015 and she thought it was a urinary tract infection and
prescribed antibiotics. It improved for a while, but since then the symptoms,
including blood in my urine, have come and gone. Each time I would see the
urologist, and at the time of my annual gynecologic exam, the bleeding had
stopped so was not observed. Recently, having more routinely observed blood in
my urine, I decided it was time to try to address it and returned to the
urologist. At this point she suggested we do some further testing. Meanwhile,
she prescribed a medication to help the symptoms. The medication, if anything,
made the symptoms worse, and despite the busy summer ahead I felt I had to once
and for all figure out what was going on.
Now, actually observing
blood in my urine, she encouraged me to pursue a diagnosis but I still put it
off a bit, hoping it could wait until all the grandchildren had come and gone.
But the symptoms were relentless and I finally decided to go in and have the
cystoscopy, all the while thinking that this would simply enable her to
prescribe appropriate treatment.
I had suggested Barry
just drop me off and wait in his office for me to call when I was done. But
within seconds after inserting the scope she told me the shocking news that I
have bladder cancer. No question. I had her call Barry and he came right over.
03 July 2017
We are trying to keep
busy, so in a short while Eliana will be arriving for her week with us. We are
hoping this will go well, but Simmie and Ronen recognize that we may need to
call on them to take her home later this week rather than waiting for next
Sunday.
We have tickets for a
Yankees game tomorrow and for the Broadway show “School of Rock” on Wednesday,
and I am hoping I can get through those.
Meanwhile, this
morning we went over to the Botanical Gardens for a bit. We were there for
under two hours and I had to use the restroom twice.
06 July 2017
It has been a busy
few days with Eliana. All in all I think it was a good decision to keep our
plans intact. If she were not with us I think I would just be glued to my bed.
At the end of the day going out and trying to have fun must be the better
option, despite the now almost constant physical discomfort and the need to
plan bathroom visits.
“School of Rock” was
awesome!
This morning we are
going back into the City. Barry is going to take Eliana to see the third
installment of the “Despicable Me” movies while I go for my pre-op physical.
Then we plan to head over to the Museum of Natural History for the afternoon.
Tomorrow we are heading over to a place called New Roc City, a video arcade extraordinaire
that looks like it has Eliana’s name written all over it!
10 July 2017
The remainder of our
week with Eliana went well. She loved New Roc City. She and Barry, with a
little help from me, spent six hours on Shabbat
afternoon building a huge Lego kit we had bought for her. On Sunday we met
Simmie in Mystic and returned home.
My surgery was
scheduled for 8 am this morning, and we were told to arrive by 6. I’m going to
spare you all the details, but the main hitch was that after discussions with
my pulmonologist it was decided that this needed to be done under local
(spinal) anesthetic if at all possible. It was, thankfully, possible, but
definitely not a day at the beach. The doctor believes they got it all, but
final judgement is pending the full pathology report. So now I am home dealing
with the mess, not to mention discomfort, of bladder surgery. They had to leave
in a catheter which will hopefully be removed on Friday.
I plan to lay pretty
low this week. At some point, I will hopefully feel up to filling in the rest
about our week with Eliana.
Be well, all.
Love,
Rebecca
