Even more good news: Bill's urologist just called to tell us that the pathology report came in this afternoon and everything is clear! (He was an Air Force doctor until recently and said he is used to reports taking much longer there) So that is another big load lifted. The fog too has lifted, the sun is shining and I am going for a walk! Bill must stick very close to the bathroom, but he is still hoping to make the Willie Nelson concert on the 11th.

More good news: we came home from the Surgery Center a little after noon, hungry and happy. The procedure lasted about 30 minutes. The stent was removed and no more tumor was found. Biopsies were done on the prostate and bladder and those results will be in probably next week due to the New Year holiday. Bill is comfortable and "on his own": no catheter. Some special x-rays with dye, IVP, will be done in 6 weeks. Cystoscopies will be done every 3 months. Since there is a 70% chance of recurrence of this type of cancer, there are some treatment options. One is a local chemotherapy and the other is BCG, in which live TB cells in a viscous solution are sloshed around in the bladder for 2 hours once a week for six weeks. The latter is the most effective but also can have more serious side effects. So there some options to ponder and decisions to make.
If there are those of you who wish to send comments, email is more private than commenting on this blog if you prefer and it provides us with a return address. Bill is bdendy@aol.com and Barbara is bdendy2@aol.com. If you want to start a Blog of your own, go to blogspot.com. It is easy to set up and free! And they didn't make me say it.
Happy New Year! And dance one for me!

Tomorrow is the day. We have had a good week. Nice Christmas, some social gatherings and meals with friends, long walks, much-needed rain, welcome calls and visits, good books and way too much food. Bill has to be at the Surgery Center at 6:30 am. He is delighted to be getting it over early. An hour later would have suited me just fine! I am encouraged though. Perhaps they feel it will be quick and uneventful, not likely to run overtime and mess up the day's surgery schedule. Perhaps I am grasping for straws! Bill is his usual pessimistic self. He appreciates everyone else's good thoughts to make up for it. He will probably be home tomorrow night. I will post again soon as I get a chance tomorrow.

Some of you folks are asking me why I haven't added any new posts . So I guess I do have readers! That is great. Bill is doing well and feeling better every day. He actually went to a meeting in the next town this morning and seemed really glad to be getting out of the house and back to the real world. He is taking walks in the neighborhood (not hikes) and we have been out to lunch and breakfast in the last week. Our son Greg is coming for a visit from the Bay area this weekend. He and wife Alex are going to Kauai for 10 days over Christmas and New Years. Bill goes back in for 2nd-look surgery to clean out anything missed and remove the stent on the 29th so I will certainly post again after that. In the meantime I need to get busy on my Christmas/New Year cards. Cheers!

Bill and I went to his doctor today for a post op and catheter removal. The removal was much easier than anticipated and a great relief. Bill is talking about going out to dinner tonight! My cooking is boring us both! Bill is scheduled for a second similar surgery on December 29. (He will do anything to avoid dancing on New Year's Eve!) The stent in the kidney ureter placed during last surgery has to be removed and Dr. Ferguson will go over the bladder again to scrape out anything he missed the first time. He said it was quite cloudy toward the end last time and he couldn't see very well. Again we will wait for a pathology report. This is outpatient surgery via the urethra, no incision. At least we know what to expect and it seems much less intimidating, although we are not looking forward to it. We just hope he has recovered enough to go to Willie Nelson's concert in Davis at the Mondavi Center on Jan. 11! We have good seats!

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving (Bill's pills allow him to drift off occasionally!) but also a very thankful one. Our osso buco style turkey thighs were quite good. We particulary appreciate all the positive messages, good thoughts, prayers, calls, books, flowers, soup, etc. from family and friends. The medical care--doctor, hospital, pharmacist--has been and will continue to be top notch. There will be more procedures and frequent monitoring.
We obtained a copy of the pathology report this morning. All sites tested reported as low-grade carcinoma with no invasion identified. That's as good as it gets considering the amount of tumors he had. Bill is feeling better each day and moving around more. He sees his doctor again on Tuesday. Then in another 3 weeks he will go back into surgery for removal of a temporary stent connecting to one of his kidneys and a check to be sure everything was scraped out the first time. That takes care of Christmas! But for some reason we had not made any special plans!
We have been asked by a number of people what the symptoms were and how the bladder cancer was diagnosed. Bill has had occasional blood and clots in his urine, usually after physical exercise, for a number of years. A previous cystoscopy 5 years ago (camera up into the bladder and farther) showed nothing. His current primary care physician Allison Alcalay was concerned about the continuing symptoms and conferred with a new young urologist who has recently joined her group, Ken Ferguson. He said a new cystoscopy should be done and on Nov. 13 found a large number of tumors. On the 24th he operated. Again, we just got lucky!

Great news! Bill's surgeon was delayed leaving town this morning by an emergency surgery and Bill's pathology report came in before he left, earlier than expected. It shows that there was No invasion into the muscle by the cancer. This is the best news we could possibly get. The doctor called from his car phone and said he is ecstatic and we are too, smiling and crying. None of us expected that. Tomorrow will be a very Happy Thanksgiving for us and we wish the same for you!

Bill was discharged at 6 pm tonight and very glad to be home. Uncomfortable though. It will not be a fun week! Have a great Thanksgiving!

I am headed to the hospital with newspapers and good coffee. Bill has called twice this morning, at 6 am to remind me to put out the garbage and again after the doctor came. Bill will be released this afternoon. He sounded good and apparently the doctor was pleased with progress. He was awaiting breakfast--first food since Sunday. And a big glass of water.

I have just gotten home from the hospital. They are keeping Bill overnight. I may go back and check on him later. The surgery began later than scheduled and lasted longer. There were a lot of tumors and the ones in the lower part were difficult to remove. There was more bleeding than the doc liked and he wants to keep him until that is resolved. It will probably be next week before we really know the full situation because the pathology report won't come in before Thanksgiving. Bill is not a happy camper but his sense of humor is intact. He is at Sutter Davis Hospital Room 236, 916-756-6440. Not sure he will answer his phone--he is medicated for pain. Probably home tomorrow.

Sunday night
We spent lunch today with Greg and Alex and enjoyed their smiling faces and hugs. Tomorrow we go to the hospital at 11 am, outpatient surgery at 12:30, home when Bill is released. I'd wish they'd keep him overnight but then I would have to sleep in a hard chair. This does not involve an incision so Medicare is happier! They will be scraping out the bladder. I think he will be very uncomfortable for the next week. I will try to post tomorrow night sometime.