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.