Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #11 – Surgery, Then Recovery and Then Not the Best News But Not the Worst!

 

Sunday, March 15^th., 2026…… The weather is starting to look a little better for us here now. Last week it was rainy off and on all week. This week’s forecast shows no rain until the end of the week. I am hoping I will feel good enough after my biopsy to be able to mow the lawn again. After I made my breakfast run, we watched tv for most of the day. Races for me and Hallmark for Cat. Penny came by and visited for a while. Later, we headed off to class. When we met with our Club President last week, she gave me an old President’s manual she recently received. I went through it and found a hard copy of the Club Outfit info/order form that I want to incorporate into my manual. But it needs to be reviewed by the Club Outfit Chairperson.  It’s in either Excel or Word so I am hoping someone has the original so I don’t have to make a whole new document. So, I handed it off to Grace for review at Class. Later, we went over to pizza and then home to watch tv and then hit the spa before bed.    

Monday, March 16^th., 2026…… The weather is amazing. Temps in the high 60s!  Yeah! Rylee is doing well and her stitches look great, just a little redness remaining!

Rylee is still not allowed to be out on walks – until we take her in on Thurs. for her checkup. So, we just let them out to walk the yard and do their business. Later in the day, I got a call from the hospital saying my check-in time tomorrow would be 10:30am.   

Tuesday, March 17^th., 2026…… HAPPY ST. PATRICK’s DAY! We hung around the house until it was time to head over to the hospital. I got in and then waited….and waited….. Turns out they didn’t have both procedures on the agenda for me. The doctor came in and said no problem, he would switch the order. But that meant I had to lay there for 3 ½ hours before they took me back. The procedures only took about 45 minutes. They had me in recovery and out of there a little after 4:00pm. Results pending. But he did speak to Cathye and said he was 100% certain there was cancer on the bladder. But, he also said he removed it. Next step will be to see the results officially and see next steps. Plus the prostate results need to come back too. I left there with a catheter, something I have never had in my life! I did not like it!  The insert they put in was the size of a straw! Here’s a pic what it looks like (sorry if it's too gross for ya!)…. 

I only have to have it in until Thursday, thank God! Cathye drove me home and I relaxed for the rest of the day. After watching some tv, I headed off to bed. I have meds for what they call bladder spasms, which really hurt! But, when I can settle down from them, I could sleep and actually had a great night!   

Wednesday, March 18^th., 2026…… Tonight would be our Club meeting. I have been prepping the Procedure Manual and have it ready for ratification tonight. I would find out later that I wasn’t ready to go out. So, I gave Cat instructions on what to say and how to present it. When she got back, she said it was kind of a mess. The committee went through it during the meeting and actually wanted more changes! But they agreed to ratify it when I made those later. So at least we are done with that!  

Thursday, March 19^th., 2026…… Today we took Rylee in for her checkup. Or really, Cat did. I helped get Rylee out of the car and she took her in. I still have the drain bag hanging so it wasn’t the best thing to go in there. She came back out and said they told her Rylee is on a good path, right where she needs to be. We had time to drop her off and then head out to the urologist in Albany. The surgeon popped in and said the results weren’t back yet and he'd call me later when they were. Meanwhile, the nurse removed the catheter and I was on my way. What a relief!  Like I said, this thing is like a straw and was really hurting me! but I wanted to look at it and take the pic above before they took it away!  I will still have some discomfort from the insertion and some bleeding, and I will need to pound water for the next few days, but hopefully it will lessen in time. We stopped for lunch at Kristi’s and then went to Walmart for a few things. 

Friday, March 20^th., 2026……  Still having issues with the bleeding. I’m not sure if it’s in the urethra or in the bladder. My notes say some leakage is normal. Still, I would like it to stop. So, all that said, we are kinda grounded. I am anyway. But Cat will stay with me. We spent the day just lounging and watching tv. Of course, I am still drinking a ton of water so I am going back and forth to the bathroom all hours. Later, I got a call from the urologist. I had already seen my test results from the biopsy, so I wasn’t surprised as to what he told us. He said both the bladder and the prostate had cancer cells. He went on to explain that when he did the biopsy, he scraped (?) and removed the cancer from the bladder and said he is really, really confident that he got it all. But we can talk about going in again with another procedure to check down the road. Then it would most likely be oral chemo to address that. He said it is officially at a stage 1 right now. As far as the prostate is concerned, he said that is stage 1-2 and would likely be treated with once-a-day-for-6-8-week radiation. After the call, I got an appointment call back for the Mar. 30^th. consult.  So, all in all, not so bad news for now….

We thought about going to a plus dance tonight (for me) but I wasn’t ready for that right now, so we stuck around the house for the remainder of the evening. I am still very sore from the catheter and still have some blood coming out and I want to take it easy for now.  

Saturday, March 21^st., 2026…… Another lazy day. We had talked about driving up to Salem to go to the Home Show at the fairgrounds. But, after breakfast and resting – and still having bleeding issues, - I thought I should take it easy going today. So, we stayed at home for the day. Later, I gave it some thought and decided to go to the Club dance. I chose not to dress so I went in shorts and signed in as a non-dancer. Cathye danced several tips and I visited. She had already made the announcement at the board meeting and updated everyone as my diagnosis and status, so I got a lot of attention tonight. Not what I wanted but, hey, they are friends and they are concerned so that’s ok!  We had a few members bring some of their donated items for the yard sale and we transferred those to our car, but no worries, that was easy. Later, we left a bit early and came home to rest and enjoy some tv until bed. Quite a busy week!