Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #17 – Another Surgery for Me (With Issues) & More Yard Work

 

 

Sunday, May 3^rd., 2026……  I always enjoy Sundays because we usually don’t put anything on the agenda for then. Today though, we needed to mow!  The grass (and everything else in the garden) has taken off!  Again, we can’t bag because the lawn it is so thick and tall!  After walking the dogs and me getting breakfast, Cat took off to go to church. A bit later, I got out the mowers and got them gassed up. Penny would be coming over later to help. I started in just before Cat turned down the driveway from church and we were off and running! Later, Penny came and joined in. We had no issues and got everything done in short time and we were done for the day.

We both came in and watched tv for the rest of the day. Later, we headed off to class. Last week at the yard sale, one of our Club members saw the dish set that Lydia and I used to have and had out for the sale. They are in a small house and didn't have room for all of it.  It ended up not selling, so Cathye had saved one place setting for Marlena and we gave that to her tonight at class. She was overwhelmed. It was the same set her mom had and she was emotional when Cat gave it to her! So sweet!  After class, we went off to Pizza Hut for the afterparty. Then home and bed.

Monday, May 4^th., 2026…… This morning, I was up and going early. I had labs but only urine today for my upcoming (on the 19^th) procedure. More on that in the weeks to come…

When I got back, we left again to go to Kevin’s for breakfast. We spent the rest of day around the house. Cat has her guys coming Wednesday to start on the weeding. I worked in the shop for a few minutes. Just cleanup – no projects today. Rachel came by and got her tables. She didn’t get them all back because we had a miscommunication! She brought two white folding tables and two black 2x4 tables. One of those was brand new in a box. Turns out it got mistaken as a for-sale item and got priced and later sold. After the sale, when I was putting my tables back in the rv, I took the black one and stowed it, thinking it was mine. Anyway, when I told Rachel, she took the one unsold round table that was actually in the sale! That was in trade so no worries! Only one more table to go!     

Tuesday, May 5^th., 2026…… Today was my bladder resection. The doctor wanted to go back in and double check that he got all of the cancer the first time. We made it by 6:00am for check-in. I was done and we were out of there and home before 10:00am!  I settled in and did ok for most of the day. The good news was that I didn’t have to have a catheter this time!  Yaay! The bad news was that, later, I started to feel chest pains. My concerns were pretty low so I just rested for the day. But about 7:30pm, I checked my blood pressure and found it was really high!  So, we headed off to the er.  I was taken back to a bed pretty quickly and they did all of the tests. Everything came back pretty much ok. I was dehydrated and stressed from the procedure and went into tachycardia. The doctor said that I needed to hydrate (which I have already started) and monitor for symptoms and if found, get an appointment again with my cardiologist.  We were back home and in bed by 10:30.    

Wednesday, May 6^th., 2026……  Feeling fine today. No issues (so far). We walked the dogs and just as we came in, Cathye’s guys showed up. They had said 9:00am and they were on time!  Yaay!  When they had talked before, Cat said they could use the truckster to haul weeds back to the burnpile. So, I had to go out and show them how to drive it – remember it has no brakes! We both left them for the day, checking on them from time to time. Cat was impressed and said they were efficient so far. I went out later and talked with them (although it was limited English). No worries so far.  Meanwhile, Cat worked in her she-shed and I cleaned up my shop. Later, they came to the door to tell us they wouldn’t be able to finish today!  Duuh!  So, they arranged to come back tomorrow to get it all done. 

Thursday, May 7^th., 2026…… Today was massages for us. The guys showed up at noon and went to work, cleaning up everything. The boss came up and told me the truckster was broken. I went out and started it but couldn’t get it in gear! When they used it yesterday it was fine but I think they messed with the levers and the linkage is now broken. I will have to get on that because we use that thing a lot in the spring and summer months! Later, Cat went off to her massage then I followed later. While she was gone, my urologist called to tell me that the bladder (resection) procedure on Tuesday showed no more cancer. He wants to put me on the schedule for 3 months out to start the next process (a cystoscopy) to go in with a scope and re-check the bladder. Because I will be going through the 5 ½ week radiation for the prostate coming up soon, he says that might be too much stress to do all at once and he’s confident we can wait until August. They will call later for a date.

Our neighbors are having their yard sale today and tomorrow. They had asked for tables so I took over 5 and unloaded them. Later, we went out with the mowers with the baggers attached and scooped up all of the dried out cut grass that was stacked up on the lawn from the last mowing. It was dry now so it went pretty quickly and we were back in the house in less than 45 minutes resting for the day. Later, I made spaghetti for dinner and then we relaxed and caught up on some season finales of our taped shows.

Friday, May 8^th., 2026…… Nothing on the agenda today. But something has changed for me. On Wednesday evening, I had resumed my normal blood thinner (Eliquis) regiment because I had no bleeding whatsoever and thought it would be ok. Not!  This morning, I noticed I was passing blood in my urine and it wasn’t getting any better throughout the day.  I immediately stopped the medication. But it would take several days for this clotting to start again. In the meantime, I was watching for any indication that I was in trouble. We stayed close to the house and I stayed close to the bathroom!  But no further worries!

Saturday, May 9^th., 2026…… Today was nice weather. We walked and fed the dogs and then we were planning on heading out to Costco because Cat had a 9:00am appointment to pick up her new hearing aids, while I went off and filled our shopping list. I did make one pit stop while there but felt fine for the most part. As I was shopping, she called to ask where I was and wanted to find me in the store. Turns out her appointment wasn’t until 4:45 this afternoon! So, she will have to go back.  We finished up and came home. I rested for the day and took it easy.  Later, she went back and got her new hearing aids.

She brought back street tacos for dinner. I wasn’t feeling like going out to our visitation tonight, so stayed home and relaxed and watched tv until bedtime. Cat was really impressed with all the sounds around the house now! She heard the dryer running from the living room!  I actually had the tv where it was actually comfortable for both of us now!  Her instructions were to wear them 6-10 hours a day, gradually longer to get used to them. We go back next Saturday for a check.