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Health Update

9/17/2019

There are no pictures on this one - just an update that I had promised back on July 1st. Here's a little timeline:

July 9 had my first appt with local urologist who ordered another urine test and a CT Scan
July 16 Local urologist nurse called with results from 2nd urine test - still showing positive for cancer
July 17 had my CT Scan
July 17 my former urologist emailed me and recommended I see Dr. Paul Crispen at Shands Hospital so I made an appointment for August 2.
July 31 Follow up appt with local urologist (Dr. B.) who said the CT Scan looked clean but since my cancer is microscopic and the urine test was positive he recommended:
- biopsies of the bladder
- selective cytologies of both kidneys
- retrograde pyelogram
- possible scope and biopsies of the ureters
August 2 Drove up to Gainesville for appt with Dr. Crispen. He recommended the exact same 4 things that my local urologist recommended. I went ahead and scheduled Dr. Crispen to perform the surgery.
August 6 My local urologist had mentioned a new urine test that is more acurate than the one we've been using, so I went to the their office to provide the sample for that test.
August 7 Received news from Dr. Crispen's office that neither he nor Shands Hospital is on my insurance plan so I would need to pay out of pocket and it wouldn't go towards my deductible.
August 8 Cancelled surgery with Dr. Crispen and scheduled surgery with Dr. B for 9/3
August 15 Received news from Dr. B's office that the new urine test was good and low at a 4.2, but not low enough to forgo biopsy surgery (it needed to be a 3.5 or lower for that).
August 28 - 5 year anniversary of my bladder cancer diagnosis
August 29 Called Dr. B's office because I hadn't heard anything from anyone about pre-op and was told they had to move my surgery to 9/13 at 1pm (hmmm - Friday the 13th at 13:00. Good thing I'm not superstitious, because it was also a full moon!).
Sept 13 Had biopsy surgery with Dr. B. He said he did 4 biopsies of my bladder, selective cytologies of my kidneys, and the retrograde pyelogram, but he didn't need to scope or biopsy my ureters (Yay!)
I have a follow up appt scheduled for Sept 30th to get the results.

So that's it for now! I'm recovering well from the surgery - better than I expected. I'm thankful I'm in a place where I can rest since I'm retired and don't have the added weight of needing to get back to work! And I'm thankful the Lord has given me peace. The first 3 years were an emotional roller coaster for sure, and I realized those crazy emotions didn't change my circumstances one iota. Then the next 2 years were good because I had good circumstances with all of the negative tests I had. But now that I have a postive test I'm hoping to go through this next challenge with peace and joy instead of the roller coaster. So far so good. We'll see how I do after the 30th if the results are not what I want. Thanks again to any and all who pray for me - I feel it! Blessings!

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Kittens!

9/7/2019

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We drove back yesterday from visiting Nathan, and then I got dressed up and went ballroom dancing at my dance studio. When I arrived home at about 9:30pm our very pregnant cat immediately greeted me and ran to the box we had prepared for her to deliver in. She was trying and pushing, but all we saw was a little tail trying to come out. I called my neighbor, Pam, who had wanted to be there for the delivery, so she came over. When we realized nothing was happening despite all the pushing our cat was doing Pam suggested we contact Fetch Emergency Veterinary Hospital. They said if none of the kittens were coming out we would need to bring her in for a c-section. Sure enough, that's what we had to do. So thankful for Pam's suggestion, because Fetch was fantastic! They called a surgeon in from home, and when she got there she met with us and explained what she was going to do and showed us the x-ray where it looked like there were 4 or 5 kittens in there. I also requested she spay our cat while she was in there, and she agreed. The surgeon then suggested we go home and get some rest (by now it was well after midnight) and they would call us in the morning. The crazy thing about it is that we had to put down a $3000 deposit, and we have always kind of joked about those pet owners who spent thousands of dollars on their pet! Goes to show - never judge! Anyway, they called us this morning and she didn't have 4, or 5, or even 6 kittens. No - she had 7!! But they said one was a runt and probably wouldn't make it. We bought kitten formula and a bottle and went and got them and brought them all home. (by the way, Fetch said it was less expensive than the deposit we put down and they actually gave us a $150 refund!). We started feeding the little kitten right away, and needed to feed it every 2 hours. Tim and I had planned on going down to Port Charlotte for the day to visit my dad and sister, so he encouraged me to go while he stayed behind to feed the kitten. Tim said the kitten took less of the formula on the 2nd feeding, and even less on the 3rd feeding, and then passed away. He and Nicole and her friend who was over gave it a proper burial and while it was sad, we're glad we at least tried to save it's life. Here's a picture of mama cat before delivery and then the kittens, and then a picture of my time in Port Charlotte. Great visit with the fam!

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Nathan (aka Nashun)

9/6/2019

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Nathan has been at Trinity College for the past couple of years, but he came home most weekends to lead worship at a local church and even spent the night a lot. Not so for this year since he is an RA and has so many responsibilities on campus. So we (Tim, me, and Nicole) decided to go to him today! We drove out to Trinity, picked him up, took him to lunch, then walked aroud the 5 below store and got him a few things (the dog mask was NOT one of the things we got him and thankfully he didn't get it either!). We spent the larger part of the day there and I only took these 2 pictures, so that's all I've got to commemorate our time. So here they are:

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Tim & Jodie

Tim and Jodie have been married since Nov. 5, 1988. Tim is a retired Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and retired city of Tampa Firefighter. Jodie is a happily laid off IBM/AT&T 21 yr veteran employee. So I guess you can say they're both retired, but still super busy! They have four wonderful children: triplets Nathan, Nicole, and Noah born 11/16/97 and Nicholas born 5/16/99. Nathan is at Trinity College, Noah is at Florida Polytechnic University, and Nicole is at USF. Nicholas is an EDM (electronic dance music) creator and hoping to make a living from that! We love and are so proud of our kids!

Health Update

Kittens!

Nathan (aka Nashun)

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