Health Update

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!