Starting over / keeping on

This is one of those extremely rare cases where I wrote the headline before putting down a word on the article.

“Starting over” is absolutely appropriate because just this sentence was days in coming. I now write in hopes that “keeping on” will prove itself true, as well.

My most recent blog post on this site was on Independence Day, 2023. That’s more than a year and a half, 579 days, 82 columns if I was writing only once a week.

The reasons for not writing – excuses, if you will – run rampant. I’ll touch on some of them later, but I want to start off with one primary reason I’m finally working again.

My bladder cancer has returned.

First and foremost, just like the first time, everything is under control just as well as possible and we’re not worried.

To quickly catch up everyone …

In October 2011, we found a malignant tumor in my bladder. One transurethral surgery followed by another eight weeks later successfully removed the tumor. We started treatments with the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine which has an impressive track record of preventing or limiting a recurrence of bladder cancer. Alas, I seemed to develop a reaction to it and we ceased it after six treatments, but my urologist was hopeful that would give enough protection. I continued with regular doctor visits where they would look at the interior wall of my bladder through a scope. We’ve been doing that annually for several years now, recently adding a CT scan every other year.

Now to several weeks ago.

We had started the cystoscopy – the bladder scoping – and I was watching the screen with the urologist, as always, when we came across a strange formation. I’ve done this enough now that, while I might not know what it is, I recognize something that’s irregular. My urologist said she was 99.5 percent certain it was a malignant form of cancer.

What set this episode apart from the first was that, because of regular inspections, we caught it remarkably early. It was so small that she was able to remove enough to verify we had clean edges and did not need to do a second surgery. After my first bout, some of you may remember, I did a lot of preaching, “If you see blood in your urine, check it out.” We caught this one well before it even got to that point, so we’re feeling good about it.

Furthermore, my new urologist (I’ve been seeing her at least six years, ever since my original doctor retired) has a theory that my problem during the BCG treatments might not have been the vaccine itself but damage done during the applications. She observed, and pointed out to me, an area near the bladder entrance where it looks like it’s been rammed by an overextended tube. In other words, they did not have a scope and possibly proceeded until an obstruction stopped them. She thinks that may have led to my epididymitis.

Therefore, we plan to try the BCG again … if we can get it. The country is tied up in a shortage of the vaccine, explained in this 2-year-old article from CNN, though it says there is hope for more manufacturing capacity soon. So, we’ll wait and see, and we’ll continue scoping, returning now from annually to about quarterly.

Summation: We’re hopeful and thankful. I know from past experiences that a large number of you are already sending up prayers and best wishes for us and I sincerely appreciate it. If that is your habit, I have a request. In addition – or even instead of – pray for those people who cannot or will not get medical care that will help find and fix a problem before it gets out of hand. There is no reason outside of greed, fear and hatred that medical care is not available to everyone without cost. Thank you.