and since the crab is the zodiac sign of cancer, hence that image.
But let me explain.
I noticed some blood in my urine. I note I have a somewhat enlarged prostate so I reached out to my urologist for a check. He decided to do a cytoscopy on me and found a tumor on my bladder wall. I was scheduled to have it removed, which happened on the afternoon of Tuesday August 8. He also scraped the adjacent bladder wall. It was sent for biopsy.
I had to wait until today to get the results, because they do not let other staff members communicate with patients, he had stuck me in for the surgery at the end of a busy surgical day and he was taking his daughter off to college in New Orleans (Tulane). He called me today.
The tumor was cancerous, but despite being quite capable of spreading into the bladder wall it had not as yet done so, and as of now he believes there is no further cancer in my body, I do not need radiation or chemo, and he will see me again in November (3 months). So I had cancer, now I do not, so I am a cancer survivor. So is my wife, but she is not free of her blood cancer, although it is currently in remission.
We are lucky because as a federal employee she has superb health insurance which covers us both. This was only one of a number of health issues this summer. I was having trouble with my vision, and for a while there was a worry I had had another perhaps small stroke — that led to an overnight hospitalization, CT scan, MRI of my brain, echocardiogram of my heart. There was evidence of my 2019 stroke and a subsequent minor TIA, but nothing since. I was referred to a retinal specialist who was able to determine that I had hardening of blood vessels in my left eye, but nothing recent.I had subsequent examination at the eye doctor’s and the determination is that I have cataracts in both eyes, somewhat worse in my left, and I will need to have them removed. On an email exchange with some college classmates I have found out that the surgery will be relatively quick, with the eyes being done roughly two weeks apart.
I am 77. I am starting to feel somewhat older. But I still look and act much younger than my chronological age. And as of next week I am in a new school to teach 7th graders for the forthcoming school year.
I had cancer. If caught early enough many cancers are very far from a terminal sentence, or even something that can radically reduce one’s quality of life.
I consider myself lucky.
Peace.