Next step - Shiny head

My surgery was successful. Everything went as planned. The surgery was a bit odd, but I understand why they did it the way that they did. If you don't want to know the details, don't read any further. The surgery was to place a stent in my ureter from my kidney to my bladder. The easiest way to maintain functionality of all the organs involved and without leaking urine into my stomach cavity was to go through my penis. I know that give a weird image, but hey, I only have one nut now, so nothing is off limits. They took a wire with a camera on the end up through my urethra, into my bladder, and through the ureter to my kidney. The took pictures along the way to make sure there wasn't any damage done to ureter or kidney from the tumor. After that, they slid the stent, or tube over that wire, all the way to my kidney, and once in place, they removed the wire, leaving the stent in place.

This surgery went fairly quickly. Only lasting about an hour. The side effects of the surgery was the worse part. I have this burning sensation, similar to when a catheter is removed from a bladder. I also have the urge to pee all the time. The medications are helping me get back to normal.

After a good 20 hour sleep time after the surgery, my back pain is going away, and I am able to continue life for now. I made it into work today, which surprised a lot of people. They must have thought when I said surgery that it would be a long recovery. I feel fine, until I have to go pee.

My appointment with Dr. Tudor was originally scheduled for the 28th of July. I didn't really get along with him; I didn't like his arrogance. My wife moved my appointment to the 20th of July with Dr. Rich at UVRMC. The fact that I will have to start chemotherapy in a few days or weeks hasn't settled in. I don't know if it will until that first needle penetrates my skin. I am still deciding on whether I want to get a Port or PICC line implanted. It would allow easier access to administer medication or take blood samples. That would mean another surgery to get that implanted. We'll see.

For what I know so far, I will have four courses of chemo, which will take about four months to complete. I am not sure the cocktail of drugs that they will give me. I have been able to understand a little from the TC-Cancer.com forum. And from a fellow TC fighter from Vegas.

This odd surgery that I had yesterday - I will have to do it again. This stent is only good for three months. Leaving it in longer than that leaves me with a huge risk for an infection. So if I am still doing chemo and they want to stent in there, they will have to remove this one and place another one in. That wont be pleasant.

And yes, the day before I start chemo, I will be shaving my head. I do not see it as a sign of giving in to the cancer, but rather celebrating that I am getting closer to beating this disease.