Well…you know, I really like these patient portals that all of the health systems have now…I just got the pathologist/surgeon’s report on the cancer and it was nothing but good news…no spread to the lymph nodes and clean margins from what is left behind so that means I’m cured…no more cancer…and I am positively giddy about that…and with the incontinence under control…so far…it has been nothing but good news and I’m sure to be ready to go like crazy on the UK trip…I am so damn happy my surgeon made the decision to move the surgery up and get it out of there…the outcome could not have been better…I guess all the work I did getting into shape made a difference….I am enough of a realist to know that there could still be setbacks but I am prepared for them…I guess I’m in that 5% of men who go back to normal right after the cath comes out…yee ha!

Well…running a bit early today with waking up at 3 to pee and then just sleeping til a little after 4….kept trying to go back to sleep but it didn’t work so I just climbed out of bed and here I sit at 5:34…I am so surprised at the progress I’ve made with my incontinence after the surgery…you are not suppose to be dry and be able to control your bladder one day after the catheter comes out but that is just what happened….was completely dry overnight and only had a little problem when I got home after the urologist appointment….I guess the months of Kegel exercises did some good…I mean I was doing 200 of those suckers a day….and I’m doing more as I sit here right now after getting the okay from the PA yesterday….I did get a few things done yesterday…got the perennials cut down along the back of the house and cleaned it up the dirt and plant matter from the sidewalk and today I’m going to do the weed walk and try to get them back under control…and then I need to do the grocery run later with my daughter since I am trying to not drive for another week to make sure I’ve healed enough and don’t re-injure myself…not much to do today…going to have coffee for the first time since last Friday and I am really looking forward to it…more later…

Well…the happy day came today when I got the damn catheter out and with it some good news…they need to test you before it comes out so they filled my bladder through it to the point it was painful and then sat me on the side of the table, told me to breathe in and out and just yanked it out…lots of pressure but not a lot of pain and I was able to pass all of the saline they injected into me and passed the test…ha,ha….and the PA explained the concern that my surgeon’s nurse had about me doing too much with the cath in….it could tear the urethra and then I’d be back to surgery again and could die….but now, I can start to ramp up my activity…still no heavy stuff but I did go out and cut down the dead perennials and swept up the dirt on the back sidewalk and cleaned the mat at the back…and did laundry that I’m waiting on to finish in the dryer…damn, it feels good to be able to just do stuff without that bag…but now I’m going to take it easy since my daughter came out and gave me the evil eye for doing too much…the PA looked at me and told me I’ll do just fine getting to not peeing myself and it should happen soon…it’s not too bad right now even so I think I’ll get there before the UK trip…all in all, a good day…

Well…today’s the day…I get the catheter out this morning at around 9 or so and I am so looking forward to it…the damn vinyl tubing that the bag plugs into has stretched and the tube kept falling out all day yesterday and then it did it last night and dumped urine everywhere so I put it back in and duct taped the damn thing so I could get a little sleep…got out of bed with just a little pain today and it doesn’t hurt much as I let the painkillers start to work but I know it will be a new kind of day as I start the recovery…I’m sure the catheter coming out is going to hurt but the ibuprofen I just took should take care of that…with the new restrictions on movement, the weed walk will have to wait until next week even though the sprayer and weedkiller only weigh about 5 lbs but I have to bend over to hit the weeds so I guess I need to wait…didn’t get much done but laundry yesterday and that sucks…I am going to have some big tomatoes in a couple of weeks and can’t wait for that and I will need to harvest some broccoli, too but I think that can wait til later in the week…not much to do today…I promise I’ll get back to doing a political one today since I probably won’t feel like doing much else…more later…

Well…just got off the phone with one of surgeon’s nurses for a follow up and I was severely chastised for doing too much…did the laundry and picked an ice cube up off the floor and she basically told me that I couldn’t  do anything with all of the damage that was done during the surgery…and it’s not just the exterior incision but all of the work they did inside could rupture and I’d have to have surgery again…I sure don’t want that but why the heck didn’t they tell me I couldn’t do anything? No bending, twisting, or lifting…or even going up and down stairs…so I guess I should have laid down in the yard since you have to go up stairs to get into my house? And I spent 200 bucks on rehab equipment today that I need to start using at some point but I sure don’t have that information in my paperwork either….and I broke the tab that connects the laptop screen to the spring and that sucks…going to have to buy a new computer, too…pretty sucky day…

Well…running about on time for the new normal and have just taken 6 pills and some mirilax to start the day and that is just too damn weird…it the last day of having the catheter in and I am just about done with it…it gets to be a pain to drag the damn bag with me and forget it when I hang it on the knobs of the vanity in the bathroom and walk way without it…and taking a shower is a big production instead of the quick thing it used to be…the glue has stated to release from my incisions and it looks like another week before they are bare…just broke the left hinge on the laptop screen and am going to try to super glue it back together after I get done with this and with the first post over on Mastodon…have some gel that will stay on it when I close it and the broken parts come together…crap, may have to buy a new one and that is a pain…have some big tomatoes out in the garden but none of them are getting red yet and I even have some green peppers that will be good on pizza….and I’ll harvest the rest of the broccoli later in the week…not much to do today…should be the last just sitting around day and it will feel good to be unencumbered by the bag finally…

Well…had a nice visit with my son, DIL and their dog Art today and it was sure good to see them and hang out for a few hours…my daughter made some great tacos and I had a couple soft ones but I still feel stuffed 3 hours later so I probably won’t eat again today…it was so funny when Art was trying to play and he barked with a bark that sounded like the dragons on GOT…so low pitched…had a bit of a scare when I stopped filling up my bag and thought my kidneys had stopped or my bladder had gotten screwed up somehow but it’s working a bit again so I can breathe again…so only one more day and the catheter comes out Tuesday and I won’t have to think every time I move anymore…it hasn’t been that bad but I’m done with it and just want it over…okay, that’s enough for now…

Well…running a little late today but was up at 5 with a full bag and that will be done Tuesday….still have pain in my abdomen but it’s more on my left side now so it may be some gas that I can’t pass with my intestines still trying to get back to normal…I can move around just fine without much pain so that bodes well for being able to do the UK trip since I still have almost two months to heal still…had the best damn meal yesterday…probably the best thing I’ve eaten this year when my daughter made Chicken Tikka Masala, an Indian dish with just so much flavor that she made in the instant pot and she left enough ingredients to do another one for me later in the summer….my son and DIL and Art are coming for tacos at noon and it will be good to see them…still pretty worn out but I think that is just from not doing a lot and the energy that is going into healing…still not eating a lot but I’m not supposed to until my intestines are back to normal….just had to take some mirilax to make that happen and I hope it works before noon….not much to do today…just going to do the normal recovery stuff until they get here and take a shower and shave…and need to get on that here soon since I want to see the F1 race at 9 and it’s already 7:30….more later….

Well…I’m quickly running out of month so it looks like I won’t make the goal of three of these a day…have been having a hell of a time coming up with political topics and the health problems have absorbed a lot of my brain capacity over the month with the surgery and recovery…so what do I do about it? Not sure at this point….Mastodon has been taking up a lot of my time as I try to flesh it out and make it a good topic source but right now it just more fun than anything else…meeting a lot of nice, smart people there who are interesting and fun and I like to talk to them…just talked vintage stereo equipment with another fan and he couldn’t believe my stuff is almost 50 years old and still working…and that kind of stuff goes on all the time…so, I think I’ll go look for a topic and maybe have some carrots and celery with ranch that my daughter cut up for me…

Well…running a bit late today with getting up a little after 6 but having to shower and change my clothes which is a pretty big production with still having the catheter in…just three more days and it comes out and I can get started on rehabbing and getting dry…felt okay yesterday but this morning I’m feel a little sore and constipated so I took the miralax along with the colace today so I am hopeful something will happen later…was able to move around with just a little pain yesterday but I seem to hurt across my shoulders and the swelling in my abdomen is not even with my right side still really puffy and the left almost back to normal…my incisions are healing pretty good with no infection or drainage…they are all dry so that’s a good thing…I do heal pretty fast normally….so today I have to clean this place up some with my son and DIL coming over tomorrow but I have all day for that and I’m feeling pretty worn out right now…can’t wait to get the catheter out Tuesday…it’s such a pain hauling that thing around with me….more later…oh, we did get some storms overnight and it looks like we got a couple of inches of rain…we needed it…