Well…we finally got out for a tour around Muskegon with my daughter today and she really like this town…not my neighborhood, but this town and I really do need to find another place to live out here…this is the worst neighborhood in Muskegon and I’m finally ready to admit that…going to look a few miles farther west to see if there is something there for me but I need to take some time off to continue to recover from the surgery…it was a good day today with little pain but I am waiting for a call back from the surgeon to talk about my pathologist report and how I’m recovering…he called at 9:30 and I called him back at 10 so that was 6 hours ago…oh, well…we did have a small storm come through last night and it is going to rain again Sunday and Monday so I may have some peace from the drunks across the street…

Well…running about on time for waking up at 5:04 and not being able to get back to sleep…another day night and I am still shaking my head about the progress that I’ve made since the cath came out Tuesday…still have to think about it at times but it’s not the deluge I was expecting and that most people experience….got some stuff done with finally getting the car and the bike washed and today I need to get out there and lube the bike so it won’t get rusty while it just sits…we did get a nice little storm last night that will help with killing the weeds and I just may mow the front when my daughter leaves tomorrow…will take it really gently and not overdo it to make sure I have no setbacks in my recovery…I did start on my upper body work yesterday with doing 100 curls with the 5 pound weights and 100 with the 8 pound weights and I hope I can build some muscle mass to fill up the crepey skin on my arms….overall, I feel pretty good but I did have a little pain this morning …it’s down to about a 2 on the 10 scale so I think just two ibuprofens will take care of it…all of this sitting has done a number on my tailbone so I’m going to have to do some walking today and look forward to it…I am going to have prepped food for the next week in the freezer and some chicken/apple sausages that I am dying to try…had goat cheese as a topping on the chili my daughter made yesterday and she is done cooking since she is going home tomorrow…I am going to miss her…it’s been nothing but a joy to have her here to get me through the hard part of the surgery and recovery….not much to do today…we are going to take a tour of the city and my trails out to the beach so she can see why I like living out here…and I have bills to drop off at the post office so she can see the downtown, too…more later…

Well…two in a row…two nights dry and I still can’t believe where I’m at after only two days from cath removal….I do have a little pain this morning from the work I did yesterday so I did have to take some ibuprofen this morning…man, the moon was bright again overnight and into this morning and since my bedroom window faces west, I was bathed in the cool, blue light that I just reveled in and stayed in bed until after 6 just looking at it….feel pretty good today but I think I’ll ease into it since I don’t have a lot to do today other than the car, bike, and garage…and won’t get started on that until 9 or so since I have all day…I am pretty surprised about how fast I’m healing up and how good I feel right now even with staying up a little late last night…hope it continues….have been eating quite well the past two weeks but that will end Sat when my daughter goes home…it has been nice to have her here and I’ll miss her…need to get started looking for a house soon but I think I may just take a week off and continue to heal….not much to do today…just going to fire up the car and wash it and then maintain the bike so it will be ready when I’m ready…and the garage really needs a sweep so that will be the last thing that I’ll do today…and then will probably watch old movies this afternoon….more later…

Well…you know, it’s going to be a hard day tomorrow since I really don’t have much to do…did all the work today that I’m allowed to do with doing the weed walk and sweeping the front walk but there is nothing else that falls within the restrictions I have on me…maybe I could service and wash the car? The wash mitt is only about 4 ounces or so and I can keep the bucket under 8 pounds but I’ll be bending a lot…didn’t hurt from the work today and most of the pain is gone even with walking a mile in the yard…I could sweep the garage out, too and it really needs it so that could be something…and I guess I could wash the bike and lube that up so it won’t rust in the two months it’s going to sit….okay, now were getting there…that will give me at least two hours of work and if I go at it at half speed like today, I could stretch it out to three hours….still not leaking after the cath coming out so I’m happy about that but we’ll have to see how that goes…I could have a setback but I just have to think about it for a while until it becomes automatic again…hmmm…sounds like a plan…

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…