Quick update

Just back from the hospital and a chat with the urologist.

The uretroscopy will take place next Tuesday evening. What exactly will happen will depend on what he sees during his visual exploration of the ureter and the kidney calyxes.

Whatever there is, as far as a tumour is concerned, it must be extremely small and in a very early stage: although malignant cells have been found in the urine on two different occasions, nothing can be seen in any of the imaging results. If nothing can be found this time, with the visual exploration, then we shall have to wait a few months, allowing the tumour to develop somewhat, and then start the process again. Perhaps then the tumour will show up on images and so can be more easily located.

Anyway, that's all speculation at the moment, and we have to see what happens on Tuesday. Should be interesting, in any case, and I have already received instructions to try to stay awake during the whole procedure, in order to be able to follow it on the sceen kindly provided for that purpose. Must remember to take a camera, too…

Back to hospital

Went to see the urologist yesterday.

He had met with others involved in my case on Monday, so now it was time to learn what they had decided the next step should be.

I shall soon be back in hospital for another exploratory operation. This time it will be for a uretroscopy, so that's another scopy to add to the collection.

The cancer cells seem to be found mostly in the urine that is at the mouth of the ureter that comes from the left kidney. As a result, those in the know want to look up that ureter and into the renal calyxes to see if a tumour can be located somewhere there.

If a tumour is found, what happens next will then depend on the size of the tumour, its exact location, etc.

Scan after scan

In the previous entry, I wrote that I was to have an MRI scan and a CAT scan.

Wrong!

It turned out that it was an MRI scan and an intravenous pyelogram (and how's about that, then? as Jimmy Savile used to say). Be honest, it sounds a lot more impressive than a CAT scan.

Well, the MRI scan took place last Thursday and the urograph (that's another fancy name for the even fancier intravenous pyelogram) was done on Tuesday. Here's just one of the several images taken.

Big deal. Nothing suspicious was found.

Problem is, where do those nasty cells (indicating neoplasm and carcinoma) come from?

Well, whatever is causing them is probably in a very early stage and simply cannot yet be easily detected. Who am I to worry? I know nothing about all this medical stuff, so instead, those that do are going to have a meeting on 27 August to decide what to do next. I think there are two possibilities:

1. Explorative surgery;
2. Wait and see.

Again, we shall see…

Carry on, nurse

Just before being taken to operation

Some time ago a tiny amount of blood was found in a sample of my urine.

A few months later, a new sample was analysed and, once again, a tiny amount of blood was discovered in it.

Dr. A. decided I should see a uroligist, so off I popped within a few days to see Dr. P.

Dr. P. ordered urine analyses at brief but regular intervals during the coming weeks.

Each analysis showed that the urine contained a tiny amount of blood.

Dr. P. decided I should have a cystoscopy. This was a simple cystoscopy, a brief day-visit to the hospital, a local anaesthetic and a flexible tube. The procedure itself was painless. The days after the procedure were not: urinating was extremely painful for several days. Anyway, no immediate cause for the presence of blood was found, but further analysis showed that there were also abnormal cells floating about in my urine.

Dr. P. decided that I should have a second cystoscopy, this time with a day-and-a-half in the hospital, full anaesthetic, and a rigid tube, in order to have a more thorough look and to take samples, including biopsies. The procedure itself was painless (I was well out of it, after all). I was taken to the operating theatre at about nine in the morning and was back in my room at about two. The 24 hours after that, however, were distinctly uncomfortable, with a rigid tube entering my bladder through my penis, and some 18 litres of chlorine solution being dripped in and drained out, providing a constant feeling of wanting to go to the toilet, with the absolute knowledge that this was impossible. I didn't sleep. The next day in the afternoon, the rigid tube was removed, a painful experience that involved some bleeding. I spent the next few days zonked out on painkillers, which helped make urinating less of a torture.

The results of the analyses were received earlier this week: no sign of a bladder tumour, no sign of tumours in the urethra, but more abnormal cells and blood found.

It seems possible that there is something wrong with one of my kidneys. Yesterday I had an MRI-scan with contrast and on Tuesday I am to have a CAT-scan, also with contrast.

After that?

We shall see…