Thursday, February 2, 2023 – 0430
Our cat, Roger, usually wakes me up early in the morning for feeding. He jumps up on the bed, gets in my face, and lightly taps me on the nose until I get up to feed him. So, I’m used to getting up early and then going back to bed.
This morning, however, there was a different chain of events. It started with a panic attack triggered by the sighting of blood spots. The thought crossed my mind that because I have been waiting over a year for cancer treatments the cancer had metastasized, so we took off for the emergency room.
A lab test in the emergency room did verify small traces of blood. A nurse also pointed out that the lab test showed signs of Calcium Oxalate Crystals. These crystals are indicators of kidney stones! The nurse said I possibly could have passed a kidney stone. And he should know because he has passed over 200 stones.
With an abundance of caution, The ER doctor suggested I follow up with my Vero Beach urologist. I did, and I was able to see him the same afternoon. The urologist did some lab work, and his lab results showed no blood and no calcium oxalate crystals. The urologist said I should have a CT UROGRAM!
OH NO! NOT ANOTHER $%^&#@%% SCAN!! THIS MEANS ANOTHER DELAY.
I’m in consultation with my Dream Team at the Proton Therapy Institute.
An interesting aside: Our ER nurse was a retired Chief Naval Aircraft Mechanic who went back to school after 20 years in the service to become a nurse.
Another interesting aside: Nancy worked with our ER doctor’s son when she was a school librarian.
Yet another interesting aside: Our ER doctor was a cancer survivor. He pointed out that even as a doctor he had to wait over 10 months for cancer treatment.
4 Comments
Holy Moses! That whole scene would give me an anxiety attack. You certainly win on the various scans accumulated!! What’s a CT UROGRAM?! And I have also been amazed on my C journey of the number of intersects with others! Breathe! Keep steady. Eat ice cream!!
A CT urogram is used to examine the kidneys, ureters, and bladder. It lets your doctor see the size and shape of these structures to determine if they’re working properly and to look for any signs of disease that may affect your urinary system. The Mayo Clinic
Hoping for smoothe sailing from now on.
I got a kick out of your Interesting Asides, Don. Life is so strange at times.
Bleeding is common with prostate cancer. Many guys just ignore it thinking that it will just go away. They think that it is nothing to be concerned about. Often there are very brief but sharp pains in various locations as well.
Hope you can just go ahead and get your proton therapy treatment although I am sure the doctors will want to be certain the disease has not spread to lymph nodes, bones etc. as the treatment at that point would have to change probably going to Hormone Therapy in addition to others. Your Gleason Score & PSA reading should influence their decision on how to proceed.