I've been puttering along since my last scan in June. On July 5 I had a total left shoulder replacement. The orthopedist described to ball on my humerus as looking like a rotted piece of cauliflower, while a marble-sized lump (1.2 cm) rolling around between the bone and the rotator cuff and occasionally getting stuck. He severed the muscle on the top of my shoulder, cut off the rotted bone, glued and screwed in a new ball, cleaned up my rotator cuff, and stitched the muscle back together. I woke up and for the first time in years felt no pain in my shoulder. Amazing! The recovery was awkward but straightforward - wear a sling 24/7 for a month or so, then start rehab. I'm told I should plan to do PT for about a year to get my strength back. I've been cleared to ski and am generally happy with my progress.
Recently, I've noticed gross hematuria -- blood in my urine. When I first saw that back in November 2011 it was the harbinger of my bladder cancer diagnosis. Since I had my neobladder installed, I've had visible blood in my urine every couple of years. I had another test run and it confirmed "WBC Clumps." Maybe it's an infection, maybe it's nothing. I'll let my doctor figure it out.
Today I went in for another round of CT scans. It's been four and a half years since I started this current remission -- my fourth -- and so far my luck is holding. Although my chest scan reading has not been posted, my pelvis, abdomen, and neck scans showed no evidence of metastatic disease. My next scans will be in June 2025, which will be the five year mark for being cancer free. After that, assuming all is well, I'll probably shift to annual scans for the rest of my life. It's amazing to think that I've been at this for 13 years since I was first diagnosed with bladder cancer.
There are some down sides to surviving, however. I've had to go to the dentist several times after not going for more than a decade (because I was going to die, so why go?). I decided to cancel two $500,000 term life insurance policies that I bought more than 20 years ago because the annual cost to renew was about $15,000 each and increasing by about 20% per year. And I still need to figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up.
