Update: Week 5 after surgery!

Following the trend from previous weeks, mostly positive, but with a couple of challenges, and no tears (but there was one explosive outburst of anger!), and a resigning!

• Operation Debris (My nickname for it) continues and is becoming quite draining (pun intended!). When left to its own devices, it burns and is very uncomfortable, so to compensate for this you have to keep very hydrated (Water, coffee, or good quality Guinness seems to do the trick). Downside I am now an olympic standard, run to the loo candidate with a recycle time of just over 15 minutes! This is one of the challenges, and is limiting what I can do!
• Started the week on a high with Fit4Surgery, A trip down to the National Centre for Sport & Exercise Medicine. A regime of fitness is now underway to make things a little easier for the operation. Light weighs, steps and treadmill is about as far as we can go as it will need to be repeatable from home when my chemo starts as I will be immunocompromised and unable to go to the gym.
• The Cancer has been classified as T2, G2 High. It has a stage: T2, where T standards for tumour, and 2 denotes it has grown into the muscle layer of the bladder. This is mid stage, with the highest being 4. It has been graded as G2 High. The cancer cells look less like normal cells (abnormal). They are called moderately differentiated. They are more likely to spread into the deeper (muscle) layer of the bladder or to come back after treatment. High grade means the cancer is more likely to grow spread and come back after treatment.

There are no signs of spread (metastasised) to other parts of the body at the moment (All Good).

So if I was going to give it a name, I think Patrick is suitable, in homage to Robert Patrick who plays the nemesis in Terminator 2 (T2).

The Explosive moment, was just a cock-up by people that should be a lot more professional and competent than they obviously are! A demonstration that my emotions are now on a hair trigger!

The resignation. Not as ominous as it sounds ... I have resigned myself to the fact that my Photography will have to be parked for the next couple of years, while I beat this Cancer. I had to cancel 2 events this week, and I need to focus on me and my health right now. One of my back-up cameras is already going on to a new home and owner, and I am sure there will be other bits of equipment going a similar way. I am not giving up photography, but it will just be for pleasure now.

A couple of high points this week were nurturing a Guinness, at the New Inn, with Friends, and breakfast at Cafe Ambience with a friend on Friday.

For all the kind words and positive comments ... Thank you so much, I am so grateful! x