Well this was not what I had planned!

Well this was not what I had planned!

Had my post op follow-up with Dr. Hurley.  I had a number of things on my mind, the first being the results of the pathology and a new development 'down there'.  Since I had my catheter removed Wednesday, I had passed some clots (normal), then all of a sudden my stream was reduced.  Can still go, but a trickle compared to the fire hose effect I was used to.  I was hoping he would say, it will clear up.

Arrived at the Salem NH office on time and was the first patient of the day.  After check in, I was called and instructed to enter the examination room.  "The doctor will be right with you". I waited and prayed a bit.

Dr Hurley arrived, shock my hand and asked how I was doing.  He then sat down with some paperwork and began by telling me that he was surprised at what he found while inside.  He proceeded to sketch as he spoke.  Apparently, as he drew a circular shape, the mass he saw in the office, he scraped away.  However, (and I hated hearing that conjuncture), as he was 'in there' he discovered that I have an 'outer bladder'.  It seems that a pouch had grown outside of the bladder and was acting as a bladder (extension).  But, when he looked inside, it was 'very messy'.  Meaning there were tumors.

He looked at his paperwork and said the pathology came back as cancerous and because it was found in the outer bladder he used the word aggressive.  (Another word I don't like hearing with the term cancer).  Since the outer bladder does not have the muscle structure that the bladder has, there is a concern that it 'may' have spread.  He mentioned in his 20 years of doing this, he has never seen this condition.  [Lucky or unlucky me].  Because of this he wants me to see a specialist at St Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton.  He indicated that there are multiple approaches to getting this, but he needs some guidance.  The easiest is to scrape out and monitor.  He also indicated chemo. Another approach would be to remove the outer bladder. And the final approach would be to remove the entire bladder.  None of this I wanted to hear.  

I asked how the outer bladder happened.  He said that it's been that way for a long time and I've had the cancer for a long time.  He said that an obstruction could cause an excessive amount of urine in the bladder and the pressure caused a breech and created a pouch. Hearing this, I added that I've begun to experience an obstruction which restricted my urine output, but I thought it was a clot waiting to pass.  He seemed to think it might be related to the prostate so he indicated that he would call in a prescription to help me 'go'.  Once it's cleared up, I can stop.

So he said he was going to get in touch with St Elizabeth's and schedule a consult.  In the interim, he scheduled a three month follow-up with him.

I'm a luck/unlucky SOB.  Between the breast cancer, AAA and this.  Geesh!

More to come!