Bladder Cancer

Yesterday I had a Same Day Surgery; a TURB, or Cystoscopy with biopsies (2). That makes the fifth in 5 years, but it has been almost 4 years since the last one. I’ve been lucky.

Of course, I have to wait for the results. Lurking deep in my mind is the unthinkable thought that perhaps NOW there is ‘muscle invasion’ where before there had been none. My Bladder Cancer has remained, so far, T1G3, which has meant that I have gotten to retain my bladder.

Still, waiting is not as difficult as it used to be, did not think it would ever happen, but I have gotten used to waiting, in a whole lot of life areas.

In fact, the waiting is a lot easier than going through these procedures. They always knock me for a loop! You would think that because its ‘same day’ that it would be something really, really, easy on you in every way; kind of like going to the dentist.

Not!

First of all it takes a couple of days for all the drugs they gave me to leave my system (They always give me too much, too big of doses, of just about everything, as if I were a 6ft 30 year old male!).

Then getting over the 'stress' of the whole 'same day' thing; the fasting, (I think the lack of salt & fluids causes a lot of my physical discomfort-because of my strange endo probs) arranging transit, no smoking, the 'hurry up & wait', etc takes me a few days to recover from.

And NOW they don't want me to take insulin the morning of, or oral diabetics for 24 hrs prior to the surgery, so I go in with a high blood sugar, (which definitely adds to my discomfort) and it takes me a couple days, at least, afterwards to stabilize THAT. (For one thing, you can’t be suffering brain fog to do this!)

This time I had an extra special treat! The anesthetist that administered the spinal gave me a drug that was supposed to be shorter acting; I was supposed to be able to start moving my legs after just an hour or two. (It did not work that way, legs just barely started working 4 hrs later.) On top of which, he gave me (I found out the day after when he called to check on me) Lidocaine to accomplish this goal.

Well, turns out Lidocaine is KNOWN for causing "Transient Radicular Irritation.” You can do a Google on it, but what it mean is PAIN, sometimes severe (I can vouch for that) in the lower back and legs. It starts several hours after the spinal wears off and can last a couple of days or a week, tapering off all the while. Oh, and then there's the pins & needles effect. Well, this HIT me as I was sitting outside in the dusk (8pm or so) waiting for my ride home. And I still have some intermittent pain/pins & needles in both legs.

So goes the fun...

Family Pictures Done!

I cannot believe it! I finally, finally, finished scanning all the family pictures, over 1000 of them! I scanned them, labeled them, and sorted them into subjects and family surnames (Garrett, Estes, Suydam, Harris, etc.).

After I relax for a bit, will start scanning what documents I have!

Byetta Reaction?

From the first injection of Byetta, I felt as if I were having a very minor allergic reaction. With each injection (and I took it for 7.5 months), I would feel exactly as I do when I eat an only an egg on an empty stomach – yucky. Twice a day for months, I felt as if I needed to take some Benadryl, though I did not.

I spoke to my doc about it several times. I called Byetta a couple of times; asking if Byetta was made, or derived from, eggs or egg products, each time I inquired, I got a negative reply.

Other Byetta users were reporting a ‘yucky’ feeling after taking an injection of Byetta. Because of these ‘other’ reports, I just considered it one more mild side effect and I ignored this little problem in the excitement of seeing lower blood glucose numbers and weight loss.

About halfway through the 7.5 months I took Byetta, my back started itching. And I mean itching, intensely. I eventually ended up with a backscratcher in each room. Still, I did not think too much of it, as it was ONLY my back itching. The itching was bad enough however, that I did report it to my doc.

About this same time, my eyes (I suffer from dry ‘eyes’ anyway) became irritated and itchy. I went to the Ophthalmologist, was diagnosed with ‘allergic conjunctivitis’ and put on twice daily eye drops.

After I had stopped taking Byetta, I again reported my intensely itching back to my doc, this time I was referred to a Dermatologist where I was diagnosed with chronic Urticaria. I am now taking several anti-histamines and Atarax for the itching.

No one sees the connection between taking Byetta and the Chronic Urticaria, or the general allergic condition I seem to be suffering from now, but me! Indeed, there may not even be a connection, except in my own head.

I have been an ‘allergic’ person all my life; it has taken many forms, from anaphylactic shock to small rashes. I personally believe that this is just another one. That I had a low-level allergic reaction to Byetta and that it became chronic over the time I used Byetta. I should have listened to my own body!