Well, there it is. On Wednesday, April 21st, I had my Brachytherapy surgery. At the same time Jake the Electrician showed up to finish wiring the garage addition and catio. Here is how the week went down.
On Monday I went to Rochester to have my Mayo Clinic pre-surgery evaluation and consultation with the doctor. As part of this visit I had a blood draw and a COVID-19 nasal swab test. (Test came back negative.) The doctor did a thorough job of explaining the procedure and what I could expect. The procedure is pretty routine at this point and the only questions I had dealt with how and where Pam would pick me up after the procedure. A location where Pam could drive in and collect me was established. It was the Charlton Building, part of the Mayo campus. I was given a prescription for some antibiotics and Flowmax. The latter was to help reduce the symptoms of a swollen prostate that would be one of the side effects of the surgery. All in all Monday was an 11 hour day with a couple hundred miles put on the car.
Tuesday afternoon we drove to Rochester yet again. After a stop at the craft store, Pam drove me to the hotel where I would stay that night, the Kahler Grand Hotel (which is right across the street from the Mayo Clinic hospital). The hotel has “Grand” in the title but is pretty much like any other hotel you might have stayed at. Slightly worn carpets covered the floors, but the room was clean and quiet. I settled in for a night of restless sleep.
Wednesday I was up bright and early with the 5:00 a.m. wake-up call, having a Mayo check-in time of 6:00 AM. I checked out of the Kahler Grand and walked across to the hospital and checked in. Taken to a room, I was issued a hospital gown and a pair of footie slippers. My overnight bag and other clothing were stored in a locker.
I will mention the gown, as it was not your typical hospital attire. Although it tied at the waist, there were velcro enclosures at the shoulders. The reason became clear as I would be on my back for the entire process, and these openings allowed the doctors and staff to ‘peel back’ the top of the gown to place monitoring sensors. The gown also had provisions to circulate warm or cool air; neither was used this time around.
At this point I was prepped and in the surgical room, but the anesthesiologist was delayed by an earlier surgery running long. I spent some time making small talk with the rest of the surgical crew until she arrived.
The next thing I knew I woke up back in the room where I had first been taken and where my clothing was stored. The procedure had lasted about 3 hours; by this time it was already early afternoon. The staff had me walk a bit, answer questions, and complete a dismissal check list.
Pam was able to pick me up around 4:00 PM. Although I was wheeled down to the pick up point, I walked and carried my overnight bag out to the car. I hadn’t had anything to eat all day, so on the way home we stopped at a small grocery store outside Rochester and Pam bought me a pint of ice cream to eat. My throat felt a bit better after that, as the hospital staff had inserted a breathing tube during the procedure and my throat was feeling pretty rough right about then.
I haven’t had many after-effects so far, other than the sore throat as a result of that breathing tube insertion. Halls cough drops have helped. As of this morning, Saturday, my throat discomfort persists but at a much lower level. I am a bit uncomfortable sitting on hard surfaces but that too is disappearing. Internal functions returned to normal without issue.
Next up is preparation for radiation beam therapy. My orientation session will be Monday the 26th with treatments beginning on the 28th. I am to receive 22 treatments in all, none on weekends. I am scheduled to be done with these by the end of May.
It will be some time until I learn the results of the Brachytherapy. Normally the prostate is monitored by blood testing for the PSA level, but I am taking medications to reduce the PSA level so the prostate is not acting on its own. That may continue for up to 18 months from my first treatment, or another 16 – 17 months. To give you some numbers, an “average” reading is around 1.8 – 2.4. My initial reading was 22.4 which caused the doctors to classify my cancer as “aggressive.” The blood test I had last Monday returned a PSA of .14. That’s right, “point 14,” very low. Time will tell where the PSA will settle after all of this is over.
I would like to thank all the people who sent me messages of support. In particular, a shout out to my friends Jim and Laura Brassfield from Colorado who sent me a box of baked goodies to cheer me up. I appreciate the positive support I received from everyone.
While my Mayo experience was the major event of the week, other things were happening as well. Jake the Electrician arrived to complete the wiring of the garage addition and catio. He completed this job on Wednesday, and I must say it is nice to have lights working from switches and no more extension cords hanging around. Among other things, Jake put in a new fuse panel and a pair of 240 volt 30 amp outlets. The outlets will let me operate larger pieces of equipment such as air compressors, although 30 amps is on the low side of the scale.
Some outside tasks were done, including putting up a bird house on the west end of the catio.
Pam had me tack up a sign she had received from her friend Julie Nickles. Julie had a career in US embassy service and had picked up this sign in Romania:
Roughly translated from Romanian, the sign says “This property is patrolled and guarded by an attack cat.” The sign is on the south side of the catio.
I managed to get a photo of a couple yellow finches at the bird feeder. (The feeder was dug in this past week and taken off the temporary base I had it on during the winter months.) Click on the photo to bring it up to full size and check the left side of the feeder.
Photo Archive
A few family photos start this section. Most were taken in the mid-80’s.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
The Mayo Clinic is quite an international place, with people of many nationalities and ages coming and going on a regular basis. Interesting to observe. But, for all its world renown, the Mayo is still a hospital, integrating new patients into its “collective” with the standard procedures – hooking up the IV (and catheter as needed), hospital gowns, etc. I wonder if the staff feels the pressure to live up to the hype of “the Mayo Clinic” reputation?
Minnesota is under a mask-wearing mandate, which is being enforced. This made it comfortable to make the stop at Michael’s craft store and to marginally interact [as needed] with the Mayo crowd. All good.
Back here in NE Iowa, once again I will be covering plants tonight as there is a freeze warning posted. I had a chat with the tulips in the Mary Lynn bed – several are about ready to bloom – I suggested they observe the closed buds of the daffodils and hold off blooming until Monday, when the temps may be as high as 70 degrees. Despite the cold temps I invited the fairies to inhabit their house in the oak tree, but I do believe they are still “snowbirding” in the south so as not to have to wear boots, mittens and mufflers. At least there have been no fairy sightings to date.
Be well. Happy Trails.
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