The surgery (TURBT) took place on January 7 and I was in the hospital for three days and two nights.
On the evening of January 7, I suffered a severe pain in my left kidney. Some say it was because I didn’t let the nurses give me enough pain killer medication, but it could have happened even with it. The pain went away soon after a nurse injected some medication in my IV.
The pain has not returned and I made it through the rest of the hospital stay without incident.
It was a blessing to have Rachael prepare kitchari – an Aruyvedic composition of mung beans, rice, vegetables, and spices. Each day, she brought an new kitchari and they were all wonderful. You know how atrocious hospital food can be!
Visitors made my stay in the hospital much more comforting.
On the morning of January 9, Dr. Neuwirth came into my room and announced quite confidently, “You have muscle invasive bladder cancer and you should go see Dr. Maxwell Meng at UCSF” – all in one sentence.
By some miracle or perhaps a sense of urgency, we got in to see Dr. Meng, with CT scans and biopsy samples, the very next day.