How it started

July 25, 2019 – Today I noticed what appeared to be blood in my urine. I didn’t think much about it.

Aug 10, 2019 – Saw blood in my urine again, but today I asked my wife, Kathryn, to visit Urgent Care together. They took samples and performed a quick test to confirm my suspicions, and recommended a visit to a urologist.

Aug 18, 2019 – I’ve been seeing blood in my urine regularly. Met Dr. Chase Sovell today. He used a simple instrument inserted into my urethra to have a look, and after a few minutes of prodding and poking around, he stated that he found “it”. He called it a tumor, and a polyp, and recommended that I make arrangements with his office to schedule a procedure so he could go back in and “snip it!” He remarked that generally, these things are small and after he snips it, that’s the end of the problem. In my case, he was so wrong….

Sept 5 – Dr. Sovell’s scheduler called and arranged for me to have a CAT scan of my kidney stating that they needed to check to see if there were any tumors present, to determine if the tumors spread from my bladder. I went to Abbott Northwestern Imaging Center and underwent the simple procedure.

Sept 12 – Dr. Sovell’s office called with the results. Dr. Sovell stated that they found no evidence that any tumors spread to the ureters or into the kidney and recommended I schedule surgery. I was not only relieved, I was not concerned so when the scheduler called later that day, stating that they were looking at at least a month out for the next available surgery date. After looking at dates, planned events, Thanksgiving holidays and all, I agreed to undergo the “snipping” on Dec 2 at 8:45 a.m.

For the next three months, I pee-ed blood every day. I drank lots of water, like 8-10 bottles of water each day, and I noticed that if I drank a LOT of water, my urine was almost clear. Then some on days, I would pass blood clots; sometimes little ones, and occasionally, big clots would shoot out and blood would pour out into the urinal. Those days were alarming. I continued to think that it was just a bloody little polyp that would soon be “snipped” and my bladder would finally heal.

Nov 19, 2019 – I visited my personal doctor, J. Myers, today. He came into the exam room, sat down, logged into his computer, and casually, but with a hint of concern in his voice, asked me how I was doing. I told him I was concerned about all the blood in my urine, and at that point he looked up and turned his gaze towards me as he said, yes, that’s from the cancer. This was the very first time anyone mentioned the ‘C’ word, and I was stunned. So, this isn’t a tumor, a polyp, a little bloody bugger that can be “snipped” away? Oh shit!