Well, I'm still not smoking my pipe, but it was good to visit The Tobacco Hut yesterday after being in the hospital last weekend. People sometimes ask how long I've been smoking a pipe - the photo above proves that I started at a very young age! That's me in a photo taken in 1965 surrounded by some older cousins. If you look carefully you can see a corncob pipe hanging from my mouth. At 18 months old, I probably hadn't discovered English tobaccos yet, so was probably still smoking an aromatic. Just kidding of course. I started smoking a pipe when I was in my early 20's.
Lou wasn't at the Hut on Saturday - he and Dotty were in Biloxi playing the one-armed bandits and hopefully bringing some of the casino's money home with them. Joe K was running the store and Steve B was there along with Peter G and Ed B. Ed hadn't been reading the blog so was unaware of my ordeal over the last few weeks, so we brought him up to speed.
Usually I run the store for Lou on Saturdays when he and Dotty are away, but because of my situation I wasn't able to, so Joe and Peter took care of things. Joe was in charge this Saturday and he definitely runs things a little differently than I do. I mean, sure, I give lots of free stuff away, but I usually limit it to handfuls of cigars. Joe was giving away whole boxes to practically anybody. And he took a lot of naps.
I did tell the guys how I've been trying to "milk" the whole cancer thing with Paula. You know, she'll mention a chore that needs to be done like taking the trash out, and I'll respond with, "Hey, can't help you - cancer!" When I was just home from the hospital, I could get away with it, but now that I'm up and about and feeling almost back to a hundred percent, I can't use the cancer card anymore. Of course, not having the cancer anymore thanks to the surgery kind of makes it a tough card to play anyway.
This past Friday I had the staples removed plus we got the pathology report back from the doctor - the surrounding tissue all showed negative which is, obviously, excellent news. I meet with an oncologist on Monday who will set me up on a schedule of follow-up scans to make sure it doesn't come back.
Today Paula and I bought a car to replace the Honda that was totaled almost a month ago in the accident that started it all. We bought a 2009 Hyundai Elantra, doing our part to stimulate the local economy. Too bad I can't afford to stimulate it a little more and buy the new Camaro, but I needed something to get me to and from work.
The car came with XM Radio built in and since they've merged with Sirius, they now have an NPR feed, which I'm happy about. So Joe, not to worry, I'll still be able to fill you in on everything I hear on that last bastion of fair and objective news in this country, National Public Radio. By the way, Joe, you don't even have to type in the URL; I've given you the link to NPR right here.
The Tobacco Hut turns twenty-five this year and Lou & Dotty are celebrating with a party on Saturday, June 27, starting at 11 am. I think it's a pretty big deal when any small business can make it to the silver anniversary mark, but a tobacco store in today's economy and business environment is especially notable. Lou & Dotty have obviously been doing something right all these years and I hope that everyone reading this is able to make it over and help them celebrate. Even you out-of-towners - come on, buy a plane ticket!
Thanks to everyone who wrote or called with their support, prayers and good wishes over these last few weeks. It's been a tough period for Paula and I, but made much easier with the support of good friends.
Cheers!
- Bob
There was no joining the crowd at The Tobacco Hut for me this past Saturday. If you've been following the blog these last few weeks, you know this weekend was spent in the hospital having my right kidney removed. When I was in the ER for the car accident in May, a CT scan revealed a cancerous mass on my kidney. Standard procedure is to remove the whole kidney, and that's what I had done this past Friday. Saturday was spent recovering, and I was home today.
The doctor said the surgery went very well - he was able to do it robotically, meaning I have four small incisions and one main one where the kidney is removed. Smaller incisions mean a shorter recovery time. It is pretty hard to fathom that 48 hours after having an organ removed, I'm home from the hospital and walking around, albeitly slowly.
I have to really give a shout out to the staff at Mease Countryside. They were all very friendly, extremely competent, and compassionate. Sue Ann, if you're reading this, you are entering a very noble profession and you have my highest admiration.
Paula wasn't even jealous when Courtnee, a very pretty blonde nurse, offered to take me for a stroll Friday up and down the hallway. I was in heaven as we trundled down the fourth floor, me holding on to the IV pole, Courtnee walking beside me holding the back of my gown closed and carrying my pee bag. I think she liked me.
I only wish that my roommate, Joe, had been as considerate as I tried to be. Was it the bodily noises he made all night long that bothered me? No, that can't be helped, and I'm sure I made a few of them as well. But did he have to keep the television on from 6 am-10 pm every day?! I don't think he watched a single program for more than ten minutes; he was constantly flipping channels. Next time I'm springing for a private room.
The food wasn't even that bad in the hospital, once I was off the liquid meals. My first two meals were broth, jello and juice, but on Saturday I graduated to solid foods. A tuna sandwich never tasted so good! Now I'm home and some home cooking from Paula tonight was wonderful.
It looks weird to look in the mirror and see Frankenstein-like staples covering my shaved belly, but it's better than one large front-to-back incision. Even the shaving process had some humor. Apparently, I'm quite ticklish on my stomach and I couldn't tolerate the technician shaving below my chest a few minutes before surgery. So I did it myself - I wonder if I get some sort of discount for doing their job?
If I'm feeling up to it, I'll stop in to the Hut on Saturday for a little bit to say hi. I should be a little better by then. I'm looking forward to getting back to my pipe, but that's several weeks off I'm sure.
Until next time - cheers!
- Bob
Today at The Tobacco Hut, it was Lou, Joe K, Peter G and myself in attendance. I had good news to report from the doctor's visit yesterday: according to the PET scan I had done earlier in the week, the cancer has not spread - it's localized to just the one kidney. That's exactly what Paula and I were hoping to hear. It's now just a matter of removing the kidney and there probably shouldn't be anymore treatment necessary.
I'm scheduled for the surgery next Friday, June 5th, bright and early at 7:15 am at Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor. The doctor hopes to do the surgery robotically which calls for just several small incisions, minimizing recovery time. He said if all goes well, I could be home the next day and back to work in a week.
He did caution however that because of the injuries sustained in the car accident, it might prolong the recovery. The doctor also said that if he has to widen the incisions to get his hands in there, it would lengthen the recover period and if there's bleeding or complications and he's forced to do a full opening, front to back, the recovery would be closer to 6-8 weeks. Obviously, we're hoping for the first option, but the doctor won't know for sure until he gets started.
The doctor did spring a little surprise on me in his office - he informed me that he wanted to do a cystoscope of my bladder. It basically entails a visual check of the inside of the bladder to make sure it's clear as well. It didn't take me long to figure out exactly how he planned on doing that! If not for broken ribs, I probably would have run from the office.
After what seemed like an eternity (probably only 30-45 seconds) of searing pain, he was through and I was catching my breath on the examination table. As I was unclenching my fists, the doctor looked at me and said, "Now, we'll have to do this once a week for twelve weeks." He didn't let the shock take over my face too long before he said, "Just kidding." Funny guy, that urologist!
Peter, Lou, and Joe were all smoking some fine cigars and there I sat without my pipe. I won't smoke anything 'til I'm done with the surgery and fully recovered. It's been two weeks since I've had a pipe and I sure do miss it! Truth be told it probably didn't make any difference whether I smoked a pipe or sat there breathing in their cigar smoke, but at least I can rationalize it better that way!
I probably won't post for a couple weeks, but will update as soon as I can here.
Cheers!
- Bob
This will be a bit of a different post than the usual ones have been, a little more personal instead of just a round up of the day's happenings. It's been a pretty crappy week starting with last Tuesday. If you were at The Tobacco Hut today, you heard the story so bear with me. If not, here goes...
Tuesday afternoon I was heading southbound on Alt. 19 out of Tarpon Springs and a van was headed northbound. The van was rear-ended by a pickup truck which sent it into my lane. I always try to leave myself an escape route, but this time there was no place to go. I hit the van pretty much head on, but my little 2000 lb. Honda did its job against the 3500 lb. van. The car is totaled, but I'm alive. I was wearing my seatbelt and the front and side airbags deployed. The Honda is shown above at the salvage yard the next day.
The firefighters had to cut the left side of the car off to get me out and I was transported to the hospital where I was x-rayed and given a CT scan to check for internal bleeding. The x-rays showed a couple of fractured ribs, but nothing else broken. My right knee is pretty bruised and my left arm was lacerated from the broken glass. I've got some nice bruising all across my chest from the seatbelt that's turning a nice eggplant color.
While the CT scan showed no internal bleeding or organ damage from the accident, it did show a 5.5 cm mass on my right kidney. The ER doctor suspected it was cancerous, but urged me to get with a urologist to confirm it. So Thursday, Paula and I visited a urologist and he confirmed our worst fears that, in fact, it was a renal cell carcinoma.
The doctor was very optimistic and confident though that based on the CT scan, it looks like it is localized to the kidney and has not spread. He scheduled me for a PET scan on Tuesday which will give him more information and determine the course of action. Most likely, he said, he will just remove the kidney which is standard practice. If it were at the top or bottom of the kidney, they might just remove part of it, but since it's in the middle, they'll take the whole thing.
The good news is that with Stage 1 tumors that haven't spread, the success rate is 97% and no additional treatment such as radiation or chemotherapy should be needed.
Paula and I were obviously pretty upset and emotional at the doctor's office, but he urged us not to "freak out" and that everything would be okay. His confidence went a long way toward easing our minds, and we've since done a lot of research (well, Paula's done most of it) on kidney cancer. While we're not without concern of course, we're doing okay with it.
I have a follow up visit with the urologist next Friday and he'll probably schedule the surgery for the following week.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to visit the Hut today as I've decided against smoking at least until I'm fully recovered from the surgery. But I wanted to go and be among friends.
Paula dropped me off around 1 o'clock and I told my tale of adventure to Lou and Joe K. Peter G and Barry C arrived a little while later and I filled them in as well. Everyone's support was a little overwhelming to me, but certainly not surprising. And what I was hoping for happened...I laughed. It hurts to laugh to be sure with the cracked ribs, but it's a good pain.
Joe offered to do anything for me he could, but stopped short of bedpan duties (although he did mention a long-handled brush, but I shut my ears at that point). Everyone offered me their prayers and wishes and while I'm certainly not religious, I appreciate it. Positive thoughts regardless of their form are quite welcome.
Joe said he would drive me home to save Paula a return trip so around 3 o'clock we got up to leave. I of course took a little longer to get up because of the sore, stiff muscles and rib pain, but I got there. While Joe went out to his truck to clear off the passenger seat, Barry made the comment that the pain was in my head and I should just walk it off (thanks Barry!).
Joe returned moments later - with a shopping cart. He opened the door and wheeled it right into the store, looked at me, and said, "Hop in!". A better alternative presented itself when an elderly woman drove by in an electric scooter. The offer was made to hijack the scooter for me, but I declined.
Thanks to Lou, Joe, Barry and Peter for their support today at the shop and for making me laugh. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress and should be able stop in to the Hut at least for one or two more weeks.
Cheers!
- Bob
