Once More into the Frying Pan

It is a week of appointments for me.

On Monday, I had my yearly dental checkup and cleaning with good results. The best result was the charge — $35.

Canada has a new dental plan for seniors of modest means. If we meet the income criterion and do not otherwise have private coverage, we are eligible for federal assistance. My portion of the $300 bill was the aforementioned $35.

Oh . . . and no cavities.

On Friday, I will have an appointment with audiologist. I expect that they will then send in one of my hearing aids for cleaning and a new battery. Having only one hearing aid will not be the best, but I should manage with Sue's indulgence.

While I am sans hearing aid, I will try to stay home for the most part except for my physio appointment that afternoon. I will inform the therapist of my audio difficulty, and she will raise her voice at first. But then I will have to remind her because I have found that people automatically and quickly drop to their normal volume. But we'll manage.

The biggest appointment came on Tuesday when I finally got to see the specialist urologist in one of the big Ottawa hospitals. 

I was very apprehensive, and my anxiety didn't decrease when he exclaimed a big and surprised "Oh!" when the probe camera revealed what was going on inside of me.

However, he does propose a possible solution, which he claims is not the standard TURP procedure. Apparently, TURP is a hot procedure using a resectoscope. 

He will employ a cold knife technique and also  apply the cancer/chemo drug, Mitomycin, and he is hopeful that it will work well for at least some time. Please note that I don't have cancer.

Mitomycin is an antibiotic used as a chemotherapy drug. It stops or slows the growth of cancer cells and other rapidly growing cells by damaging their DNA.

As I was trying to take it all in, I think he said that 2% - 4% of patients develop scarring after the typical TURP protocol, and I am one of the lucky ones. Yay me!

He thought that the surgery would take place in a month or two, but we know that hospital waits can be prolonged.

Whatever you call this procedure it will be my fourth surgery to endeavour to rectify my problem. I am pretty confident that this guy is topnotch, but we know that my poor body isn't, so we shall see.

If that doesn't work, there is the possibly of open reconstructive surgery, but I hope that I never have to cross that particular bridge.