Racing in Florida in the Sunshine on an F-31 Trimaran is the ultimate escape from the realities of life. Those realities include heading home to Bellingham in a few days to face major surgery for Bladder Cancer. Life's reality even intruded on the water, Shane had a gall bladder attack and had to miss the final day of racing. April 30th was less than 10 days away but this respite was sorely needed to build up my physical fitness and mental confidence to face Bladder Cancer Surgery.
The Cheekee Monkee is a 31' boat that folds. We loaded it onto the trailer in preparation for a trip that would take the next five days. After we saw the family off at the airport on Sunday, Lynda and I drove back from Ft Walton Beach, FL to Bellingham, WA.
We needed to be at UWMC for final tests, blood work and lung x-rays Thursday afternoon. We left Sunday morning and we arrived in Seattle at noon on Thursday and picked up Lynda's Navigator at the airport and then drove up to UWMC.
I started the fasting that Thursday night and did not get to eat again until the following Saturday at dinner time, some 210 hours later. During that last weekend of Fasting for three days, on the Cheekee Monkee again, we entered and won the Whiterock Regatta. By Sunday night I was starting to feel a little lightheaded.
I was scheduled to be at the hospital at 9:30 in the morning. I check in at the hospital and then we wait. We (Lynda [wife], Bonnie [Mom-in-law] and Tracy [Daughter] and I) had driven down to Seattle Sunday evening and checked into the Marriott Residence Inn.
Surgery commences about 1:00 PM and I am out of surgery and in recovery by 9:00 PM. It was a long but successful operation. During the surgery, Lynda and the gang were kept updated every hour or so by phone. They saw me in ICU at about 10 PM. It was very good to see all three of them there to support me for this operation.
Get out of bed and start coughing, that was the goal for the day which was spent in ICU. Later that night I was moved to a private room. During the day, getting out of bed I could manage but forget about the coughing, too painful.
Every day I progressed quickly with my recovery, getting out of bed several times every day and walking up and down the halls like a zombie. A couple of days later, Dr. Ellis gave us the pathology results; all the cancer was contained to the bladder lining and muscle. No cancer in the lymph nodes or prostate. Very good news indeed.
"Go on home" was the pronouncement on day 7 of recovery at UWMC. More than ready to get out, we left on Tuesday morning and drove home to Bellingham. Even though I still have several more weeks of recovery ahead of me, I was really happy to be heading home.
On May 13th, they removed the stints that drain into bags that I wear from my kidneys. May 31st another bag gone as the catheter was removed. Only one bag remains and in 3 weeks they will remove the overflow tube from my (new) bladder (final tube). I hope that by then my bodily functions should be almost normal.
More than 10 years ago, surviving and recovering from Bladder Cancer Surgery changed my life, thank you!
The Cheekee Monkee is a 31' boat that folds. We loaded it onto the trailer in preparation for a trip that would take the next five days. After we saw the family off at the airport on Sunday, Lynda and I drove back from Ft Walton Beach, FL to Bellingham, WA.
We needed to be at UWMC for final tests, blood work and lung x-rays Thursday afternoon. We left Sunday morning and we arrived in Seattle at noon on Thursday and picked up Lynda's Navigator at the airport and then drove up to UWMC.
I started the fasting that Thursday night and did not get to eat again until the following Saturday at dinner time, some 210 hours later. During that last weekend of Fasting for three days, on the Cheekee Monkee again, we entered and won the Whiterock Regatta. By Sunday night I was starting to feel a little lightheaded.
I was scheduled to be at the hospital at 9:30 in the morning. I check in at the hospital and then we wait. We (Lynda [wife], Bonnie [Mom-in-law] and Tracy [Daughter] and I) had driven down to Seattle Sunday evening and checked into the Marriott Residence Inn.
Surgery commences about 1:00 PM and I am out of surgery and in recovery by 9:00 PM. It was a long but successful operation. During the surgery, Lynda and the gang were kept updated every hour or so by phone. They saw me in ICU at about 10 PM. It was very good to see all three of them there to support me for this operation.
Get out of bed and start coughing, that was the goal for the day which was spent in ICU. Later that night I was moved to a private room. During the day, getting out of bed I could manage but forget about the coughing, too painful.
Every day I progressed quickly with my recovery, getting out of bed several times every day and walking up and down the halls like a zombie. A couple of days later, Dr. Ellis gave us the pathology results; all the cancer was contained to the bladder lining and muscle. No cancer in the lymph nodes or prostate. Very good news indeed.
"Go on home" was the pronouncement on day 7 of recovery at UWMC. More than ready to get out, we left on Tuesday morning and drove home to Bellingham. Even though I still have several more weeks of recovery ahead of me, I was really happy to be heading home.
On May 13th, they removed the stints that drain into bags that I wear from my kidneys. May 31st another bag gone as the catheter was removed. Only one bag remains and in 3 weeks they will remove the overflow tube from my (new) bladder (final tube). I hope that by then my bodily functions should be almost normal.
More than 10 years ago, surviving and recovering from Bladder Cancer Surgery changed my life, thank you!
About the Author:
Kim Alfreds tells his story about Bladder Cancer at http://tinyurl.com/8dchk6y and other life milestones, in addition he is an avid sailor and loves to go Sailing.
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