The First Entry

It's Tuesday, the 28th of April, 2009.
On Thursday my husband Rick will go in to Swedish Hospital - well, I'll drive him in - and there Dr. Lilly the urologist will perform a trans urethral resection to remove a tumor in Rick's bladder.
We're all pretty sure it's cancer; perhaps it is not. No one has actually seen it yet in person. We've only seen a thumb-sized lump attached to the interior of his bladder on an ultrasound. Perhaps it is a thumb, the single vestige of Rick's undeveloped twin.
Sorry. I've been watching too many episodes of "House."
Whatever it is, its days are numbered. On Thursday it will be removed and inspected, and after that perhaps we'll learn where we stand. There may be, the doc says, "a bigger problem." There may be chemo and radiation.
If Rick loses his hair it will be the first time I've ever seen him without a mustache, of which he says: "I always wanted to grow one, so I did. And then I didn't want to shave it off, so I didn't."
We are hoping that it doesn't come to chemo - we're hoping that surgery does the trick.
Anyway, I thought I'd start this small blog and only tell a few people who might be interested in Rick's progress.
His spirits are as good as they might be under the circumstances, and mostly he feels ok physically. Mostly.
It's pretty presumptuous for me to write about Rick's experience; I sure won't be experiencing it the way he does, and I hope to get his input for this blog.
Stay tuned.