Hi Chris,

Thanks for checking in on me. I’ll be going in for #5 of 6 on Monday. So far, no side-effects that I’ve noticed; no tiredness, feverishness, or anything. There’s time yet for that, though. I know you’ll be going in for your 2nd cytoscopy on Tuesday. I am reassured by your encouraging result at your first one in June. They say that the location and shape predicts recurrence, and the grade predicts progression. You and I both aren’t in particularly good shape in either of those categories, but your first result establishes a promising trajectory, which I hope continues.

My doctors initially planned to give me my first cytoscopy 3 months after my last instillation of BCG, which would have put me in mid-Dec for that. My nurse seemed a little surprised on learning that, apparently asked my doctor about it, and the doctor said we could wait 3 months, or do it the usual 6-8 weeks after the last BCG session. At first I thought they wanted to wait the extra time to make sure they gave my bladder enough time to grow a tumor that could be discovered, if it remained inclined to do that. But now I think my suspicion might be more correct that they think that what my Istanbul doctor thought was a recurrence was actually residual from the intial tumor. That would mean that I’ve only had the one, and they are less concerned about the overall situation at this stage.

All that sort of speculation is diverting, but pointless, of course; we’ll see what happens when they actually look. In the meanwhile, here’s hoping again that you’ll have another good result this week. I’ve been watching your storyboard. Stay the course. I think a lot of people are visiting your posts and silently pulling for you.

Jim