In early 2023, I mentioned to my doctor that I was seeing blood spots in the toilet after urinating. He said we needed to look into it.

By July 2023, I had a diagnosis: an aggressive form of bladder cancer — High Grade CIS with papillary spread.

I asked him how long I’d live without treatment. He said, “About two years.” My impression was that a good portion of that time would not be pleasant.

The one piece of good news was that the cancer wasn’t muscle-invasive. It was confined to the first layer of the bladder wall and hadn’t penetrated deeper tissues. Muscle‑invasive disease would have been a far worse story.

What followed were three TURBT operations: trans‑urethral resection of bladder tumor. Trans‑urethral means through the urethra, and resection means cutting away the tumor.

Twice I came home with a catheter, which I had to live with for eight days each time. Eight days of a tube inside me, exiting through the........

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