Inspected, detected, neglected, and selected

20NOV2012

On Friday morning, I had another ultrasound with Dr. Milsten. He said the estimated size of my prostate given by Dr. Miller was very close. Milsten measured it at 71mm while Miller said 70. He's ready for surgery on Monday.

In the afternoon I went to the Oklahoma Surgery Hospital to be “inspected, detected, neglected, and selected” in the words of Arlo Guthrie. I was poked and prodded, filled out reams of paperwork, and chatted up every nurse in sight. Yeah, I'm gonna be one of those old guys who talks to every young woman within ear shot. But they took my blood and a chest x-ray, and after a while they let me go home.

Let me tell you about the hospital, though. For those unacquainted with Tulsa and ORU, the campus is truly a sight to behold. If you have even a modicum of taste, it's just not a good sight to behold. The architecture is comparable to something found on the cover of a pulp science fiction novel from the 1950s. I'll be charitable and only call it garish. I wanted to throw in lurid, too, but it's a Christian university and they don't do lurid. They're big on authoritarianism, though, as they have a policy that forbids single students from living off campus, they can't drink, and they not allowed to dance – ever. Why do to college, then? The place has a real Stepford Wives feel.

I'll try to go down there this coming weekend and get some photos. Or at least I'll take photos until the campus security folks get an alert from their Unbeliever Detector. Honestly, if this is Oral's vision of heaven, I don't wanna go. My personal vision of the hereafter is more on the order of a cathedral-like grove of trees. The virgin timber at Heart's Content wilderness area in Pennsylvania comes to mind as does the Great Smokey Mountain National Forest or the Grand Tetons – the latter named by some love-starved Frenchmen.

21NOV2012

One of my co-workers returned to work today. S had prostate surgery five weeks ago. Naturally, I had questions. I asked about the surgical drain and catheter. He said the drain was removed the day after surgery, but the incision hurt for a time. The catheter was another story. It made his bladder feel as if it was always full. It was in for a week, but when Dr. Milsten removed it, S had problems urinating. He fell asleep as soon as he got home, and that was a mistake. He should have had his wife wake him every hour so he could go to the bathroom.

He told me about Kegel exercises as a means of preventing leaks. I read about it earlier. Many prostate patients have bladder problems if they try to lift something heavy, experience pressure on the abdomen, or even laugh heartily. It's one of my concerns, of course, but at this point I'm simply looking forward to getting this done.

In yet another example of bureaucratic idiocy, S was called to the administration building for fingerprinting since he's been off work for a month. He has 25 years of seniority here and only now they want finger prints? To make it even more ludicrous, he's retiring next week.

I took photos at work today, concentrating on those co-workers who will be retiring. They'll be gone before I get back to work. For those few who read this, the photos will be in a private album on my Google+ page, and I'll see that Richard and Nick have the URL. Without it, you cannot see the photos or the album.