Tracking well

I was in for my second 3-monthly bladder inspection at St Vincent’s Hospital on Thursday. That was not as revealing for me as on the previous occasion. This time I went with light sedation which put me out for the duration of the inspection but did not require a long recovery time or pose any of the risks that might be associated with a deeper general anaesthetic before a long flight on our way to Western Australia on Sunday.

A couple of weeks prior I had blood taken and provided 3 urine samples for analysis. Around the same time, I also had chest X-rays and ultrasound scans of my abdomen. When I saw the urologist after I had awoken from my bladder inspection he told me those tests and scans had all come back clear as had his direct inspection. That all confirms what the clear PET scan in July found. It seems my one set of fortunate symptoms back in November came soon enough to ensure that nothing had spread beyond the kidney that was removed in February.

Meanwhile, my visible wound healed months ago and I’m pretty much back to how I was before the operation. I’ve been out for 4 km to 5 km walks 4 or 5 mornings each week and gradually picking up speed – as much as my aging body will permit.

One indication of how that has been progressing may be my resting heart rate as recorded by my Fitbit. Over the past few years it had been sitting 58 bpm to 62 bpm. For some reason toward the end of last year it rose to high 60s or low 70s. After the operation in February it was in the high 70s for a while. After mostly trending down over the past couple of months, it finally recorded 58 and 59 a couple of weeks ago. It’s been up in the low 60s again since but still lower than it had been.

I’m not sure how valid that is as an indicator of fitness but I’ll take it as a good sign.