This almost certainly has nothing to do with the surgery, but for some reason I am really up in the hizzy with the phlegm. Is it related to seasonal allergies? The weather? Male menopause? Some other mysterious condition that will eventually be revealed in an unrelated CT scan? I don’t know, but I’m going to check with my doctor, because I’ve learned not to fool around with this stuff anymore.

Meanwhile, my body continues to increment toward normal, if you don’t count the phlegmpocalypse happening in my throat. I can now go through most of the day without thinking about how the surgeried parts of my body feel. This is actually more significant than it sounds and is a good thing indeed.

Here is a cat buffing the floor.

Specifically, while I am seeing constant, if incremental improvements (incisions continuing to heal, puffiness around the big one reduced substantially) I am leaning more toward it taking additional weeks to return to normal…if that happens. Because I am also leaning toward some minor but permanent nerve damage in my chest area. I guess I’ll find out eventually.

Also, based on direct observation, my chest hair grows back approximately 1,000 times slower than my facial hair.

Here is a cat with a beard.

The thing I notice after one month¹Assuming you don’t count months that have 28, 29 or 31 days post-surgery is that I am going longer without thinking about my new scars, the still-lingering sensitivity of the surgery area or other stuff related to the surgery. I just do my usual, everyday routines. This is good. I even have 293 Intensity Minutes for the week. Intensity Minutes sounds very macho, but in my case, it’s just brisk walking.

I want to run tomorrow, but it’s supposed to get up to 30°C, which is pretty stupid hot, but we’ll see.

(Please see the previous post for your semi-daily cat image.)

I went birding today. It was fine. I have 22,000 steps as I type this and for most of the day the surgery area was a non-factor. It’s slightly itchy right now, and I’ll almost certainly need to sleep with the covers down due to its ongoing sensitivity, but it is what it is.

Still unsure if I’ll write these reports daily going forward, but here’s a pigeon preview from today’s birding. I’ll probably post the write-up and shots tomorrow as me tired.

No, I am not!

But to be fair, the info I got on release from the hospital said 4–6 weeks for full recovery and in most ways that matter, I am now fully recovered.

What remains is the area of my chest where the surgery was done is still a bit sensitive to touch/sensation. The incisions are healing, though I’m closer now to fully healed/seeing what kind of cool scars I’ll end up with. I am mostly sleeping normally again, though I tend to keep the bedding off due to the aforementioned sensitivity.

I bought groceries today and didn’t calculate in my head how much everything weighed to make sure I wasn’t over the 10 pound (4.5 kg) limit.

I have 199 intensity minutes this week, all from my usual brisk walking pace. That’s nice.

I’m pretty much back to normal. I’m not always thinking about the surgery or its after-effects. I look forward to my first run (soon).

The daily reports may continue, or they may not. On the one hand, it keeps me posting. On the other, there’s little to report now, and maybe I could start posting more about other things as my mind turns to just living my life more or less normally again.

In the meantime, one (actually, two) more cats.

I had the appointment with the surgeon today. I journeyed to the hospital via SkyTrain, initially unaware that there was a World Cup game happening that afternoon downtown between Canada and Qatar. I say initially unaware because every station from Sapperton to Stadium was filled with people bedecked in red Canadian jerseys. Some people also had miniature Canadian flags, Canadian hats, capes and pretty much any kind of clothing or object you could wear and put a Canadian flag onto. I picked up on the fact that there just might be a game happening.

This didn’t actually impact my trip in any way, it was just interesting and a little weird to observe.

The security theatre downtown was impressive, especially when viewed from above on the SkyTrain. You’d never guess it was just a soccer (football) game.

Anyway, I arrived over an hour early and chose to have lunch at the Wendy’s that has stood at the corner of Cambie and Broadway since time immemorial. Seriously, I’ve lived here since 1986 and I don’t remember it ever not being there.

I ordered the Classic Chicken Combo. The chicken burger was hot, so either freshly cooked or freshly nuked. It was also juicy, so I’m guessing the former. I still had that issue I always have with their chicken burgers where the mayo and tomato combine to provide a slippery exit ramp for the patty and it starts squipping out of the bun. I finished the chicken, but not the bun. Gotta watch those carbs.

This Wendy’s also had one of those universal drink fountains where they give you a cup and then you select which of the thousand beverages you want, and you can mix them if that’s your thing. The last time I encountered such a device I gave up and asked for a drink at the counter because I could not figure it out. I don’t know if the machines have changed, or I have changed, but this time I:

• Pressed the button for Coke Zero
• Placed the cup on the circle
• Pressed the button that said Press to Fill (or something like that)

And I got my Coke Zero and that was that.

After lunch, I finally made my way to the hospital building and upon arrival, the office assistant gave me a form and told me to go down to the third floor for an X-ray, which I did. I then returned and a short time later met with the surgeon. He grumbled about the IT system because he did not have the X-ray yet, though he should have. He said he would phone with the results when he eventually got them, good or bad, though he said he did not expect any issues.

He looked at my healing incisions and declared them fine. He gave his blessing to lift more than 10 pounds and to go running or otherwise resume normal activities.

Then he told me, in a sort of understated way, that I had cancer.

Had being the operative word.

Having read the pathology report, he gave me the findings:

• The tumour (for it is now known as such) was 100% successfully removed and showed no signs of growth or spreading.
• It was thymoma, a type of cancerous tumour that is “less aggressive”, initially shows no symptoms and is rare enough that only about 400 (the equivalent of maybe 45 Canadians) Americans get diagnosed with it every year.

I will have a CT scan (with no dye, yay) next May to make sure no new shenanigans are at play in my chest, as there is a non-zero chance of recurrence, though it is in the low percentage range.

The relevant quote from the Wikipedia article linked above is this:

One-third to one-half of all persons with thymoma have no symptoms at all, and the mass is identified on a chest X-ray or CT/CAT scan performed for an unrelated problem.

It turns out I was quite lucky to have a kidney infection that resulted in a CT scan back in January 2025. Thank you, malfunctioning kidney! (The kidney is better now.)

It would be very nice indeed if I had no more health issues for the rest of the year. Or ever again. I’ll even keep the seasonal allergies if needed.

For some reason I felt off yesterday. I was tired, maybe it was nothing more than that.

But then I slept surprisingly well. When I pull a shirt over my head today (to take it off, not because I have some “pulling shirts over my head” kink) I no longer do it slowly because the fabric feels weird going over my surgery zone. I can sneeze, and it only flares for a moment, and not much at that.

I can turn and stretch, and I don’t immediately get reminded I had surgery.

I’m healing. I am impatient, and I just want to be better, as I said yesterday, but I think there is an actual end in sight now.

Hopefully, the surgeon won’t tell me otherwise when I meet him in two days.

Here is a very nimble cat. I will be this cat soon.