Well friends it's official, I am a cancer survivor! Wow, been a wild and rough year, almost to the day since I first started noticing symptoms.

We're in Tucson, back at the University Med Ctr, saw my wonderful surgeon today. Recent PET scan shows no metawhateveritscalled activity. Cystoscope today everything is pink and healed inside and normal looking. It was cool, they had big monitors on the wall so I could watch. The Doc says very unlikely it will return, mine was a rare type, even rarer that they could save the bladder. They will still monitor every 6 mo for two years and annually for 5.

The hotel has a free ice cream bar by the pool, we're off to celebrate!

I'll start working on my cholesterol tomorrow. :D

Congratulations! So happy for you.

LTD,

Praise the Lord!

My Grandma lived to 98, raised a family during the recession. She called herself “one tough bird”. I now bestow that title on you!

Fantastic!

Congratulations!

Thanks for sharing the good news!

This is fantastic news.

Wonderful - congratulations. It's like a whole new type of freedom! A fresh start to do.....what now?

My spouse is a 2 time survivor

Hi LTD,

Hi Everyone - thanks for your wonderful wishes! I so appreciate the friendship of all our regulars here on the board.

We were out of the hotel all day, hence my slow reply. Looked at different parts of town for RE opportunities. And a brief visit to the Saguaro Natl Park, only about 30 minutes from downtown. There is a fair bit of construction going on, mostly commercial but several housing / townhome projects in the downtown area and a number of luxury homes in the foothills. I think prices are inflated for what they are. There's a considerable number of older homes and buildings. Tucson is an old town, lot's of properties that probably date to the 1800's and the early 1900's.

The historic district where our hotel is, has gentrified, but still a number of potential reno properties, but WAY too expensive IMHO. 1/4 to 1/2 million plus renovations. We were doing that in San Diego 15 years ago. Wow - it's been 15 years! Incredible...

I think the money here is building eco friendly custom homes in the hills. But now you are talking a million plus, but would get a 1/4 million gross return. I'm not willing to risk that much of my nest egg on a single project. Wish we could find where we could buy for $150K reno for $50K and resell for $400K. Aren't we all...

Drove down to a town called Bisbee - google it - eclectic old copper mining town about 25 miles from the Mexican border. We've been there before, there's a great organic restaurant. We bypassed Tombstone, been there too, it's a parody of the old west, save your minutes...

We considered driving down to the border at Naco and Douglas, where a lot of the immigration news is going on, but the old adage of going to stupid places and doing stupid things came to mind and we decided to leave well enough alone. Plus I left my AR at home. ;) Well, OK yes, I did bring a shotgun, and a shovel... hey it's Arizona, nobody travels naked. LOL)

Yes Brad, I wouldn't mind making it to 98, I still have a lot to do.

Homer - that is what has perplexed us. Other than a sugar addiction I eat right. No drugs, I hardly ever even take a tylenol. My stomach won't take hard liquor, a little red wine, haven't smoked in 45 years. But... smoking is a leading cause of bladder cancer, and though unlikely to have caused mine it was/is a concern. Who knew.

We mostly eat a mediterranean diet, whole grains, veggies, fruit, salmon, chicken. I eat like one or two hamburgers a month, no pork, and I can't remember my last steak, maybe 3-4 years ago. I do eat too many carbs.

Mike(PA), thank you, best wishes to your spouse. Once was enough for me thanks. There were some dark days.

Mike A and Razorback - thanks, and yes I intend to. That's why we are traveling more and doing the things we put off for so long.

Al - yes I think the past couple of years I've softened. I think getting out of LLing has made me a nicer person. It wasn't bad with just the 4 plex as my senior tenants weren't really any trouble, but I wasn't cut out to manage 20 low income units in a bad area. I really thought I could change things and turn those neighborhoods around - at gunpoint if needed. Boy was I wrong. I'm much better and happier renovating or building.

We are going to visit the "BioSphere2" tomorrow then head home to prep for our next adventure - the Sierra Nevada. I want to show my spouse the Bristlecone Pine forest, Devils Postpile, Tioga Pass in Yosemite, the ghost town of Bodie, etc. There's just so much to see in this world!

Well, enough travelogue. Thanks again for all the support everyone has shown.

Smile....best!

Smile....best!

Congrats!