Member Blogs

Second cycle:

My white blood cells are remaining low and if I have no improvement overnight then the second round of chemo will be delayed for one week. 

Tomorrow I have my blood taken once more early in the morning and at 10:00 I can call for the results of the blood work. They will also confirm if the chemo will go ahead at 13:00 or delay it for a week.

Later today I have an echo scan to check my abdomen and hopefully get to the bottom of the back pain which I have been experiencing lately.

The battle goes on…..             

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So that is the first month of chemo out the way and now I have a rest period for nearly two weeks.

I received three quarters of the usual amount of chemo today because of the low blood platelets.

The chemo nurse explained that the low blood platelets are for clotting purposes, and I just have to take care not to cut or bash my body. Bruising of the skin is much easier with low platelet counts so I will be a fragile sensitive boy for a few weeks…..lol

Hopefully with this rest period my platelets can return back to normal levels before I start the next cycle of chemo. Otherwise it will be

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I am amazed at how quickly the laboratory works in forwarding the results of my blood tests. Just 40 minutes after I got home and I receive a call with the results.

My blood platelets are low but they will continue to offer the 15th day chemo tomorrow although with a smaller dose.I feel perfectly fine although I am not sure if having low blood platelets would have any special feeling.

Apparently it has something to do with the bloods clotting system and too low levels can cause bleeding. It makes me feel comfortable to know that they are watching the levels careful and taking appropriate

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Day 8 of the chemo has just finished and I am so thankful for no drama’s this last week.

The last couple of days have been harder on my body as I have been feeling tired and weaker and I am sleeping longer and longer.

My mouth is a little sore and dry although I have kept up with the regime of using a soft brush and rinsing four times a day with salt water.  I have the feeling I am clenching down in my mouth more which is probably also due to the stress of the first week of the unknown.

My bodies natural instinct to wake to urinate has disappeared and I have resorted to setting the alarm every

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I checked into the Oncology ward for the second round of chemo.  Firstly they hydrated my system with IV fluids for four hours.

Then I had the IV anti sickness medicine Emend 80mg and Dexamethason 6mg for another 15 minutes also followed up with a 15 minute IV cleanse.

The Cisplatinum chemo was administered over 3 hours through the IV also finishing with a 15 minutes cleanse.

Then I had IV fluid once more for two hours and then the anti sickness meds were repeated for 15 minutes followed by the cleanse.

After this process had been completed my system was flushed with IV fluids the whole night

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Just dropped in for an update. Had another cystoscopy performed in February and all is well with no signs of recurrence. Next check 12 months. I trust everyone is making progress with their disease and is on the improve.

Married my daughter off on Friday and what a proud father I am.

On the downside my 80yo father in law has just been diagnosed with lung cancer with multiple secondaries and the prognosis is

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My wife joins me in the room while I have my instillments, and she has been wonderful in reminding me to breath (funny how you forget that part when someone is shoving a tube up your penis, and through your tightly clenched sphincter).  This has also helped me discover a couple of tricks to reducing the pain and discomfort.  Though it is hard to relax my legs and buttocks, I have found that breathing deeply helps relax the muscles just a bit.  In fact, taking a deep breath through my nose just as she reaches my sphincter reduces the discomfort substantially.  The second instillment resulted

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Hi everyone,  Well I got my path report back today, it said:
    Papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential. So in plain english I guess it means even though I have had a recure I won,t have to do the bcg. I have a feeling if I ever have to do the bcg it will slow me down. Now my kids and husband will feel alot better to know it hasn't got worse . I think maybe you worry alot more when it is someone you love that has something.
    Hope everything is fine with all of you. love from

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One year ago today, I had a 75 gram bladder tumor resected. The diagnosis was apparently tricky and I saw terms such as sarcoma, sarcomatoid variant and carcinosarcoma on various reports.

I asked the urologist “Is it survivable.” He looked down and didn’t say a word –
Not the “no” I was dreading nor the “yes” I wanted to hear. Then he said I should go to a major cancer center for treatment and I got the impression that meant a r/c.

Since then, I have had chemotherapy with six different drugs and no objective response to any of them. [The literature I have read suggests that sarcomatoid

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The first instillation of BCG went well. After reading all the information on the BLCWebCafe, I took NO food or drink for a couple hours before, then made sure to drink plenty of water afterward (over 8 ounces each hour). Later in the day I began to feel feverish (without an actual fever), and a bit achy. The next morning I woke feeling much the same, but that feeling intensified through the day, and by midday I couldn't even concentrate. After a good nap things began to subside, until evening when I felt much better. I passed a couple of blood clots late at

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