Member Blogs

Clear quarterly cysto last Friday, and no call on the cytology results, which means they're ok.

That's a clean check-up at the one-year mark.

Comment (0) Read More...

Had my quarterly cysto today - came out clean - not even anything that turned out to be a benign dysplasia as happened in the last one, necessitating a TURB-T. This is the first clean cysto I've had, so I'll be heading back to Istanbul for a couple months until the next quarterly

Comment (4) Read More...

Hello everyone, and thank you again for your encouraging words and for sharing your own stories.

I had my post TURBT consult yesterday to go over the pathology report. Surprisingly decent results:

1 - The tumor, my doc said, was quite small and papillary, and there was no CIS.
2 - The tumor was Ta again - noninvasive.
3 - The grade of the cancer was G1, which surprised me. But the doc said it was, moreover, at the low range even of that.
4 - The doc said that, all in all, this instance can be considered to not be a meaningful recurrence.

He, as a result, has put me on the standard 3-month

Comment (4) Read More...

Thank you all for your expressions of concern and encouragement.

I had my TURBT on Thursday. Will know the results at the follow-up consult when we get the pathology report. My doc also administered Mitomycin during the procedure.

Earlier in the week, during the pre-op consult, we discussed the implications of this recurrence. He said that if it turned out to be T1 (he is in the camp that considers T1 to be invasive) we'd have to begin consideration of bladder removal. If it remains Ta, then we can look at BCG maintenance therapy, given the particulars of my history with this disease.

I showed

Comment (2) Read More...

Hello everyone.

I just had my first post-immunotherapy cytoscopy yesterday (14NOV06). The doctor said the previous TURB site looked good, but noted the presence of a "small tumor" about an inch away. The rest of the bladder surface was clean. He told me that, based on his visual inspection, he believes the tumor is cancerous, but only a pathology exam can determine what grade it is. He didn't specifically indicate what his guess was regarding degree, if any, of invasiveness, but he has scheduled my next TURB for 7 December, three weeks from now, so he couldn't be too concerned about it; after

Comment (8) Read More...

Hi Chris,

Thanks - glad it's over. I don't think my doctors prescribe to the maintenance theory: presuming the cytoscopy comes out clean, there's no real basis for concluding that more of a good thing is good - immunotherapy itself is rough on the bladder, and too much of it may even weaken, rather than strengthen, it.

Before starting my tx, I was encouraged by your report of minimal symptoms, and was so surprised at having no symptoms I was concerned at what that meant. My nurse says it means nothing - most people don't get symptoms, and the immunotherapy is still doing its job. Hope she's

Comment (1) Read More...

Hi Chris,

Thanks for checking in on me. I'll be going in for #5 of 6 on Monday. So far, no side-effects that I've noticed; no tiredness, feverishness, or anything. There's time yet for that, though. I know you'll be going in for your 2nd cytoscopy on Tuesday. I am reassured by your encouraging result at your first one in June. They say that the location and shape predicts recurrence, and the grade predicts progression. You and I both aren't in particularly good shape in either of those categories, but your first result establishes a promising trajectory, which I hope continues.

My doctors

Comment (1) Read More...

Thought I'd clarify the reference to a "hood" that I made in my post about my first BCG installation on 14 August. I mentioned that the pharmacy had to prepare the medicine in the urology department because they didn't have the hood, and for some reason I had been left with the impression that the lack of a hood was preventing me from going to the pharmacy, picking up the BCG, and bringing it back up to the department myself, which is the usual procedure; I suspected it was some sort of cover or container for the mixture. As it turns out, the BCG, once mixed, is put in a regular glass

Comment (1) Read More...

Hello Judy,

My apologies; I thought the system would send email update notifications to us when someone modified a post, as well as when someone put a new one up. I've been modifying previous posts with the information directly related to the treatment, rather than putting a new post up each time. I guess that's why a notification didn't go out. I do the modifications up to the 8000 word limit. I just figured it would keep the journal more concentrated and easier to find the treatment related material as opposed to the conversational material. I should have put some filler posts in at the very

Comment (0) Read More...

(continued)

I was then taken to a room with its own separate toilet/dressing room. I was asked to void again, disrobe to my socks and don the fashionable hospital gown, and then to take my place on the examination table.

I was laying there with my hands behind my head. The nurse told me to fold them on my stomach; it makes it easier and more comfortable to emplace the catheter. She told me I would be feeling something cold as she sprayed disenfectant at the entrance to the urethra. She then told me to open my mouth and breath in while she inserted the catheter. I was surprised at how that

Comment (0) Read More...