Member Blogs

Hello! I'm new to this blog but not new to this disease.  My dad, 77, had an RC in August 2007 and a good candidate for a Neobladder.  His cancer was a T2 that had not gone beyond the muscle into other areas.  The surgery was a success and he recovered nicely after his stay of almost 2 weeks in ICU.  His home care was good too and soon he was pretty continent during the day with only small accidents during the night (this is because he refuses to use a pad or depends out of pure stubborness and male ego)!  He was NOT instructed to continue the self-cath after about 3 months when his test

Comment (5) Read More...

I have created a flow chart for bladder cancer patients.  It can pretty much be used at any time from initial concern about the potential of having bladder cancer through various stages of treatment.

 My hope is that people will find this useful.  Rather than posting it everywhere and having to try to maintain version control on a number of sites, I am putting the link to ABLCS forum where I originally posted it.

I am not a doctor but I do have a good bit of experience as a bladder cancer patient.  This guide has been reviewed by a number of other bladder cancer survivors as well.

Comment (4) Read More...

I am a 43 year old male recently diagnosed with Transitional Cell Carcinmoa of the Renal Pelvis and Carcinoma in-situ of the upper ureter. I have just had the results of my first cystoscopy three months after my radical nephrectomy - they were clear. The surgery was on the 21st of April. Over the last five weeks, I have had adjuvant chemotherapy (carbo) and radiation treatment of the kidney bed to prevent seeding. I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar treatment and what your experiences of it are. In three months time, I will have to have a sonar of my kidney bed. I see that the 5

Comment (2) Read More...

My husband has transitional cell carcinoma. Dan was diagnosed with bladder cancer August of 2007. He's had several cystoscopies and recently the gree-light laser treatment which worked quite well. The doctor found a great deal of new cancer tissue and scraped to the wall of the bladder. A c-scan shows the the cancer has invaded the muscle wall and he believes the lymph nodes might be involved.

We are waiting for an appointment with an oncologist to discuss chemotherapy.

My husband has had severe pain in his groin and upper right leg which goes up and around to his back. The doctor prescribed

Comment (3) Read More...

Hello everyone - My mom who's 48 yrs. old was diagnosed with Urinary Bladder Cancer last Friday. We found out that the tumors have invaded the bladder wall and was told by our urologist that my mom's bladder will have to be removed. Since then she has been referred by our Urologist to another Urologist in UCLA who specializes in performing Neobladder surgery. After speaking with this specialist, my mother was give 2 options: 1) to perform chemo and radiation therapy, since the tumors were all contained in the bladder, and try to shrink the tumors to a size where it's possible to be removed.

Comment (2) Read More...

Thanks

Everything seems to be going well. Next check cistoscopy due around October.

Only problem is getting back to full fitness after chemo and radiotherapy. It takes a while to get strength back but I'm really convinced the treatment route I went for was the right one for me.

Comment (4) Read More...

Hi all. I was on this site, reading and posting, back in 2004, early 2005. I had my first experience with bladder cancer in June 2004.

Female, age 47 then (50 now)

Single 3 cm tumor, T1 (almost T2a, but dodged that bullet by a fortunate layer or two of cells), grade 2/3. TURBT on June 4, 2004 & quit smoking the night before surgery, haven't touched one since. Re-TURBed early July to be sure the muscle wall was not involved. No invasion of the muscle wall.

Began 6 weeks of BCG, in August 2004, but had such horrible bladder spasms and pain from it, the dose was reduced. Although I managed to make

Comment (0) Read More...

I can only say that I wish I had found this site around 6/22/06.  It’s wonderful to hear the stories of others and read through the forum links.  BC is not well known so when I found out, I truly felt alone.  Since everyone has their own tale and no two are alike, I thought I’d share mine with you.  If it deems posting, I’d be happy to hear from anyone with any question.

I’m 45 yrs old and pretty active though smoking has always been a tough nut for me to crack.  I did quit for 2 years at one point but since I had been on and off using nicotine lozenges to help out.  Any way, June of ’06 I

Comment (1) Read More...

Yes, in virtually every case, some mass was removed and sent to pathology.

Only in 2005 was significant muscle involvement found with a 4cm tumour in the dome of the bladder. The recommendation was bladder removal (as there had previously been some prostate involvement).

I had to push hard to find out about the non surgical options. I was spending my time living in both the UK and the USA. Reviews with the team at Mass General in Boston indicated that the none surgical route might not be a possibility because of the location of the tumour and the history.

Review with Velindre Hspital in the UK

Comment (0) Read More...

Now September 2006. No recurrence of tumour. 62 this week and just starting a new business involving lots of international travel.

The only real problem remaining from the radiotherapy is the effect on our sex life although Cialis helps quite a lot there.  :o

So far I am really pleased that I didn't follow the initial recommendations for bladder removal. Let's hope it remains so.

Comment (2) Read More...