Diagnosis and resection

Am 57 years, living in Virginia. My personal web site is http://www.leatherwolf.net.

I am fortunate enough to have had a very early diagnosis. My doctor referred me to a urologist because my PSA titer went over 4.0.  The urologist felt it was unlikely to signify prostate cancer, and put me on meds for mild BPH-like symptoms. When the meds didn't help, he did a cysto and found a small, single lesion which he's sure is transitional cell carcinoma, based on appearance.  The tumor was high on the bladder near a ureter, and wouldn't have caused the urinary hesitancy.  There was no blood in my urine, either visible or microscopic, and no tumor cells were detected in the bladder washing, or by the FISH test.

 Had the tumor removed by TURBT yesterday. It was superficial. Will get the cytology results next week.

Went to sleep for the procedure at 7:30 AM, woke up at 9:30. Am sleeping a lot and experiencing the moderate energy loss that follows general anaethesia. Will have a cath and bag for a couple of days.  The sense of urgency was strong enough that I was concerned about being able to sleep.  Codeine helped, but even more, found that the urgency is strengthened by walking around (gravity pulls the balloon on the cath against the bladder) and eases after a couple hours of laying down.

If there are any mechanical engineers out there, Foleys should be redesigned to support the weight of the tube while standing up.

Leatherwolf Author