I'm new to the Bladder Cancer WebCafe but I have been reading many blogs and infromation from it since my diagnosis in March 2011. A great site!
I'm a 52 year old female in great health and very active. I had been diagnosed with Ta Grade 1 and immediately started BCG. After the second biopsy the result was the same. The first biopsy the doctor had taken from 2 areas, the second biopsy from three areas. The malignancy showed up in one new area of the three. As soon as I could, I started the second treatment of BCG.
This last biopsy had 4 areas removed. One area showed a malignancy but this one was now Tis. Of course this was a surprise and now is a big concern.
I wonder how many other people have had this occur. I never presented with any tumors, my bladder was always inflammed and irritated looking. My original symtoms that brought me to the urologist where more UTI, but I never had a UTI. I still suffer the BCG effects, granulomatous cystitis.
My crossroad is now the next step in my treatment. I've been to a surgeon for an opinion and of course he belives you take out the bladder… you eliminate the cancer. A conservative approach. However, with the statistics of this type of surgery not being so great I am very fearful. I want to continue living as close to the active lifestyle I now have.
On the other hand, I've only been through two treatments and each treatment did reduce the cancer, just not completely. Is it worth another go with some other agent? I am going for another opinion in that area too.
For now, I'm putting my story out there so that I may get some feedback from this community of survivors and fighters. I welcome your comments.