Ta/Stage I/low risk-lower right posterior, next to ureter.
Kev’s 45, non-smoker, dairy farmer. Spent lots of years dealing with chems on a golf course.
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News Update: As of mid-December – Kev passed his first 3 months poke&peek. They did some testing on kidneys because of suspect pain – but nothing to worry about right now. will just have to keep monitoring it. Next appt is March 1 or 3rd 2006.
Plus we are new grandparents – child #4 – preemie – but healthy!!!! 😀 😛
KEV’s Story:
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Late July 2005, Kev had significant blood in the urine & pain on right groin to kidneys. A bout of the same happened in spring but thought it was related to too many hrs on the tractor & a previously diagnosed hernia. This time after another too many hrs on tractor, the blood was more significant. We made arrangements to see the GP that Fri. thinking UTI. The GP said it wasn’t a UTI & referred him immediately to the Urologist (Mon) & arranged an ultrasound Thursday.
Week 1. Mon’s UR appt was a nightmare. He said stones or BC but seemed to be in no rush to fix it. Wanted to wait a month before doing scope thinking more stones but symptoms didn’nt seem to indicate stones. He just did a "wait & see". Prior to this we never even heard of BC. Since the ultrasound was already scheduled, he said go ahead and go. Where most folks wish for no stones – we were praying for little sand burs were in the pipe. The ultrasound Thurs showed a 2cm tumor in bladder & something odd on kidneys. The radiologist stressed getting in to see the UR right away & planned to talk to him about the results that day. Well, the radiologist did what he said & we never even heard back from the first UR. We changed docs instantly checking net for the best UR.
Week 2. Saw the new UR doc & he did poke & peek. COnfirmed tumor close to right ureter – may have been causing dull pain by possible blocking. No hernia either. Scheduled CT for kidneys & TURBT the next week.
Week 3. Nothing but MD appts & tests & prep for surgery. CT results came back clear-no kidney tumors, just bilateral peripelvic cysts, & no cancer sites beyond bladder. What a relief – the tears were flowing. TURBT on Friday was quick – only 1 tumor, right ureter clear. Took extra bites from wall just to be sure. Things were looking up now.
Week 4. Recovery has been good from TURBT although didn’t know downtime would be so long. Car rides & too many hrs walking cause pain. Friday appt (8/26/05) w/ UR says cancer is "as low risk as cancer can get." No invasion, no treatment – just monitoring. Yep, it was time to celebrate – 2nd chance at life, loving support of friends & family & finding the right MDs who took us down the right path from Day 1.
How we got thru alot of this initially was amazing, especially when it looked like things were looking grimmer and grimmer. And talk about awareness – we never knew BC existed and thru your website we learned so much & felt prepared to face what was coming our way. Good bad or in between. We read many of your stories and felt a bond with others in the same boat. Thru this we realize BC needs more awareness.
Men – don’t downplay a little blood in your urine and don’t let your MD downplay it either. We were lucky having caught it early, but we almost missed that had it not been the foresight of our GP to schedule the ultrasound. We read too many stories of people that faced delays because the MD wanted to downplay the blood to other conditions. Taking a few minutes to poke & peek is worth the trade for a lot of worry of not knowing. The procedure may sound harsh but it really isn’t that bad.
Our prayers are with all those that continue to battle BC and hoping ours stays at this low risk for many, many, many years to come. God Bless. Email us: [email]fahlgree@maqs.net[/email]
