Hello, my darling husband Mick (age 61) was diagnosed with bladder cancer last Friday via MRI. A urinalysis 3 days prior showed microscopic blood in his urine. The tumor is 4.5 cm large- yet we won't get staging and high/low status until after cysto/biopsies. He's going into Johns Hopkins (we're so grateful!) this Friday for the cysto.
Mick is experiencing EXTREME pain all the time (level 7 to 9). Pain started 10 days ago at a level 3 or 4 only with urination and increased daily and became fairly constant (in between urinating, during urinating etc.) Doc says no pain meds until after the CYSTO. My question: Have others on this forum had this level of pain prior to getting their staging?. Can this pain still mean my sweet dude is in early stages- or has the train left the station and we are off to advanced cancer?
Like everyone with initial cancer diagnosis- we are in shock. The absolutely odd thing is that my husband is lean, eats a pristine nutrient-based diet, has been taking antioxidants for a decade, exercises a lot, doesn't smoke, and drinks alcohol with moderation. He gets a physical each year, yet didn't get a urinalysis and the urologist suspects he's had this cancer about 1 year due to its large size. Mick had no symptoms at all until 10 days ago. His factor is likely family history of cancer (although not bladder cancer). His dad died of pancreatic cancer at age 43 and his dad's folks died of cancer at 61 and 62. We are sad and scared...and this pain level has us pretty freaked out. Any words to share with us?