Just an update. On Tuesday I saw my PCP. Again, urinalysis confirmed hematuria (fairly dark brown) and no sign of infection. (That makes 4 in a row.) I told him about my past heavy exposure to organic chemicals and and the strange residue/chunks of stuff in my urine. I said that I had been reading up about bladder cancer, and his response was basically "Oh, you're too young for that. It's probably something else." I asked what other possibilities, and he mentioned a kidney stone lodged in a ureter (which for some reason produced no detectable discomfort), or "varices" in the kidney (something like varicose veins, I think) It's not like I'm determined to have bladder cancer, but I just don't buy the "too young" argument. I'm 44, and I know that the age distribution of BC includes people much younger than me. Perhaps its good doctor/patient strategy to keep things looking as positive as possible, but as I said before, I'd rather be prepared for the worst - anything else will be fantastic good news. ("Woohoo ! Kidney stones !")
This morning I went in for a CT scan with IVP. I'm a real sissy about needles, but that was really as bad as it got. The contrast dye caused some flushing, which felt like a mild sunburn or standing too close to a campfire. After the last series, the tech came out with an awkward look on his face. "What are you doing tomorrow ?", he asked. He certainly didn't seem to be hitting on me, so the only other conclusion I could make was that there was something very, very bad that needed to be taken care of ASAP. It turns out there was a "software glitch" that caused the first set of xrays (before the contrast) not to come out right. He's going to re-do them tomorrow. Apart from that, not a word.
Next I went downstairs for normal xrays. Kidneys first, then bladder. This tech "missed" the kidneys the first time and had to do those two over again. After getting the bladder shot developed, he walked into the room holding the xray film. I saw my bladder (white) with a very strange looking branching structure protruding an inch or so from the wall of the bladder towards the interior. A few inches away, in some unrecognizable area of "guts" there was another of these inch-long spiky branching structures pointing away from the bladder. Needless to say I was "concerned". The tech said : "Looks like you've got spiders growing in you." Yes, he really said that. Then he explained that the strange features were artifacts of static electricity in the film holder. After so many instructions about holding still, I didn't know if it was okay to move yet. Otherwise, of course, I would have patted him on the back and said "Ha, ha ! Good one !" Apart from the spider joke, there was no mention of what was on the films.
So now I get to wait until next Tuesday for my cystoscopy.
