Having bladder tumor removed next week :( ??

I appreciate the assistance from everyone. Mayo Clinic has consistently said bladder tumors are generally cancerous. I also saw this Q. Are all bladder tumors malignant(cancerous)? Dr. Green: No; however, 90% are.

That being said I am in Southwest Iowa close to Des Moines and Omaha. I know Omaha has a good hospital and Iowa City has a better hospital for bladder cancer.

I want to find the two or three places with the best bladder cancer doctors, in the country if I have it. Location probably won't matter. I want to do my homework ahead of time. If I am redundant I apologize.

Hopefully later next week I can have surgery. Thanks again Tom

Tom,

I know that we are really cool and all here, but you don't even know if you allowed in the club yet. Hopefully, you won't be because it won't even be cancer.

However, it is good to know who the best doctors are so it is certainly a good question. As Cynthia already said, we kind of need to know where you live to point you to best docs in your area. If it doesn't matter to you where the docs are, we can give some of the top in the country. US News and World Report does annual rankings. Best Urology Hospital

There are different docs for different things so let's wait and see what you have first.

Again, bladder cancer is very treatable so even if it is bladder cancer, chances are something can be done about it.

Why didn't you pass your preop?

Oh yeah, I remember when you started posting, you mentioned that your PSA had shot up. Don't forget to keep following up on that! Prostate cancer is nasty business so don't let that slide. Hopefully, you have neither.


Keep in mind: Worrying is not going to change the outcome of the biopsy result. If it is not cancer or if it is low grade non-invasive all that worrying will have been wasted. If it is cancer, then you wasted some days of your life worrying about it rather than living life.

I know....easy to say but tougher to do. Just give it a try.
Other than giving all your stuff and money away, just think about all the stuff you want to do before your final departure. Start doing the stuff. This is a no lose situation because if it's not cancer, you still are going to pass away at some point in the future, just like everybody else. Everyone is born terminal and no matter what they say about vampires, nobody really lives forever.

If you die in 5, 10, 25, or 50 years from now, you still might as well start thinking about the things you want to do and the people you want to make up with or apologize to or hug or the things you want to stop doing. No time like the present. Could be you don't even have cancer and meteor lands on you while your driving to golf course. You never know for sure how your ticket will get punched or when so live life now.

By the way LOTS of bladder tumors are benign.

Hope whatever caused you to fail your preop physical gets taken care of so you can get the TURBT done and get some answers.

We like you and all, but we are just as happy if you can't pass the admission test to this club!

Mike

Tom

I can see from the posts you write, that this is stressing you out BIG TIME. This is NORMAL. But.... Take a deep breath and STOP STRESSING!!!

There. Calm, Deep Thoughts. cancer is a bitch, but don't double it up by going over the top!
The day I was diagnosed with cancer was very memorable.
My wife and I had absolutely NO idea this news was coming. We were sure it was an infection and antibiotics were going to be prescribed. Then after the judgement came down we were thrown out of orbit big time.

As we walked out of the Dr. office and into the sunlight, we suddenly felt as though a NEW life story had started. Our marriage seemed sparkling new. Time seemed so precious. The stupid things We thought were so important, we laughed about. The cell phone was totally unimportant.
We went to lunch and languished in the new experience. LIFE became so much more important.

We drove home and thought about just closing the doors to the house and hibernating. But, it was a very nice day and we went to play golf in the Friday nite couples league we were a part of. We needed the distraction.
I am a 18 handicap golfer, and I deserve that handicap, believe me.
Somehow there was a deep calm that was with me since the Dr. visit. I played the 9 holes in EVEN PAR! Two bogeys, one DOUBLE bogey and 4 birdies! I was truly in the zone. Not a thing was more important than the moment.

I have never found that zone again. But I still remember the feeling. cancer was with me but I was NOT going to let it get to me(physically or emotionally)

Try and find that place. There are lots of things to fret over. Don't let it take you over.

George

I flunked the pre-op physical now scheduled for next week. Excuse my french but that sucks.

Is there a list some where of the best bladder cancer doctors in the USA?

Thanks Tom

A lot of docs will schdule an appointment with you to follow up on the results. I've heard of some that just call. Either way it will be a few days before you know anything definitive.

Try to relax if you can. Bladder cancer is very treatable (if you even have it--but you don't know that yet).

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Mike