Mom had her first treatment last Wednesday. She is on Carboplatin and Gemzar. Yesterday she would have received her second treatment. Due to low white cell counts she was not given her second treatment of Gemzar alone. We have a follow-up with the Oncologist today. I fear something is afoot here. She will not receive her Neulesta shot either. Why wouldn't they give her something to improve her white cell count?

I am very sorry to hear about your Mom's diagnosis. As you already know, it is very serious at this point. The fact that there is no distant metastasis (M0) for now is a positive in her favor.

I certainly understand her wanting to use a coping strategy of "this will go away in a few weeks and life will be back to normal" to ease her worries and make it less scary. She may think giving up her smoking is worse than having the bladder cancer. I do hope the upcoming appointment will give her the incentive to decide to put up a good fight and go along with the doctor's recommended treatment plan.

She may also be weighing how long this treatment may extend her life against the difficulty of the surgery (very hard surgery), chemo, and recovery. It is a very scary prospect for anyone at any age. A 75-ish year old family friend was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. She is also a very long-time smoker. She took a few radiation/chemo treatments and decided it was just too painful and difficult and has opted for better quality of life without treatment until the cancer runs its course to a final outcome. It is not what her family wanted her to do, but in the end, it was up to her to decide.

I know this is extremely difficult for you and your family. I do hope the oncologist can turn things around in your Mom's thinking.

Today we were told it is T3N1M0 and she will go see the Oncologist next Wednesday. Mom is bound and determined that this is not serious and will not effect her life style at all. She insiss on continuing to smoke. Maybe she is in denial and thinks it will all go away in a few weeks.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I live in New Braunfels. For whatever it is worth, M.D. Anderson is my backup should I ever need more help knowing they are some of the best! I know several that have done well there.

We are in the Houston area with MDAnderson down the road. Her follow up to the Lung scan is Friday and will decide from there what to do. All I know is that this is one roller coaster I don't want to ride. Thanks for the help.

I am so sorry to hear about your mother. This is a very serious diagnosis, especially if it has gone into the muscle, and especially at her age. And yes, while many bladder cancer patients have no idea of what might have caused it, smoking IS the number one identifiable cause.

Hope that she is being seen at a practice that specializes in bladder cancer, particularly in high risk patients (your mom's age puts her in this category.)
If not, you might want to consider getting a second opinion at such a site. If you let us know where you are located, we might be able to suggest a few.

Chemo and the expected surgery are not easy. Which is why you want to be sure she is in the best possible place. And invasive bladder cancer is not something to ignore.

Please let us know how she is getting along.

Sara Anne