Hello everyone. I'm new to this site and I'm trying to get as much info as possible for my fiancé who has been diagnosed with T1G3bladder cancer.
Here is the situation.....
He was diagnosed in Jan of this year with T1G3 non invasive bc. When he was given a cat scan to see how big his kidney stone was, they discovered the tumor. A urologist that his general practioner referred him to removed that initial tumor. Well long story short....after losing my mother in November of last year to cancer and dealing with a mess of a situation with the doctors at Georgetown, I decided to take him to a cancer treatment center. So we went to the cancer treatment center of America in Philadelphia, Pa. Wonderful place. They performed two days of testing which included bone scans, cat scans, blood work...you name it. Then they did a cysoscopy and discovered there was inflammation and the area of resection was still healing but it looked good otherwise from what they could see. So he began a six week bcg regimen and he tolerated it well. On his follow up Tur he had a new (not in the same place as the old tumor) high grade lesion that was <1 mm. The urologist recommended bladder removal but said if he wanted to try bcg again, she would obtain some more muscle to verify there is no muscle invasion and if not proceed with bcg. He has the tur scheduled for this thur.
I have been told that even though we are at a cancer center that that doesn't mean that they are bladder cancer specialists. I'm going to make an appointment at Johns Hopkins ASAP for a second opinion because I know time is of the essence. I wasn't aware they specialize in bladder cancer there or I'd have taken him there to begin with.
I would like to know if I'm missing anything here....if I should be doing something else to ensure we make the best possible choice for him.
Also I wanted to add that a muscle sample was obtained and didn't show any abnormalities during his first cysoscopy at the cancer treatment center. The first urologist that initially removed the tuner did not obtain a muscle sample.
Any input, suggestions, shared experiences, ect. would be helpful and most appreciated????
By the way is is a 43 yr old that has never had any medical issues. He did smoke for almost 20 years but has quit.
Thank you
Dana