Hi everyone. I've been in and out of this forum for a few months and am inspired by the knowledge and comfort everyone has to offer. I am not certain where or how to present all this and I tend to like to ramble, but I will try to keep on subject. Bear with me..... My husband - age 58- was diagnosed Stage 2a muscle invasive bladder cancer in June. He had a TURBT done and just finished up 4 months of chemo with cisplatin and gemcid. He has also taken cannibis oil nightly which we read with great hope of course that it could help in destroying the cancer. The doctors - both the oncologist and urologist recommend an RC scheduled in two weeks with the robotic surgeon. We live in Oregon and have got a second opinion from a oncologist at the Knight Cancer Institute. All doctors did not recommend radiation at the time telling us how that destroys so much that surgery after any radiation treatment may not be an option afterwards. My husband has opted for the neo bladder but they are marking him for an ileal conduit just in case there are complications with the neo bladder. This in itself makes me a little nervous - is that normal? Last week the CAT scan results after the chemo showed no signs of cancer in his upper torso or the bladder. So I ask the question that if we see NO signs of cancer, why the rush with the RC? Can't we wait and continue to check? The oncologist says that the CAT scan doesn't pick up the lingering micro cancel cells that are most likely still in the muscle or fat of his bladder where the chemo can't reach and they could spread quickly throughout the body. And I've asked about immunotherapy to which we were told there are none approved for Stage 2. I did suggest the one approved recently I think it was for Stage 3 be given but they said they could not due to protocol. Anyways I am going to ask him to do a PET or a MRI to determine if indeed the bladder is clear of cancer and don't understand why they don't automatically do this before the RC. Has anyone else had this experience? Perhaps I am wrong but hoping of course they will and we can re-evaluate our journey when we get the results from that. We are reading a lot about bladder preservation and just wondering if anyone has considered that route and were glad they decided to or glad they decided not to and went with an RC. I could just be delaying the inevitable here but I feel I need to pursue every option.
