Questions to ask the urologist

Hi,
Congrats on finding the forum and website and putting it to good use. I'm glad to hear your husband is doing well post-op.

The wife of a long term survivor put together some pages about how to deal with impotence post bladder removal, see:
blcwebcafe.org/impotenceguide.asp Hopefully there's something helpful there for you.

The most important question is, what was the stage of the cancer? That will give an idea of the prognosis, however the fact that no further treatment was recommended (like chemo) means to me that the cancer was confined to the bladder. That's a good thing!

Your husband is very lucky to have you.
Wendy

This is my first ever post, please be patient with me!

My husband had a radical cystectomy in July and it wasn't until after his operation that I found this site, while looking for answers to the millions of questions we both had.

He has recovered well from the surgery and is living an almost normal life again, and at this stage doesn't have to have any further treatment. (He has to have scans and a systoscopy and see his urologist again in December.) He has an ileal conduit and stoma and wears an external bag, which he is now managing extremely well. I am so proud of him for the way he has managed, especially as he is an amputee, having lost an arm in an accident some years ago.

We don't know and understand all the details of his cancer and prognosis or the technical terms for everything so would like to have a list of questions to ask when we see the doctor again. (Unfortunately his urologist died suddenly last week, so we're not sure yet who we will see)

We also have questions about impotence - he was prescribed viagra which we used once, with some success, but we are reluctant to use it again, not being sure about the side effects and safety long-term.
We live in Australia so some things may be different for us, but we would greatly appreciate some help with the questions we need to ask.
It would have been wonderful to have known about this site immediately after his diagnosis and while he was in surgery and recovering, as it was all so traumatic and frightening.

Thanks for listening