New Here

14 years 11 months ago #25273 by ang0623
Replied by ang0623 on topic New Here
Vicky had the typical symptoms, blood in the urine etc. and of course was told it was infections. Then after some kind of test, she was told that she had bladder stomes which turned out to be two large tumors covered in calcium. My other big concern is that it seems that it's even worse if it goes in to your bones? Vicky's got it in 2 vertabrae in her back. The back pain is what took her to the ER 3 times and she was finally diagnosed. It's also in several lymph nodes but fortunately it's not in any other organs.

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14 years 11 months ago #25266 by Patricia
Replied by Patricia on topic New Here
Keily....unfortunately bladder cancer is the least funded of the cancers and protocols for Stage 4 are mainly palliative. You went to a great center at Johns Hopkins and I think its great that you're going to see Karens doctor at Memorial Sloan...they may have some more cutting edge trials there and is certainly worth exploring as its a top cancer hospital with many many specialists in bladder cancer including Dr. Donat who i assume she is seeing?
I don't know what to say about the ignorance at the infusion center other than you've got to pretty much be your own advocate with this cancer.
I'm so sorry ...she is so young. Did she have symptoms that just went ignored?
Karen Greene was my guiding angel at the beginning of my cancer journey and we still are great friends.
Pat

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14 years 11 months ago #25264 by ang0623
New Here was created by ang0623
My mother in law was diagnosed with stage four bladder cancer in January just weeks before turning 50. She's in PA and received a second opinion at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Unfortuately, we were told that all either doctor couls do was prolong her life for the next 3-5 years. That's when I found Karen Greene and made an appointment for my mother in law,Vicky, to see her doctor in NYC since since they were such similar cases. That's making a looong story extremely short. Vicky's doctor in PA is a hematologist/oncologist, this is who was basically assigned to her when she was in the hospital. This isn't making sense to me. Shouldn't she be seeing a urology oncologist??? Her current doctor has made several mistakes already such as failing to inform Vicky that her nicotine patch could affect her chemo by protecting the cancer cells and by not giving her Neupogen to boost her white cells. She allowed Vicky to miss 3 chemo sessions because of her low counts. I had to make an appt for her today to have it checked since she had chemo Thursday, the nurse said"that's a good idea." No kidding. Are there any other women on here with stage four? I'm so frustrated that people are so unaware of bladder cancer when it's so common, even doctors themselves.:unsure:

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