Chemo or not?

Thanks Wendy and Greg

It was great to get such a prompt response. Greg you raise some very valid issues for us to think about. Some we've thought of, some we haven't. However, I think Wendy's comment about later beating myself up if he doesn't do it rings true. I'm big on guilt and doing "I should of...".

Bottom line it will need to be my husband's decision as was when to take out the bladder. We are in this together but it is his body. I feel like I need to hold back

Thanks again,
Sam's wife

Hi Sam,

It's a very tough call, but if it were my husband I think I would go for the chemo because even though the involved lymph nodes were removed-and there is a chance that the cancer is now gone, there's still a chance of micromets becoming macro-mets. I know people who had lymph node involvement get chemo, and be cancer free five+ years down the road, and that can make things worth it.

If you don't do chemo you might have regrets if/when the cancer ever returned and beat yourself up for not having been aggressive.

There's a certain amount of luck involved as chemo does not always work, and yes, it lowers the immune system and causes a lot of side effects...but they are temporary.

Please don't base any decisions on my feelings, though.

All the best,
Wendy

Hi,

everyones big question at some stage

There is NO ONE who can make this decision for you but consider:

Chemo has a tendency to make a lot of people feel very ill for a relatively prolongued period.

Chemo knackers your imune system.

Chemo makes a huge profit for Big PharmaCorp.

Chemo comes with no guarantees.

It can be argued that some lives are saved or prolongued by Chemo.

It can be argued that some lives are enhanced and prologued without Chemo.

Improved by 5-15% OF WHAT!!!

Age? General Health? Mets? Family Circumstances? Partner's Health? Proximity to treatment centre?

The variables are huge and draw up a list of every question/variable and give them a score of minus 10 to plus 10. Each of you score the questions based on importance and YES or NO then look honestly at your own and eachothers score card and narrow down the decision making.

Good luck - there is no perfect answer, but I'm sure there will be plenty of help holding your hand as you make the decision, on this forum.

Regards,
Greg L-W.

After many months of visiting web cafe and finding it invaluable I am doing my first post. My husband received a neobladder 7 weeks ago after an RC. He is a good patient and coming along well after one setback with a nasty infection that landed him in the hospital. We meet with the oncologist next week and our decision will be whether to go ahead with chemo or not. He had several positive lymph nodes and the doctor says Cisplatin and genzar will only improve the odds by 5 to 15 %. Fighting infections is a problem as he is allergic to Cipro and the rest of the family (including levaquin).

We would appreciate any input.