My husband (age 44 at the time) was diagnosed with bladder cancer in Dec 2004..... after 8 months of blood in his urine & being misdiagnosed with kidney stones (long story). He had his tumor removed in Jan 2005 but another tumor was found on his right femur so he quickly became Stage 4. He had a titanium rod implanted in his leg & was started on Gemcitabine & Cisplatin in March 2005. Since the cancer had spread there was no logic in removing his bladder & was treated systemically.
He responded very well to the chemo & the leg tumor was eliminated. He stopped chemo in Sept 2005. In Nov 2005 a small spot was located back in his bladder. He underwent BCG treatment in December 2005 which in my opinion did very little. In January 2006 another bladder lesion was located & the dr. did a cystoscopy; however, it was deeper than he thought & a more intensive cysto was to be done in the next few weeks.
On the afternoon of Feb 21 2006 my husband collapsed while at home & to make a long story short, suffered a mild stroke as a result of a metastatic tumor in the right frontal lobe of his brain, which had bled. An emergency craniotomy was done, tumor removed & bleeding stopped. We weren't sure if he was going to make it through the surgery that night. He was paralyzed on his left side as a result of the stroke.
Well my incredible husband did make it through the surgery, got through 3 weeks in the hospital including intensive rehab for his stroke & was able to walk the day he left the hospital on March 9. However, the day he was to be discharged and MRI showed multiple lesions on his brain & full brain radiation was initiated that same day. He completed 15 treatments with minimal side effects (except losing his beautiful hair which he could care less about & mild fatigue). His oncologist was brutally honest with me by saying he didn't know how long he has but that he will not give up (and neither will my hubby or me!)
I am so proud of his unbeatable spirit, determined attitude & refusal to give in to cancer or its dreaded side effects. His left arm & hand have come back to use in the past month at home but it's still not quite 100% (almost!). His cognitive skills are coming back very well & he can even drive a short distance if he needs to.
This past Friday he had a brain MRI to see the success of the radiation & he is in the first month of chemo (which is now old hat to us). We get the results of the MRI on Tuesday May 2 - my prayers have been concentrated on getting good results with success in eliminating the lesions on the brain. Please keep him in your prayers.
My message is this.... do not freak out - do not let the cancer bring down your spirit to live & fight this. We do not live near family & have to mainly rely on each other & a couple good friends (some "friends" seem to disappear when cancer comes to town). Have faith in God & the healing spirit of Jesus Christ; the prayers we have received have definitely kept us bouyant through this. Our trust & faith in the doctors' skill & knowledge is vital to confidence in our treatment. We are in the Orlando area & have some of the best care anywhere. We refuse to live like my husband is going to die - contrary, some of his nurses call him "Miracle Man" because of what he has overcome thus far. And believe me, we are not done fighting yet. This is by no means easy for either of us being in the prime of our lives but our age is on our side. We are strong & intend to stay that way. Find the positive in every area that you can.
Stay strong & God Bless to you all - patients, caregivers & survivors (which I am hopeful that my husband will become).
