BCG Treatment

15 years 11 months ago #15337 by Rosemary
Replied by Rosemary on topic BCG Treatment
Slab,

Just wanted to let you know that you are getting some really good advice here.
There is one point, however that I would like to comment on, that being about drinking water during treatment. As far as I know, there are no hard and fast rules about this issue. My BCG nurse recommended to me to drink water about 1 hour into treatment to reduce the severity of the burning reaction. I always kept a bottle of pure water close by and began my drinking of water after one hour. I tried not to drink too much before treatment, though, because of needing to hold the urine for 2 hours. I also avoided coffee on day of treatment as coffee can be a bladder stimulant. I was never told anything about not eating, so in that respect, I stayed on my normal schedule.

Good luck
Rosemary

Rosemary
Age - 55
T1 G3 - Tumor free 2 yrs 3 months
Dx January 2006

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15 years 11 months ago #15334 by Julie
Replied by Julie on topic BCG Treatment
Slabman, we lived in a motorhome when my husband had his BCG treatments. We did not want the BCG and clorox in our holding tank. We had some friends in the community where the treatment was and a couple of them let us come over to their house/apartment after the treatment to use their toilet and wait out the time until after voiding all the BCG. It ran into wintertime for us so we rented a motel suite for the winter months in Wisconsin.

I have heard of some places where they have you stay at the facility for the two hours after so you could ask if you could stay there. Julie

Volunteer Coordinator
ABLSC

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15 years 11 months ago #15331 by michstate89
Replied by michstate89 on topic BCG Treatment
Slab,

As you can see, everyone is different. If the side-effects are too debilitating, they can reduce dose or hold time. I think the idea is to have a reaction, but not one so bad that knocks you out. Good luck - I have found that thinking about all the treatments and TURBTs has always been worse than the actual event. My hospital actually does these treatments on Saturdays - don't miss work and usually takes an afternoon to recover. I would plan on too much for the rest of the day of a treatment. My last 2 cystos were clear and at the last one, my doctor told me my bladder looked like it never had cancer - so in that regard I have had a positive experience.

Hope this helps.

Ross

Ross M
TaG1 March 06
Recurrence Jan 07
BCG Maintenance after 6 week treatment

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15 years 11 months ago #15315 by Nix
Replied by Nix on topic BCG Treatment
Slab,
My BCG are always at 10 AM - I eat breakfast - cereal and yogart - but I never have coffee on BCG day. You may have a normal appitite on BCG days, or you may not feel like eating much. I do drink a lot of water after the two hours of holding the BCG. It seems the more water I drink the faster I get back to normal. I forgot to mention, one of the side effects I have noticed since my maintenance is being really tired the day after the treatment.

Nancy S

Nancy S
Ta CIS
dx Ta 11/06
dx Ta CIS 10/07

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15 years 11 months ago #15314 by slabman
Replied by slabman on topic BCG Treatment
Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement. Craig, your comments were spot on and I thank you for them. So I guess the drill is if I fast for only 2 hrs. prior to treatment I should minimize the problems insofar as my body will allow. Afterward, I assume I'll know when I can eat again....when my system is ready for it. I wonder if I should eat a bit of cereal 2 hrs. prior to my 10AM treatment? Does this make any sense?

Because I live in a motorhome with only one toilet, I gotta take special care with this stuff. See, it ends up in my holding tank and I sure don't want it infecting my wife or others downstream at a later time. So I guess I can just bleach it like everyone else and let it sit for a while....not much else to do, I'd think.

The initial shock of all this is beginning to subside for us, so we now must look forward with confidence that all is going to be OK. Having people on this board to talk one through this is very comforting and I thank you again.

Bob
T1 G3
Age 66
DX April 2008
TURB April 2008
Last BCG (#15) April 2009

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15 years 11 months ago #15306 by Joey
Replied by Joey on topic BCG Treatment
Slab, I was dx with a 4 cm low grade TA tumor in December. I finished 6 BCG treatments with the last one 4 weeks ago. I have my first follow up cysto this coming Tuesday. I had very little side effects. I had some increase frequency and a drop or two of blood but nothing more than that. I now occasionally feel a burn in my bladder but it is short term and manageable. There are many individuals who have minimal side effects with very positive results.

Thanks Joe

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