After 7 years, papillary Ta,High grade

Yes, Mike. Most probably, I will be scoping in a month. I have a surgery scheduled to remove my native left kidney with the ureter cuff, as that is at high risk now.
To provide some background, I originally had a kidney transplant when I was 23, in 1998 due to chronic renal failure of both my kidneys. Thanks to my sweet mother who donated her kidney, I am alive today. 7 years back, I got upper tract TCC ( muscle invasive, high grade tumor) in my right native kidney's ureter. So, had a surgery to remove the kidney and the ureter. Was a complicated one, because of my transplant kidney. Had 4 cycles of chemo as well. Have been regulary following up with cystos and MRI scans from then on.
After 7 years, on finding this tumor, the doctors are advising me to remove the native left kidney as well along with the ureter as it is more of a liability. Anyway, it is not functional and not being used. I am due to have the surgery by next month and my URO would have to do a cystoscopy to make sure there is no tumor in the bladder before the surgery. Just keeping my fingers crossed.

Sorry you had a recurrence but it sure took a long time so that's a good thing. It may be one of the reasons that watchful waiting is the plan for you.

Mitomycin is chemo. It is just not administered in the traditional way (in the blood stream). Doing the instillation of mitomycin a couple/few times. You might want to ask about the follow up TURBT though. It is fairly common to do it again after a couple of months just to be sure they got it all. However, if the pathology shows clear margins all the way around and both your urologist and the urologist at Stanford agree, then maybe you don't need it. It's worth asking them both about though.

The BCG (that you can't take) and mitomycin are both really good treatments for direct instillation in the bladder without the side effects of chemo but with very good results.

Glad you caught it early again!

Mike

Hi Sara,
Thanks for the reply. I got a second opinion from an urologist at Stanford University. I was referred to him by an urology-oncologist there, who has been a big support for me as I know her personally. So, I am hoping it is reliable. When I said chemo, I was talking about mytomycin instillation. Will check out others too.

Hi,
I had upper tract TCC 7 years back and was recently diagnosed with pTa, high grade 1cm tumor in my bladder. My doctor did a TURB and got it out. He did a mytomycin flush as well after the TURB. Consulted another urologist for second opinion and they are advising the wait and watch mode, maybe, with a couple of mitomycin treatments.I am not eligible for BCG as I am on immunosuppressants. Any inputs please? I am planning to consult with my Uro again for further treatments. Is it OK not to do any chemo right now?