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First Symptoms – Questions
Recently diagnosed, first symptom was brown urine a couple of weeks ago. Or so I think.
However, I am troubled by an incident that happened 4 years ago I had burning urination (no visible blood) which I thought was a UTI. I went to an urgent care center where they prescribed an antibiotic which cleared it right up (w/in 48 hours). The odd thing was that no infection was indicated in the urinalysis.
I later mentioned this to my PCP who seemed comfortable that it was resolved since I had no further symptoms. In fact, until recently I had no symptoms of any sort for the intervening 4 years.
Now that I’ve been diagnosed, I’m second-guessing everything. Has anyone ever heard of a similar experience? Could I have missed an early warning sign that then went asymptomatic for four years? I’m beating myself up over this one.
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3 Replies
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We all react to the possibility of a cancer diagnosis differently…but WEIRDLY! It is natural…..
I am not a religious person, but a message outside a little church where I lived years ago has stayed with me and become almost my motto:
NOT EVEN GOD CAN CHANGE THE PASTYou will do fine
Sara Anne
Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
Forum Moderator
Thanks for the encouragement. I’m stil awaiting TURBT so no definitive diagnosis yet.
Guess I’m a bit of a doom and gloomer. Living in uncertainty while waiting for surgery has me thinking of a lot of things I might have missed or approached differently. Then, probably mistakenly, jumping to conclusions as to how those in/actions might impact my diagnosis.
In short, driving myself crazy.
You mention that you were “recently” diagnosed. What IS your diagnosis? Low grade? High grade?
Symptoms that seem to be a UTI are one way that bladder cancer shows up, but it is unlikely that these symptoms would have disappeared for 4 years. My ONLY symptom was “recurring UTI’s” that happened over and over and over. But they sure didn’t go away for any more than a month or so.
You have now been diagnosed, and are getting this taken care of. Nothing you can do now about something that may or may not have been an indicator years ago. Your job now is to go forward with whatever treatment is appropriate based on your diagnosis. As you have probably read here on the Forum, bladder cancer can be very treatable.
Sara Anne
Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
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