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Hello
Hi
I am new to bladder cancer.
Thats really all I know at the moment I have had a cystoscopy under GA to take biopsies of a number of suspicious areas in my bladder.My urologist has said they appear to be invasive and I have further tests MRI etc booked for next week.
Basically I am very scared I am 37 female live in the Uk with my husband and two children aged 4 and 18 months.I thought I had a recurring bladder infection until about 4 weeks ago.Any advice on questions and what I might be facing would be really useful.
Lisa -
7 Replies
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[quote author=fearandfight link=topic=1348.msg9852#msg9852 date=1194181430]
[ It may of been what you call an old mans disease
[/quote]Dear Joe,
No, I don’t think 50 or even 60 is old, and please allow me to explain that I am not the one that invented the phrase “old man’s disease”, either. That’s what we’re told whenever statistics are discussed, “disease of primarily elderly, white males.” The risk goes up for those above 60 yrs, and I’m not exactly sure what the average age really is, but I was under the impression that it hits more people in their 60s and 70s than younger.As we have all noticed, the forum is not an actual representation of the true cross-section of the blc population, but has many more women, young women and young men than we’d expect.
Wendy
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I’m sorry to meet another young woman with what’s supposed to be an old man’s disease
So Wendy does this apply to us men that are over 50 or is it 60 that’s old lol. It may of been what you call an old mans disease but I see more women getting this and also plenty that never smoked a cigarette in their lives both male and female. I think there is something out there in the baby boomer area that they have not figured out.
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Hi Lisa,
I’m sorry to meet another young woman with what’s supposed to be an old man’s disease. It sounds like your doctor already has a good idea of what you’re diagnosis is, if he’s talking surgery and possibly chemo. Scheduling further testing to determine staging is already underway, so you should be getting some info soon about your exact stage. Thing is…it’s difficult to be accurate with the “T” stage, biopsies and MRI’s are not infallible tools, unfortunately. The most precise stage is known as the “P” stage, the post-op, pathology specimen. “T” stage refers to the ‘clinical staging’ which refers to diagnostics and biopsy specimens pre-op.
If a person gets pre-op (neo-adjuvant) chemo, then the actual stage might never be known- chemo can put a person into total remission and it can happen that a person’s bladder is cancer free after it’s been removed. That’s actually an ideal thing, and can translate into improved long term survival.
Pre-op chemo is still debated by some doctors who say post op chemo is just as good. You should discuss that with your doctor and find out what would be your best approach, the pros and cons.
Where are you going for treatment? We have an advisor for this site who works out of Guys London, and I’m very impressed by them over there.
I hope things go smoothly for you.
Wendy -
hey Lisa
I am in UK (Bristol) but I can’t really add a lot to what Pat has said until you get access to some more information. Of course you can access your notes here by law but it’s probably best to schedule another consulatation so that you can get more detailed information (if you want it – which I assume you do by coming here?). I always found it useful to take along someone to take notes/ask questions/remember things on my behalf. this could be your partner or a friend. the important thing to keep in mind is that there are lots of people here diagnosed at all stages of this illness who have come through it and are in good shape and living normal lives. I imagine you’re still in a state of considerable shock. just hang in there. And if you are up to it, find out whatever you can. This site is a great starting point.all the best
tim
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I’m hoping Tim shows up here momentarily ..he’s also in the UK. Not sure how it works over there but here in the states we can request a copy of the pathology report from the hospital where the turb was done. That will tell you the type and stage of the tumor and if it is muscle invasive…if indeed it is muscle invasive then a course of chemo and cystectomy is usually recommended. The MRI will show any potential lymph node involvement or any other kind of involvement. Pat
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Patricia
Thanks
The only information I have so far is that I have two sights of highly abnormal invasive cells.My consultant is talking about surgery
or chemotherapy followed by surgery.Depending on wether the MRI scans show up lymph involvment or not.
Hope this helps Lisa -
Lisa…get ahold of your pathology report from your resection (TURB) that was done. It should be available to you. We can advise you what to expect once we have that.
So sorry to hear of yet another young person with this diagnosis. We’ll guide you the best we know how…….Pat
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