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Is bladder cancer even curable?
Hello everyone,
as i mentioned before my father was diagnosed with Pta G2 bladder cancer 10 years ago and now he has a new tumor. It is a Pta G2 low grade tumor again. Experiencing bladder cancer the second time with my father, i do ask myself if there is ever a real chance of getting rid of this disease. Reading all this articles on the internet shows me somehow, that sooner or later every patient will experience a relapse. Seems like there is no escape out of it. You have those recurrence free periods for several years, but once you’re diagnosed with this disease it sticks with you until death. Am i wrong on this?
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7 Replies
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Wish your family all the best. May god bless your dad with a healthy, long life.
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sibelsue,
I’ll be glad to share info about my dad.
Last year (December) dad complained he had to go pee too often. He works long shifts, and would have to go pee every few hours. He’s 70 and he thought he was having prostate issues (like all old people). He went to GP to get blood work done (January). It showed normal PSA (3.5). GP sent him to urologist. Urologist checked him out and sent him to ultrasound. The ultrasound specialist discovered a 3cm large tumor in his bladder. Dad went back to urologist. This urologist didn’t specialize in tumors so he sent my dad to another urologist who specializes in oncology (February). This uro-oncologist did said this 3cm tumor was probably growing for 2-3 years. He immediately performed cytology (urine sample test) and sent dad to CT. Cytology came back negative (no malignant cells in urine) but CT confirmed ultrasound and also showed that tumor hasn’t escaped the bladder. We went back to uro-oncologist and a week later (late February) we had first TURBT.
The role of TURBT is to cut out the cancer and take samples for biopsy (pathology).
It was a successful TURBT. A few days later dad was out of hospital without pain or complications.
A week later uro-oncologist called and said it was a malignant tumor and that he already has setup a repeated TURBT in 6 weeks. (This is standard procedure. The second TURBT ensures first one was done cleanly.)
We went to pathologist to get pathology report. It said there were not one, not two, but three cancers! One was the original 3cm one connected with a 2cm one – T1-Grade-2. Then there was another bladder neck cancer (it just said Grade1), and a third cancer – lymphoma cancer also on the bladder wall or neck.
We were relieved as none of the cancers were muscle invasive, which gives us much higher chance of cure and bladder preservation.
Then we talked with uro-oncologist and he said he cleaned it all up and we should get ready for repeated TURBT.
In mid March my dad had second TURBT. After 2nd TURBT the doctor said everything looked super clean, which was great to hear.
This time doctor prescribed antibotics (Nitrofurantoin) for 10 days and my dad was feeling a bit weak for this time. Two days after finishing antibiotics my dad was again super strong and feeling fantastic without any pain or complications.
Tomorrow I am finding the 2nd TURBT pathology results. We’re going to meet the doctor early in the morning.
Please check back in this forum section for my new thread about dad’s status.
If he’s cured then I’ll be so so happy.
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Thank you Alan for your response. This really gives me hope.
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Hi Richard,
could you please share your experience with your dad’s cancer? Would appreciate that a lot.
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DX=diagnosis.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.
Alan, thanks for your great response. It’s very useful information.
After having read so much information, it often seems to me cancer is the wrong term for it in early stages. Often it’s curable by just one cut (and i am not talking just about bladder cancer, skin cancer too for example, you just make a cut around it and it’s removed).
Overall this experience with my dad’s cancer has made me a stronger man myself as I understand the real meaning behind the word cancer.
PS. What do you mean by DX?
There are many people with many types of cancers that NEVER have it come back. I don’t think once you have been DX that it ever completely leaves your mind on the possibility of it coming back. However, as many have stated it is more likely that those with this type of cancer will die from something else. I am currently 10 years free as mine was caught early and treated accordingly. I choose to go forward as much as I can taking one day at a time.
I have read a Johns Hopkins theory that cancer possibly manifests itself 4-5 times in one’s life and it is often gets beaten back with our immune system. It is stress and breakdown of our system that lets this disease continue. I have no idea if this is right as it is just a theory. Eat well (everything in moderation and nothing to excess), get plenty of exercise, maintain a good weight, keep your checkups and don’t smoke and you have done most of what you can control. The rest I leave to a Higher Authority and simply don’t worry about something that may never happen again.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.Sign In to reply.
