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New State IV Diagnosis
Hi everybody. I’m new here. My father was diagnosed with Stage II bladder cancer in June, 2016. He tried chemo but it wasn’t well tolerated. Then had a radical cystectomy in December. I was hoping they’d do it sooner since 6 months from diagnosis seemed like a long time. Well, right before the holidays (2017) his oncologist noticed his kidneys were failling. After several tests, it was determined that greatly enlarged lymph nodes were pushing on the kidneys. After biopsy, they realized the bladder cancer had metasticized through the lymph nodes causing the obstruction. This came as a shock since his previous CT scans had been alright. Can anyone tell me what to expect in the coming months? One oncologist mentioned a possibility of immunotherapy. Has anyone tried it? My dad is super private and won’t show emotions which has been hard on my mom and me. He has hardly talked since coming home from the hospital. I wish he could share how he feels and cry with us, but he just sits silently. I’m worried about how bad things get once the cancer has progressed this far and I want to support him, I just don’t know how.
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2 Replies
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Thank you so much for your reply, Alan. We’ve heard back from the onocologist so I’ll take a half day off work on Friday to join him for his appointment. Yeah, I know this is quite serious. :( We are located in Detroit so he is going to Henry Ford Hospital which is one of the major centers in this area. I hope that they have a good team that will figure out some sort of plan. I know that the cisplatin chemo was not something he handled well and am wondering what any alternatives are. I don’t know a lot about the immunothrapy other than a bit of what I’ve looked up online and it’s hard to understand. I also wonder how fast all of this will progress. Have people been known to live for a substantial amount of time once they’re State IV? I want to provide all the support I can but really have no idea what to expect in the coming months. I do thank you for your reply and I truly hope that you are well.
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Tahitijin,
Welcome, we are just sorry for your Dad’s reason for being here. He is fortunate you are here for him as an advocate. Yes, lymph node involvement and probable stage 4 is serious. With kidney involvement, you need a real team that can put all of the urinary tract under response. None of us are doctors so I couldn’t even begin to guess what all needs to be done. I’d get to a major cancer center such as MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering, Stanford etc if possible. You mentioned immunotherapy. Perhaps one of those major centers will have something new or better, BCG/immunotherapy is usually done with non invasive bladder cancer but, perhaps that in conjunction with something else? There will be people here listening and will try to answer questions as they come up. You are already supporting him by trying to get answers here. As I have learned with parents that have passed a few years back, loving them is the best thing you can do!
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.
