Home › Forums › All Categories › Newly Diagnosed, New To The Forum › Newly diagnosed

  • Newly Diagnosed, New To The Forum

    Newly diagnosed

    Posted by ccs2455 on January 22, 2019 at 4:33 pm

    Start of Discussion
    0 of 0 replies June 2018
    Now

    Hi, my name is Chrissy I am 39 years old and just diagnosed with bladder cancer. I am to have my TURBT done tomorrow and I am a little scared. I don’t know what to expect. I have been reading a lot of the forum to get some information on how recovery is. I have a 1 year old and I am a single mom. Is there pain the first few days? Will I have to take pain meds? He is 26 lbs so do I have to have someone with me round the clock to help with carrying and bathing him? I am going to have a catheter left in for a few days she Said and they will be putting the mitomycin in the bladder after removal. Sorry for all the questions I just really want to make sure my little guy is well taken care of while I am recovering.

    sara.anne replied 6 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
  • 1 Reply
  • sara.anne's avatar

    sara.anne

    Member
    January 22, 2019 at 5:46 pm

    Hello, Chrissy! And welcome to someplace you would rather not be!!

    The answer to your questions is “it depends.” The purpose of the TURB is two-fold; one is to remove any visible tumors that are possible to remove, and the second is to determine the extent of the tumors and send them to pathology for a complete analysis. While your urologist is probably pretty sure that you have bladder cancer, exactly how far it has spread (if at all) and whether it if high grade or low grade will all be determined by the pathology exam. This information is necessary before a treatment plan can be set.

    Your experience with the TURB will depend on where and how extensive the tumors are and this will vary from patient to patient. It is much more common for males to have catheters, but it may very well be that your urologist has noted where your tumor(s) are located and has decided that a catheter will be necessary. The “wash” with mitomycin is standard operating procedure to prevent any “loose” cells from the disturbance of the biopsy from re-seeding.

    The questions you have about lifting your toddler are more appropriate for your urologist so you need to ask her what to expect. In my case, I didn’t have a catheter and was back to normal the next day.

    Wishing you all the best

    Sara Anne

    Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
    BCG; BCG maintenance
    Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
    Forum Moderator

Sign In to reply.