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sarcomatoid bladder cancer
My mother in law (80 yrs old) was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. They said it was sarcomatoid and transitional cell. They did a CAT Scan before her surgery to remove the bladder and said they did not see any other tumors. She has now had the surgery and the tumor had grown through the bladder and they also found sarcomatoid cells in 3 of the 6 lymph nodes they took out.
Before diagnosis she was in great shape, but since just before the surgery she has not been doing well. Very tired and now not wanting to eat 9 days after the surgery because she says she is nauseated. We know this diagnosis is not good, but her doctor is not willing to give us a time frame for how long she has. One statistic I read was an average of 9 months??
If anyone has any experience with this type of cancer I would appreciate any information you have.
Thanks,
Matt -
5 Replies
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Matt….i remember after my cysectomy for some reason the meds they were giving me left a very metalic taste in my mouth and that transfered to any food i was given so absolutely nothing tasted good. There happened to be a Starbucks in the hospital and my husband got me a double Mocha Venti everyday as its the one thing that did taste halfway normal. Once i got home the metalic taste went away and i started eating normally again…but was totally addicted to Mocha Venti’s….which was a good thing as i had lost 25 lbs. So hopefully home will lift her spirits and her appetite.
My best to you and your mother. Pat -
Here bowels are begining to work and she comes home from the hospital today. I’m hoping with her home we can encourage her to eat more and get her spirits up some. I know both of these things are vital to her healing.
Thanks,
Matt -
Hi Matt,
Sorry to meet you here. It’s hard when someone gets a dx of a rare cell type because there aren’t enough studies that have been done to find the right treatment. In the case of sarcoma bladder cancer and most other rare types, surgery is considered the best bet and the long term survival is dependent on the stage of the cancer.
I’m sure the doctor did not do anything wrong by only removing 6 lymph nodes, in any case only half were involved, but even one involved node stages a person at IV. It’s still common to find that people with lymph node involvement get chemo first instead of surgery first, but that is not the approach used with bladder sarcoma.
Nausea 9 days post-op is not unusual, there are many medications these days, so if the one she is taking doesn’t help, ask about an alternative. Have her “bowels woken up” yet? Is she still in the hospital?
Wishing you well,
Wendy -
We also questioned why they only removed 6 lymph nodes and the doctor said he wanted to get her “closed up” since she had been under for 5 hours already. As far as the tumor, it had gone completely through the bladder. They are also giving her medicine for the nausea, but I don’t know how much it is helping.
Sorry for the lack of knowledge on types of diversions, but I assume it is the ileal conduit since she has an external bag. When it comes to Chemo, he wanted to wait till she was feeling better before talking about what the next step should be. The gut feeling I have is that he feels the Chemo may be too much for her and that it may not extend her life enough to make it worthwhile.
Thanks,
Matt -
They only removed 6 lymph nodes? Was the cancer through the muscle of the bladder or actually through the wall of the bladder?
They certainly should be giving her something for nausea..phenergan 25mg. is a good one.
What type of diversion did they give her…ileal conduit or an internal pouch?
If CT scans showed no other involvement and i’m assuming she had also a bone scan or should have….why are they not suggesting chemotherapy at this time?
Its not unusual to be extremely tired after this surgery especially at her age.
Give us a bit more information and we’ll try to guide you and hopefully make her more comfortable………..Pat
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