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Silly BCG Question
OK. My mom is suppose to start BCG next week and her local uro who is administering the treatments just called to ask for her pharmacy #. Did anyone else have to pick up the BCG from their pharmacy and bring it to treatment. We are starting to wonder if this uro has treated very many patients with BCG. He mentioned to me on the phone that my mom may only need 4 sessions, but I thought 6 was protocol — 6 is what Sloan ordered. Here we go again questioning things! Am I making more trouble for my mom than necessary.
Kim
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17 Replies
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This is going to sound stupid…but i’m almost glad my bladder is gone!!……Geez the cure is worse than the disease. You girls much braver than i am!………..And Rosy…are we to assume it was a red thong you were wearing? :D
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Hi Rosemary: I got a whole dose yesterday (my 8th) – and since dose 4 I have had the same side effects. I am okay with the first void and then it’s all over. Within a few minutes I get the burning and urgency (like I have never known) and I sit for the next three to four hours either on or pacing very close to the Toilet (as sitting in a chair is uncomfortable). During this time I void a drop at a time and it is getting worse everytime. Yesterday after the first hour of treatment I started drinking water (consumed 1 pint) but then I could only hold the BCG for 1 1/2 hours. I consumed another 3 pints of water the next 1 1/2 hours and did not drink cranberry juice as before (considering that it might be adding to the burning as it is acidic). I also have “trash” in my urine and I sometimes assume maybe this is the problem – it blocks the urethea and takes its time passing. I too consider each time that I cannot do this much more, then it subsides….and it’s on to next week. The good news is after next week I get a break until July 11th my next poke and peak.
Rosemary, I hope this all goes well with you and your “toes”….which is also a common bond we might have as my right knee (the one with the ganglion cyst) looks as if I swollowed a bowling ball and it stopped at my knee! It’s painful and huge. Anyway, hope you are doing well today (back at work perhaps or resting up at home)….here’s to next Thursday.
Take Care BC Friend,
Sandy
Sandra
“Grandmothers are just antique little girls….”
Rosemary, you are toooooo funny! ;D How many times does that happen to all of us – pink fuzz or some other matter causing us alarm??.. Always we are looking in the toilet, ever since our diagnoses!!! I never had to have BCG treatments, but I still look, every time…I don’t think the general non-BC population would understand, but you just made me laugh.
I hope your discomfort is done for this week – have a great weekend!
Lauren
TaG1
12/05
TaG1 12/05
3 recurrences
BCG started 9/09
Hey Yo!
Thanks for asking. I had a 1/3 dosage today, and I have to tell you it burned wicked bad for about 1 and 1/2 hours starting with the first void. I was really uncomfortable and was thinking about ditching the idea from here on in. I always forget that the burning passes eventually and things get back to normal. Just 2 more to go. :)
I had some pinkish urine on the toilet paper and I may have seen a little bladder tissue in the toilet. But, I am always imagining things in the toilet. Not that they aren’t there, but it usually turns out to be a red string or fuzz from my underwear.
Tell your hubby that I know how he feels. I have not had the back ache, however.
Best regards,
Rosemary
Rosemary
Age – 55
T1 G3 – Tumor free 2 yrs 3 months
Dx January 2006
Rosemary,
How are you feeling since you had your BCG treatment today? My husband experiences a lot of bladder irritation, frequent urination and blood as well as his lower back aching. Tomorrow will be his 3rd treatment and then he’s done for 6 months if the check up goes well (I know it will). Anyway, wishing you the best!
Yosemite
I thought that BCG was a liquid solution, but it is not. It is powdered, and the nurse mixes it with a small amount of sodium chloride solution and then mixes it with a larger amount of sodium chloride solution. Then she inserts an in/out catheter into the bladder and gets rid of all the urine. After that is when she administers the solution into the other end of catheter. When she finishes the administration, she puts all of the paraphanalia into a plastic bag and pours bleach into it. The paraphanalia soaks for the rest of the day in the bag, and then is no longer considered to be a biohazard.
She also told me that administering the solution to me was very easy, because sometimes she has to squeeze and squeeze the vial. Today, it was just like pouring water from a pitcher. I bet it only took about 2-3 minutes. She said that was unusual.
Hope your Mother does well.
Your friend,
Rosemary
Rosemary
Age – 55
T1 G3 – Tumor free 2 yrs 3 months
Dx January 2006He may be relieved!!!….Call your local hospitals and get a reference….ask a nurse..they know everything and everyone………Pat
Rosemary,
Thanks for asking that for me. I guess that makes sense. I am just surprised that they let people walk around with a live virus.
My mom is still trying to decide if she should go with this doc or not. The problem is, we really don’t have a recommendation for someone else. I just hate blindly picking a doc especially when we are dealing with cancer. I am planning on calling and “interviewing” another doc tomorrow. Nothing is ever simple! My mom is worried about hurting the other uro’s feelings if we decide not to go with him!! ::) I told her he will get over it!
Hope everything goes well with your BCG treatments!
Kim
I am in the midst of 1/3 dosage BCG as I write this post. I am now entering the 2nd hour and all is well.
I had lots of questions for the nurse during administration, one of them being, why would a doctor ask a patient to pick up their own dose of BCG? And this was her answer….
MONEY
BCG is very expensive and it has a short shelf life. My particular clinic gets money for the BCG’s from some outside source to keep a stock on hand. Then, they carefully schedule demand and supply.
Rosemary
Rosemary
Age – 55
T1 G3 – Tumor free 2 yrs 3 months
Dx January 2006
My husband has the BCG instilled at his urologist’s office. The pharmacy that delivers the BCG always calls to confirm the appt. and then they deliver it to the doctor’s office. The urologist does the instillation. His first series of BCG was 6 times 1 week apart. After it is instilled, he has to hold it for 2 hours. His urine is checked at the time of his scope, which is every 3 months.
Yosemite
My uro put in Bcg and said hold for 2 hours, then the second uro from cancer center said hold for one hour in the office doing the roll srround dance. then let it out and go home ,that is the time all worked but that had interferon in it. Don
Hanging in there!
Well it has become quite clear that he doesn’t do them regularly. When I asked him about urine screens he said he would screen her once a month. Then he said he’d administer the BCG and have her hold it for an hour. I said, “I thought it should be two hours.” He said well one to two hours. He also said he needed to check to see if the local hospital was “equipped to do BCG.” He’s been affiliated with this hospital for the past year, so if he needs to ask that question then I am guessing he hasn’t done BCG in the past year if ever! Of course I don’t want her to go to this guy, but my mom and sister are starting to think that I make a “project” out of everything so I’m not sure what she’s going to decide. I tried to stress to my mom the importance of having her urine screened right before the instillation. She told me to post the question about picking the BCG up at the pharmacy and she would wait to hear what you all have to say before deciding what to do. She definitely doesn’t want to travel all the way up to NYC for these treatments.
Kim
Ok here’s a silly answer….why not ask the uro if he does the BCG treatments on a regular basis. If not…….you know what to do……..Pat
Kim,
I’ve only had BCG’s at the Urology Clinic here in my town. They have their own BCG’s on hand. The protocol here is, I pee in a cup, they set me up on the examining table, but don’t insert the cath until the Doc examines my urine with his own eyes :o Then, after they get the green light, the nurse caths me and prepares the solution. It takes about 15 minutes and I go home to wait it out.
Ro
Rosemary
Age – 55
T1 G3 – Tumor free 2 yrs 3 months
Dx January 2006
At my URO the nurse practitioner mixed mine after I was cathed. they do this just in case they cant for some reason get into the blader kind of sucked waiting there with that thing in my doda.While thye got the stuff ready. Don
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