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Smoking as a Cause of Bladder Cancer
Whenever I speak to anyone who knows anything about bladder cancer that I had been diagnosed with the same, the first question I am asked is whether I ever smoked?
My answer: No, not one day in my life.
However, I did live on the second floor of a two family home for 15 years where the tenant/landlord on the first floor was a heavy smoker.
Does anyone have an educated opinion whether this circumstance may have been a contributing factor?
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2 Replies
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I believe bladder cancer is the second leading cancer among smokers. I smoked a pack a day (average) for probably 40 years and I got bladder cancer. Of course that doesn’t mean that all smokers get bladder cancer (or any cancer for that matter – heck, some don’t get sick at all). And, on the other hand, not every person who get bladder cancer (or lung cancer, for example) is or was a smoker. The late Senator Ted Kennedy’s daughter died of lung cancer and she never smoked. So, it’s all a crap shoot in the end, it seems to me. I think my chances of getting cancer, especially of certain kinds, goes up if I am a smoker. As a side note, the nurse at my clinic where I get tested said she rarely sees the bladder cancer come back on people who once smoked but since quit when they had the tumor removed. I have quit. I stopped the day they removed the tumor and, as of yesterday (seven years now), I am cancer free. Needless to say, despite my still thinking about cigarettes, I am not going back to smoking.
08/16/16 – TURBT – 1 tumor, T1HG, 7.5 cm x 7.5 cm x 1.8 cm, non-invasive papillary.
BCG treatments (15 doses total – last March, 2018). As of latest cysto, As of May 4, 2023 – cancer free! -
Jkrief,
Identifying any individual’s “cause” of bladder cancer is an impossible task. Even for the most likely or suspected causes that have been investigated, there is no direct link. All that can be said is that a particular risk makes it X-times more likely that an exposed person will develop bladder cancer. It takes a large group of similarly situated individuals to arrive at any such association.
Best,
Jack
6/2015 HG Papillary & CIS
3 Years and 30 BCG/BCG+Inf
Tis CIS comes back.
BC clear as of 5/17 !
RCC found in my one & only kidney 10/17
Begin Chemo; Cisplatin and Gemzar
8/18 begin Chemo# 3
Begin year 4 with cis
2/19 Chemo #4
9/19 NED again :)
1/2020 CIS is back
Tried Keytruda, stopped by side effects
Workin on a new plan for 2021
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