John McC, I just want to thank you for sharing your story. I too went to my primary care physician January of 2016 because I had some bright red blood a few times when urinating. She did a urinalysis in the office and a pap smear, both of which were negative. Since that time, I have had no other visible blood or any other symptom. However, while visiting my son in another city in August, I woke up one morning with a pain in my right lower quadrant that did not go away. Thinking maybe appendicitis or maybe hernia, I went to the ER where the ER doctor recommended a CT which showed a mass arising from the left (pain was on the right) lateral bladder wall measuring 4.4 x 3.8 cm. The ER doctor recommended I see a urologist right away. I was on the phone the first thing Monday morning with my primary care doctor who referred me to a local urologist who performed a cystoscopy in her office on Friday morning. I was able to see the mass on the screen myself. This doctor ordered a CT urogram which was performed and showed no metastasis to any other organs, but the measurements on this CT were even greater than on the first unenhanced CT. Between the cystoscopy in the office and the CT urogram I called this doctor with some questions and she did not get back to me until 8 days later when she called with the results of the urogram. She had scheduled TURBT, but I cancelled it because I just did not feel comfortable with her care for several reasons which I won't go in to. At any rate, I am scheduled for a consult with another urologist here in town on Friday morning and hopefully can get this taken care of.
I definitely agree with you that your doctor was negligent. When a doctor tells you all is clear, I think most of us would take that at face value so don't be too hard on yourself. I certainly accepted what my doctor said and I think what she did was probably standard of care for the symptoms I showed at the time and then I had no further symptoms. Still have no symptoms at all.
Good for you to quit smoking. That can't be an easy thing to do, but as you know, it is the best thing for you.
I hope you will keep us posted as you go along. I will be hoping for the best for you.