My TURBC is over

PST,

Now you know why a bunch of tend to be happy people as well.

Glad all went well. Hope you have no pain issues. When you first wake up you wouldn't expect to feel pain because they typically give you stuff that hasn't worn off by then.

If you do have problems, they can typically get the pain under control pretty quickly without major narcotics.

The pink is no surprise. They were cutting so you were bleeding. Shouldn't last long though. You'll heal pretty quickly from a TURBT.

All the best for a quick and painless recovery and for good news on the pathology report!!!

Mike

rbmc,

The reason I ended up getting doxorubicin instead of mitomycin is a shortage of mitomycin, something I confirmed later is documented in news reports and on the web site of the FDA. As a result, my hospital isn't making it available for perisurgical intravesical chemotherapy. I wasn't thrilled to have this explained to me after the surgery, but my doctor said that studies have not shown any statistically significant differences in efficacy. I thought I vaguely remembered reading that before, but I'll go check now. Assuming it's true, that's still not how I want these choices made if I can help it. Doxorubicin has also been in short supply at times and is (again according to the doctor) more expensive than mitomycin. So in a way, he said, I'm lucky because I got to receive the more expensive drug. More proof, if proof were needed, that doctors don't understand copayments at all.

I realize this post is a bit more jaded than the first, which was written in the PACU. Surviving surgery makes me euphoric! And I am still mighty happy.

PST

Sounds like you're off to a good start, if there is such a thing here. My bag was worse than Pink, like, Red. "Normal", so they say. You mention a new drug, what is that?? I'm still a newbie.

Here I am in recovery with a bladder full of doxorubicin. I feel fine, with barely a twinge of pain, even with no medication. I'll have my catheter overnight. I saw a nurse taking away my first bag of urine. It looked awfully pink to me, but no one was at all excited about that. Both the attending surgeon and the resident came by promptly to talk to me, which was reassuring. They hinted at probably a Ta, but in any event not visibly invasive. I got a nice set of photographs. There was a second tiny tumor in the shadow of the first, and the word "field" came up in our chat, but otherwise things couldn't have gone better. I'm grateful for the good advice I got here, which helped allay my anxieties.

PST