New guy here. Greetings.
I have to put in a plug for getting to a cancer center if you can. My urologist was abysmal at messaging (offhandedly told me I had cancer as I lay on the table with my pants around my ankles just after the cystoscopy) and left it to me to tell my wife in the middle of his waiting room; and more importantly - was about to over-treat me. After TURBT (March 2019) to remove a single low-grade NMI papillary carcinoma, he wanted to schedule me for BCG once I healed. I asked about the global shortage, the guidance from BCAN, and why surveillance wasn’t sufficient, and he shrugged: “It’s up to you.”
Yes, it was. I got myself to Johns Hopkins and found a urologist who is engaged in research for BC. He offered that he would never recommend BCG in my low-risk case, because several other options are unavailable if the patient has had BCG in the past two years. “Why disarm myself from those options, in case a tumor returns after your BCG?” Surveillance begins in June.
Bonus: I’m not responsible for taking an unnecessary dose of BCG from someone with a high-grade tumor. Please get to a cancer center if you can.